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Swinging Suites by Edward E. & Edward G.
Swinging Suites by Edward E. & Edward G.
Studio album by Duke Ellington
Released	c. 1961
Recorded	June 28, 29 & 30, and October 10, 1960
Studio	Radio Recorders, Los Angeles
Genre	Jazz, swing, big band, third stream
Label	Columbia CL 1597 / CS 8397
Producer	Irving Townsend
Duke Ellington chronology

Swinging Suites by Edward E. & Edward G. (also known as Peer Gynt Suite/Suite Thursday) is an album by American pianist, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington recorded for the Columbia label in 1960 featuring a jazz interpretation of Peer Gynt by Grieg and Ellington's tribute to John Steinbeck's Sweet Thursday, co-written by Billy Strayhorn.^[2] The album was rereleased on CD as Three Suites along with Ellington's reworking of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker in 1990.

Reception

The Allmusic customer rating awarded the album 4½ stars.^[3]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[3]

In the 1960s, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music made a statement, referring to a Swedish law paragraph called "Klassikerskyddet" ("Protection of Classics") in the copyright legislation, that Duke Ellington's jazz versions on the album were "offending to the nordic music culture". Ellington withdrew the album and the case was never tried in court.^[4]

In 1992, The New York Times reviewed a live performance of Ellington's Peer Gynt adaption: "The pieces, with their dense and gorgeous harmonies, lend themselves perfectly to live performance" and "the melody kept peeking around creamy harmonies, hurtling up-tempo sections abruptly merged with ballads".^[5]

Track listing

Selections from "Peer Gynt" suites No. 1 and 2 written by Edvard Grieg adapted by Duke Ellington

"Morning Mood" – 4:24
"In the Hall of the Mountain King" – 2:33
"Solvejg's Song" – 3:59
"Ase's Death" – 3:47
"Anitra's Dance" – 2:58

"Suite Thursday" written by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn

"Misfit Blues" – 4:09
"Schwiphti" – 3:04
"Zweet Zurzday" – 3:56
"Lay-By" – 4:50

Recorded in Los Angeles on June 28 (tracks 1 & 5), June 29 (tracks 3 & 4), June 30 (track 2), and October 10 (tracks 6–9), 1960.^[6]

Personnel

Duke Ellington – piano
Willie Cook, Fats Ford, Eddie Mullins, Gerald Wilson (track 2) – trumpet
Ray Nance, – trumpet, violin (on "Lay-By") (uncredited)
Lawrence Brown, Matthew Gee, Booty Wood, Britt Woodman (tracks 1–5) – trombone
Juan Tizol – valve trombone
Jimmy Hamilton – clarinet, tenor saxophone
Johnny Hodges (tracks 1–5), Paul Horn (tracks 6–9) – alto saxophone
Russell Procope – alto saxophone, clarinet
Paul Gonsalves – tenor saxophone
Harry Carney – baritone saxophone
Aaron Bell – bass
Sam Woodyard – drums

References

^ Reviewed on March 5, 1961 in The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, Ohio, p. 65, digitally archived on Newspapers.com, accessed December 31, 2016
^ "A Duke Ellington Panorama". Retrieved 2022-08-10.
^ ^a ^b Allmusic Review accessed May 28, 2010
^ Marianne Levin. Lärobok i immaterialrätt (p 167–168), 2011, Nordstedts Juridik. Tionde upplagan. ISBN 978-91-39-20550-0.
^ Peter Watrous. "Review/Jazz; Variations on a Theme of Ellington", The New York Times, 10 August 1992. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
^ "1951–1960". ellingtonia.com. Retrieved March 7, 2020.