Duke Ellington & Ray Brown - This One's For Blanton!

180-gram vinyl

Mastered by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab from the original analog master tape

Pressed at Quality Record Pressings

Housed in Stoughton Printing tip-on gatefold jacket

"How do the remasters sound? In a word, phenomenally good. Good enough, in fact, for me to add all these LPs to our next Super LP List and one of them — This One's for Blanton! — to the highly select Best of the Bunch section. ... I can say with certainty that Ray Brown's standup bass has never-before sounded this three-dimensionally complete, with ravishingly beautiful density of tone and texture, deep-reaching power, and a definition of pitch that is startingly realistic. Ditto for Duke's grand piano, which is so harmonically rich and full that it, too, sounds (and almost looks) as if it's "there" in the room with you — the opposite of the bright, thinned-down, skeletal piano tone that you so often hear on close-miked jazz, pop, and classical recordings." — Jonathan Valin, "Pablo Redivivus: The Analogue Productions Vinyl Reissues" The Absolute Sound, October 2024

"I suspect this new Analogue Productions reissue is the one audiophiles will want anyway, especially for its impeccably quiet noise floor. As an audiophile release, well, just listen for the decay of Duke's piano at the end of 'Second Movement' (Side 2, Track 2), and you'll know original mastering engineer Doug Sax captured some special lightning in this bottle! As an Ellington fan, I find This One's for Blanton to be an essential listen — and you should too." —  Music = 10/11; Sound = 9/11 — Mark Smotroff, AnalogPlanet.com. Read the whole review here.

"I've been so impressed with these albums since I got them ... for me as a lover of jazz piano, the reproduction of the piano is really really important. ... Really and truly these are two exceptionally well-recorded albums and Analogue Productions have done in my opinion an excellent job of repressing and remastering these albums on really super quiet vinyl. They're absolutely wonderful." — Mike's Vinyl Experience, YouTube video

Duke Ellington teams up here with bassist Ray Brown in a set reminiscent of Duke's work with Jimmy Blanton three decades before. In addition to the four-part "Fragmented Suite for Piano and Bass," the duo plays five standards (including "Pitter Panther Patter" from the Blanton days and three other Ellington-associated tunes).

When he died in 1942, 21-year-old Blanton had liberated the string bass from its traditional role as an accompanist. Brown, and another Blanton disciple, Oscar Pettiford, carried forward Blanton's work of developing the bass into a solo instrument.

Their contributions had a great deal to do with bebop's becoming a mature music. More than 30 years after Blanton's death, Brown went into a studio with Ellington to pay homage to his idol. Their duets echo the famous ones of Ellington and Blanton and demonstrate Brown's creativity and virtuosity on the Blanton model.

Delightful and often playful music. Recommended.

Mastered by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab from the original analog master tape. Pressed at Quality Record Pressings for superior sound quality, and housed in a handsome Stoughton Printing tip-on gatefold jacket.

~ Acoustic Sounds