Duke Ellington / FARGO 1940 (abridged)

To hidebound purists I have committed an irreverent act with this upload.

It condenses the Ellington 1940 FARGO acetates onto a single 80 minute CDR.

This is akin to excising dramatic excerpts from a lengthy work like RStrauss'

Also Sprach Zarathustra and presenting it as THE work or using a frag. to begin a

movie. Subsequent "surgery" demeans the greatness somehow. In my defense; the

(2) CD VJC set would not rip cleanly. I'll reburn them onto fresh media and

upload both discs at a later date if I get enough positive feedback. Meanwhile,

lovers of Ellington can savor these "Blanton-Webster era" recordings from

nearly 75 years ago or seek their own copies of both 80 minute discs.....fA








"For decades, the Fargo recordings, preserved on 16" aluminum discs coated with

acetate, were known only to Mr. Towers' friends and a few jazz insiders. Some

bootleg versions were released.


When the recording finally came to light and was commercially released nearly

40 years later, it was considered a musical and engineering miracle........


The revelatory recording, "Duke Ellington at Fargo, 1940 live," won a Grammy

Award in 1980 for best big-band album and established Mr. Towers' reputation

as one of the foremost restorers of musical recordings in the country." (US)


Matt Schudel (paraphrased)