Canon Fodder Test

 

18

“La plus belle Africaine” (Ellington) 11:07 (edited)  Coventry Cathedral, Coventry, England, February 21, 1966. Duke Ellington in Coventry (Storyville [2018]) Cat Anderson, Cootie Williams, Mercer Ellington, Herbie Jones tp; Lawrence Brown, Buster Cooper, Chuck Connors tb; Johnny Hodges, Russell Procope, Jimmy Hamilton, Paul Gonsalves, Harry Carney reeds; Duke Ellington p; John Lamb b; Sam Woodyard d.

Solos: Hamilton, Lamb, Carney, Hamilton.

“La plus belle Africaine” is propelled throughout by an eight-bar ostinato, carried principally by the bass player, and then covered by the piano player when the bassist solos, and it is parroted rhythmically by the drummer all through. The clarinet plays a simple melody over the ostinato, and is abruptly interrupted by the cascading brass in a twelve-bar shout that recurs as if demarcating movements. The ostinato is then taken up by the piano while the bassist solos with the bow. After the brass shout marks the end of the bassist’s outing, there is a ruminative orchestral interval that momentarily interrupts the ostinato, with trombones and other harmonic elements adding coloration to the rhythmic undercurrent. The piece fades away over the ebbing bass ostinato. This composition flows more directly from the rhythm trio than perhaps any other orchestral work by Ellington. In “Daybreak Express” and other essentially rhythmic works, the pulse was carried by the whole orchestra. Here the clarinet, arco bass and baritone saxophone caress the beat instead of punctuating it, seemingly floating on it. The heartbeat of the piece is down low, in the piano, bass and drums. 

La plus belle Africaine: