The 28 Best Duke Ellington Albums

Concert-hall suites share the stage with smoky small-group sessions, and the famous 1950s comeback faces off against late-career experiments few casual fans have heard.

1. 1
   Ellington at Newport

   The 1956 live album whose Paul Gonsalves-fuelled Newport set revived Ellington's career overnight.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Ellington Uptown

   A 1953 Columbia LP featuring the extended Harlem suite and Louie Bellson's drum showcase Skin Deep.
   862pts
3. 3
   Such Sweet Thunder

   Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's 1957 suite of musical portraits inspired by Shakespeare.
   812pts
4. 4
   The Nutcracker Suite

   Ellington and Strayhorn's swinging 1960 reworking of Tchaikovsky's ballet music.
   755pts
5. 5
   Afro-Bossa

   A 1963 Reprise album blending Latin, African and Middle Eastern colours into short orchestral pieces.
   689pts
6. 6
   Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins

   A warm 1962 Impulse! small-group date pairing Ellington's men with the tenor saxophone pioneer.
   611pts
7. 7
   First Time! The Count Meets the Duke

   The 1961 summit where the Ellington and Count Basie orchestras play side by side.
   611pts
8. 8
   Back to Back

   A 1959 blues session co-led with alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges.
   517pts
9. 9
   The Latin American Suite

   A sunny 1972 suite written after the orchestra's tour of South America and Mexico.
   517pts
10. 10
    New Orleans Suite

    A Grammy-winning 1971 suite saluting the birthplace of jazz and its great musicians.
    517pts
11. 11
    Jazz Party

    A playful 1959 stereo showcase with guest Dizzy Gillespie and a battery of nine percussionists.
    517pts
12. 12
    Anatomy of a Murder

    The 1959 soundtrack to Otto Preminger's courtroom drama, a milestone for jazz in Hollywood film scoring.
    517pts
13. 13
    The Popular Duke Ellington

    A 1966 RCA album of fresh orchestral takes on his best-known hits, from Take the A Train to Solitude.
    517pts
14. 14
    The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse

    A late-period 1971 suite exploring how world cultures were influencing one another, released posthumously in 1975.
    402pts
15. 15
    The Duke Plays Ellington

    A 1953 Capitol trio album, later reissued as Piano Reflections, of Ellington interpreting his own songs.
    402pts
16. 16
    A Drum Is a Woman

    Ellington's 1957 jazz fantasy narrating the history of the music through the character Madam Zajj.
    402pts
17. 17
    Black, Brown and Beige

    Ellington's 1958 studio recasting of his landmark suite, with Mahalia Jackson singing Come Sunday.
    402pts
18. 18
    Blues in Orbit

    A loose, late-night 1960 session of blues-based pieces recorded with the orchestra in relaxed form.
    402pts
19. 19
    Piano in the Foreground

    A 1961 trio record that puts Ellington's adventurous piano playing front and centre.
    402pts
20. 20
    Indigos

    A 1958 album of slow, moody ballads built around the orchestra's lush soloists.
    402pts
21. 21
    Never No Lament

    The essential collection of the 1940-42 Blanton-Webster band, often called Ellington's greatest orchestra.
    402pts
22. 22
    Money Jungle

    A combative 1963 trio date with Charles Mingus and Max Roach that shows Ellington's piano at its most modern.
    0pts
23. 23
    ...And His Mother Called Him Bill

    Ellington's 1967 tribute to Billy Strayhorn, recorded months after his longtime collaborator's death.
    0pts
24. 24
    Duke Ellington & John Coltrane

    The 1963 Impulse! meeting with John Coltrane, home to a celebrated reading of In a Sentimental Mood.
    0pts
25. 25
    The Far East Suite

    A 1967 suite inspired by the orchestra's State Department tour of Asia, featuring Johnny Hodges on Isfahan.
    0pts
26. 26
    Masterpieces by Ellington

    A 1951 LP that used the new long-playing format to stretch classics like Mood Indigo into full concert arrangements.
    0pts
27. 27
    Concert of Sacred Music

    The 1966 recording of Ellington's first Sacred Concert, the start of the work he called his most important.
    0pts
28. 28
    Ellington at Fargo, 1940 Live

    An amateur recording of a 1940 dance in North Dakota that captured the Blanton-Webster band live.
    0pts

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