- Audio CD
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: CD
- ASIN: B000005H4K
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 114,494 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product details |
Track Listings
| 1. Very Special |
| 2. A Little Max (Parfait) |
| 3. A Little Max (Parfait) (Alternate Take) |
| 4. Fleurette Africaine (African Flower) |
| 5. REM Blues |
| 6. Wig Wise |
| 7. Switch Blade |
| 8. Caravan |
| 9. Money Jungle |
| 10. Solitude (Alternate Take) |
| 11. Solitude |
| 12. Warm Valley |
| 13. Backward Country Boy Blues |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
At first sight the teaming up of Duke Ellington with the then young firebrands of Charlie Mingus and Max Roach is a bizarre one. But then Ellington himself was an innovator and one whom the younger musicians owed more than a little debt to. The resulting album is certainly one that is worth acquiring (especially now with the extra tracks). The trio work through a series of Ellington numbers (including the classic "Caravan"). On the whole Roach takes a supportive role, whilst Mingus and Ellington dual on mostly blues numbers. Later Ellington was to recall how Mingus was moody throughout the session, and had misgivings about the whole enterprise, which if that is the case just goes to show how sometimes getting huffy can be productive, for Mingus is by far the star of the album. His bass rumbles around Ellington's piano with all the benevolence that he was allegedly feeling at being there. For the rest of us though, it's great fun. --Phil Brett
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This recording session in 1962 brought together three recognised masters of the art who were not generally mutually associated in the public mind.
Ellington's piano, usually understated in the orchestral context, is given more freedom here. Many pianists it seems (but not the Duke) failed to realise that silence is part of the music. Listen to him here ably and sensitively accompanied by Max Roach and Charlie Mingus in the dreamlike "Fleurette Africane". Each musician makes his presence felt but nobody tries to steal the show. You might compare it with the Cortot-Thibeau-Casals Trio of eighty years back.
"Caravan" is given a noir interpretation quite unlike any other with which I am familiar, demonstrating Ellington's power to delight and to surprise the listener. This capability never left him as those fortunate enough to possess his last(?) LP "This one's for Blanton" made with Ray Brown in December 1973 for the Pablo label will agree.
This is a disc to buy, even if you possess the original vynil. There are seven extra tracks, including an alternative "take" of "Solitude" that are so good one wonders why they never appeared on the LP. Having assisduously avoided duplicating my vynil collection, I had no hesitation in making this an exception.
Money Jungle, Ellington, Mingus and Roach - A musical meeting of minds that packs an emotional punch
16 Mar 2011
Format:Audio CD
Being familiar with Duke Ellington recordings made in a big orchestra/band setting I was intrigued to listen to this album and see how he would fare in a small intimate setting of a trio. Added to which, what would happen when he teamed up with another of jazz's experimenting, boundary pushing voices, bass player Charles Mingus?
Working their way through a series of Ellington standards, and some material penned specifically for the session, this is a record that really delivers. The three mesh together beautifully, working up a synergy that really lifts these recordings to the level of greatness. Drummer Roach and bassist Mingus are a dream rhythm section, with complex beats that allow the Duke to step in with perfect keyboard interjections. There seems to be no egotistical vying for attention between the three, each is generous in giving the others the space to deliver solos. And when all three come together the result is breathtaking.
The material is well chosen for the intimate trio setting. My especial favourite is the recording of `Solitude'. Until I heard this record I had always believed Billie Holliday's recording to be the definitive, packed with all the emotional intensity that only she could deliver. But here, without words, the three players deliver a track so aching in its loneliness it brings a lump to the throat. The rest of the album has a variety of tempos and moods, from upbeat to slow and thoughtful. As always with anything involving Ellington there is a feeling of class and elegance, with a rich sonic texture that captures the imagination and paints vivid pictures in the mind's eye.
A really remarkable album, 5 stars.
Working their way through a series of Ellington standards, and some material penned specifically for the session, this is a record that really delivers. The three mesh together beautifully, working up a synergy that really lifts these recordings to the level of greatness. Drummer Roach and bassist Mingus are a dream rhythm section, with complex beats that allow the Duke to step in with perfect keyboard interjections. There seems to be no egotistical vying for attention between the three, each is generous in giving the others the space to deliver solos. And when all three come together the result is breathtaking.
The material is well chosen for the intimate trio setting. My especial favourite is the recording of `Solitude'. Until I heard this record I had always believed Billie Holliday's recording to be the definitive, packed with all the emotional intensity that only she could deliver. But here, without words, the three players deliver a track so aching in its loneliness it brings a lump to the throat. The rest of the album has a variety of tempos and moods, from upbeat to slow and thoughtful. As always with anything involving Ellington there is a feeling of class and elegance, with a rich sonic texture that captures the imagination and paints vivid pictures in the mind's eye.
A really remarkable album, 5 stars.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
28 reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Superb trio work
20 Jun 2000
Format:Audio CD
Put three legends together in a studio and you you can't be sure what you'll get. Fortunately, in the case of "Money Jungle," the combination of Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach produced a superb performance that bristles with musical genius.
Don't worry if you sometimes find piano trios -- particularly those recorded in the studio -- lacking an edge. Ellington, Mingus and Roach bring enormous vitality to every cut on the release. We get the best of all worlds here in that you can feel the room crowded by three big, strong musical egos. But you can also hear the respect the three have for one another in the way they listen to each other and aren't afraid to give each other plenty of room to speak.
Mingus's enormous tone on his bass leads the way into many of the tunes, including the opener, "Very Special," but Roach makes plenty of room for himself, dominating, for example, "A Little Max," inappropriately named only because the tune is a lot of Max.
Ellington's playing is superb throughout. So many of his compositions are marvels of sophistication and exquisite taste and subtlety that it's pleasantly surprising to hear him remind us of his blues roots with earthy tunes like "Rem Blues," "Switchblade," and "Backward Country Boy Blues." Then there's the delicate beauty of the wonderful "Solitude." I'm not always much for alternate takes, but I was glad to hear this great tune a second time.
"Money Jungle" reminds us that sometimes in jazz, there's not much new under the sun. While it was recorded in 1962, it sets a standard for jazz trio that we can see now has not often -- if ever -- been met.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Wow!
20 Aug 2001
Format:Audio CD
Somehow I managed to be a jazz fan for over 30 years and yet never heard this album until last week. All I can say is- wow!
Just the treat of hearing Mingus and Roach- perhaps the finest rhythm section players of the post-war era- playing together is enough of a treat. Add the rare experience of hearing Duke Ellington (whom Mingus worshipped) playing in a trio, and you've got something really special. Put all three of them together and an incredible experience. Mingus and Roach's powerful playing seesm to be almost taunting the Duke, pushing him to play beter. And he responds with stunning, firey playing.
If you're a jazz fan and you haven't heard this album, buy it now. Or buy two, in case you lose one. It's right up there with "Kind of Blue", "A Love Supreme" and "Mingus Ah Um" as one of the greatest jazz albums ever made.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
GREAT RECORD--BUT GET REMASTERED VERSION!!
28 Nov 2003
Format:Audio CD
I won't go into depth on this amazing record--'cuz I ain't that deep! An amazing album, the one that really got me into jazz. I originally had it on vinyl, and the record has an unbelievable sense of drama and pace as it goes from song to song. This older, original CD release always annoyed me because the tracks are in the order they were recorded at the sessions, in order to preserve the "historical value". Well, that is really dumb. That is like putting out a version of a movie in the order they shot it day by day, rather than the final assembled version that hits the screen. On Money Jungle version 1, each song is great, but the old CD lost the power of the sequencing. I used to reprogram the order on my CD player to get it right--but what a pain! They should have released it in the proper, final sequence, then told you what order to program it in if (for some bizarre reason) you wanted to hear it in the "historical" sequencing. Isn't it just as "historical" to release it in the order that Messrs. Ellington et. al. thought it should go in? I've just never seen a packaging move that was so stupid--especially coming from a label like Blue Note, one of the great prestige labels.Fortunately, I just noticed there is a newer REMASTERED version that is in the proper order and with some xtra cuts. So it is off to one-click that baby and trade the old one in! Seriously folks, a truly amazing, far-out, gorgeous album by three serious cats. Get it, daddy-o!
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