A few weeks ago I posted a blazing side by Charlie Parker’s All Stars called “Merry Go Round”:
https://youtu.be/5aQPz0bnx78
Today we’ll hear a different tune with the same name: Duke Ellington’s “Merry-Go-Round.”
Duke first recorded this tune in 1933 – but this earlier version was only released in Europe and Australia on the Columbia label. An alternate take of “Merry-Go-Round” from this earlier session was reissued domestically in a Columbia “Hot Jazz Classics” album set in the 1940s called “The Duke”. Being the person that I am, I of course had to dig it up for comparison.
Here’s the 1933 version:
https://youtu.be/ajEY3dzGo-k
This later recording sounds great and seems to be the better recording overall. Listening to both versions – this one feels fresh and immediate. You get the feeling that Duke’s fellahs had been working on perfecting every aspect of this arrangement and knew it backwards and forwards by this point. The 1933 version, while of course, still very good, seems just a bit more tenuous in the soloing and has just a bit less energy to it.
There does seem to be some disagreement about the credits between Rust and other sources.
Recorded in New York City on April 30, 1935.
Released as Brunswick 7440.
Credits:
Duke Ellington – piano, arranger, director
Rex Stewart – cornet
Freddy Jenkins, Cootie Williams – trumpet
Joe Nanton, Lawrence Brown – trombone
Juan Tizol – valve trombone
Johnny Hodges – clarinet, soprano sax, alto sax
Harry Carney – clarinet, alto sax, baritone sax
Otto Hardwick – clarinet, alto sax, bass sax
Barney Bigard – clarinet, tenor sax
Fred Guy – guitar
Hayes Alvis – string bass
Fred Avendorf – drums
Source:
Jazz and Ragtime Records (1897-1942), 6th edition by Brian Rust.
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