Such Sweet Thunder

Independent shop in BallardDirections

Available from Light in the Attic Records when we last checked, in the last two days. Sold from the shop’s own store; the price there is the one that counts.

This music counts among Ellington’s most well-realized ‘concept projects’, all inspired by Shakespeare’s work and filled with memorable melodies and ample opportunities for solos by Cat Anderson, Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, and Quentin Jackson. The Ellington-Strayhorn compositions treat their soloists like actors doing scenes and, in effect, playing parts, even quoting lines after a fashion — Clark Terry ‘plays’ “Puck” in “Up and Down, Up and Down (I Will Lead Them Up and Down)”, and Johnny H