Duke Ellington - Duke Ellington's Third Sacred Concert - The Majesty Of God '1975

Artist	Duke Ellington Related artists
Album name	Duke Ellington's Third Sacred Concert - The Majesty Of God
Country
Date	1975
Genre	Jazz
Play time	50 min
Format / Bitrate	Stereo 1420 Kbps / 44.1 kHz MP3 320 Kbps
Media	CD
Size	275 MB
Price	Download $2.95

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Duke Ellington's Third Sacred Concert was one of his last recordings -- and it
was made under rather exalted conditions. It was U.N. Day, and the location was
London's Westminster Abbey, with Prime Minister Heath and Princess Margaret in
attendance and U.N. chairman Sir Colin Crowe delivering a solemn British
introduction. Alas, the royal trappings can't conceal the flaws in this, the
weakest of the sacred concerts. It lacks the show biz kick and exuberance of the
first concert and the even more eclectic impulses of the second, now burdened
with a subdued solemnity and the sense that the ailing Ellington knew his time
was drawing to a close (he would be dead exactly six months later). The low
point comes early on with the mawkish "Is God a Three-Letter Word for Love?" --
uncomfortably sentimental stuff for Ellington -- and even Duke's own piano work
stumbles a bit. The mildly swinging "The Brotherhood" is really a plug for the
sponsoring United Nations, where tenor saxophonist Harold Ashby does his best to
stand in for the irreplaceable Paul Gonsalves (Gonsalves would have been there
but he went on a binge that landed him in a London hospital on the day of the
concert). Things pick up somewhat with a nifty "Hallelujah" and the swinging
preamble to the otherwise dreary extended concert piece "Every Man Prays in His
Own Language." "Ain't Nobody Nowhere Nothin' Without God" has some of the old
Ellington sass and verve and "The Majesty of God" has its passages of serenely
assured swing. The Swedish soprano Alice Babs returns from the second sacred
concert -- practically sight-reading her numbers, we're told. By concert time,
Harry Carney was the last of the great Ellington soloists left in the band; he
has a fine passage in "The Lord's Prayer: My Love." Ironically, the John Aldiss
Choir is the best of the choruses in all three sacred concerts. An overlooked
stepchild in the Ellington canon. 

Tracklist:
1.01 - Sir Colin Crowe - Introduction by Sir Colin Crowe (Live at at Westminster
Abbey, London, UK - October 1973) (1:33)
1.02 - Duke Ellington - Introduction by Duke Ellington (Live at at Westminster
Abbey, London, UK - October 1973) (0:59)
1.03 - Duke Ellington - The Lord's Prayer / My Love (Live at at Westminster
Abbey, London, UK - October 1973) (7:49)
1.04 - Duke Ellington - Is God a Three-Letter Word for Love? (Part I) (Live at
at Westminster Abbey, London, UK - October 1973) (4:27)
1.05 - Duke Ellington - Is God a Three-Letter Word for Love? (Part II) (Live at
at Westminster Abbey, London, UK - October 1973) (3:45)
1.06 - Duke Ellington - The Brotherhood (Live at at Westminster Abbey, London,
UK - October 1973) (5:34)
1.07 - Duke Ellington - Hallelujah (Live at at Westminster Abbey, London, UK -
October 1973) (3:29)
1.08 - Duke Ellington - Every Man Prays in His Own Language (Live at at
Westminster Abbey, London, UK - October 1973) (11:09)
1.09 - Duke Ellington - Ain't Nobody Nowhere Nothin' Without God (Live at at
Westminster Abbey, London, UK - October 1973) (4:17)
1.10 - Duke Ellington - The Majesty of God (Live at at Westminster Abbey,
London, UK - October 1973) (7:14)

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Duke Ellington - Duke Ellington's Third Sacred Concert - The Majesty Of God '1975

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