The Transcription Recordings

In 1946 it was widely conceded that Duke Ellington's instrument was not the piano but the orchestra. It is totally conceded today that his greatest orchestra was that of the first half of the 1940s. That period has been most admirably documented with recordings of concerts, broadcasts and the original recordings. Hindsight presents here the Ellington orchestra that survived World War II and while not the superlative instrument of 1940 it, too, is nothing short of magnificent. These recordings were taken from several performances taking place across the United States in 1946 and 1947. All performances on this double CD come not from phonograph recordings but from electrical transcriptions made especially for radio stations only. When the late Wally Heider, Hindsight's founder, cleared these transcriptions for their issuance, originally as five long play records and are available now for the first time on CD here.