Duke Ellington: Sophisticated Lady

During his illustrious 50-year recording career, Duke Ellington led >1,000 sessions, each yielding multiple tracks. While collectively indispensable, they haven't aged equally well. Consider the Maestro's maiden "Sophisticated Lady," which rates high as a historic composition notwithstanding a virtual parade of what we now consider antiquated performance practices: trombonist Brown's unctuous vibrato, Bigard's porcelain clarinet, Hardwick's smarmy, trilling alto, glissading ensembles, all laid over a clunky four-beat guitar. Perhaps it's loutish to deride a lady arrayed in yesteryear's fashions. But even by the standards of the day, which Ellington himself had helped transform, his dame sophistiquée deserved a more haute couture.