A historic record recorded just four years removed from the dawn of the analog tape era!
180-gram double LP set remastered by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound from the original analog tapes and cut at 45 RPM!
Gatefold old-style "tip-on" jacket by Stoughton Printing
Plated and pressed at Quality Record Pressings!
Columbia Records transformed the former church (the Adams-Parkhurst Memorial Presbyterian Church, dedicated in 1875) into a recording studio in 1949. The studio had 100-foot high ceilings, a 100-foot floorspace to record, and the control room was on the second floor — a tight fit at 8x14 feet. It was later moved to the ground floor.
Suddenly, for the first time in his career, Ellington was able to forgo the 3 minutes-and-change restrictions afforded by the short running time of the 78 RPM disc. He and his band rose to the occasion with extended (11-minute plus) 'uncut concert arrangements' of three of his signature songs — “Mood Indigo,” “Sophisticated Lady,” with evocative vocals by Yvonne Lanauze, as well as “Solitude.” Masterpieces was also notable for the debut of the full-bodied, surprise-laden “The Tattooed Bride,” and for the swansongs of three Ellintonian giants of longstanding: drummer Sonny Greer, trombonist Lawrence Brown and alto saxist Johnny Hodges (the latter two would eventually return to the fold).
Masterpieces is a revelation and a throwback to a golden recording age. So much history and so much luck combined make this album truly special.
"Even in this august company, 'The Tattooed Bride' is a swinging virtuoso piece that, as everyone present must have known, couldn't possibly have been captured in this manner in any era before this session — this was also one of the last sessions to feature the classic Ellington lineup with Johnny Hodges, Lawrence Brown, and Sonny Greer, before their exodus altered the band's sound, and so it's a doubly precious piece (as is the whole album), among the last written specifically for this lineup."
