Duke Ellington’s Queenie Pie
Carmen Bradford; University of Texas Jazz Orchestra; Huston-Tillotson
University Concert Choir
Longhorn Music LHM2010003
Originally envisioned as a television production, Queenie Pie was a work in progress at the time of Duke Ellington’s death in 1974. There were only lead sheets, lyrics and basic harmonic outlines to work from and the resulting arrangements were created in the style of Ellington, not by the master himself. The music does indeed capture the Ellington sound and at times even uses musical quotations from the Duke’s library. For example, the Duke’s intro for Such Sweet Thunder shows up in the middle of track 12, Commercial Medley. In this 2009 production from the Butler School of Music the orchestra plays extremely well throughout, but in the solo department one can’t help but wish for the warmth of a Hodges or the authority of a Jimmy Hamilton.
The principal vocalist on the CD is Carmen Bradford who has had a distinguished career. She was a feature of the Basie band for several years and has since worked with a very substantial list of great performers ranging from George Benson to the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.
I did find myself making comparisons with Duke’s A Drum Is A Woman which of course had the advantage of being genuine Ellington. It also had clever lyrics, some catchy melodies, although less than memorable, but there is no denying that the posthumous construction of Queenie Pie is indeed an ambitious project and worthy of a listen.
