The three suites on “The Ellington Suites” were recorded at different times during Duke Ellington’s legendary and prolific career: “The Queen’s Suite”—written for and dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II—in February and April 1959, “The Goutelas Suite” in April 1971, and “The Uwis Suite” in October 1972. The album was released on Pablo Records in 1976 and won a Grammy Award that same year for Best Jazz Big Band Performance.
“Ellington recorded his orchestra at his own expense and then stored the recordings,” explains Nick Phillips, Vice President of Catalog and Jazz A&R at Concord and producer of the Original Jazz Classics Remasters series. “These recordings were later sold to Norman Granz, who had the brilliant idea in the 1970s to compile these then-unreleased suites onto one album.”
“Ellington recorded his orchestra at his own expense and then stored the recordings,” says Concord’s Vice President of Catalog and Jazz A&R and producer of the Original Jazz Classics Remasters series. “These recordings were later sold to Norman Granz, who had the brilliant idea in the 1970s to compile these previously unreleased suites on one album.”
“These recordings were later sold to Norman Granz, who had the brilliant idea in the 1970s to compile these then-unreleased suites on one album.” As part of the “Pablo Reissue Series,” Analogue Productions pays tribute to this big band gem with a sonically superb reissue, lovingly mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab. The LP, pressed on 180-gram vinyl by industry leader Quality Record Pressings (QRP) and cut at 33 rpm, comes in a tip-on sleeve from Stoughton Printing.
