DC Share Revival: Review: Duke Ellington & Count Basie - Battle Royal (The Duke Meets the Count) (recorded 1961, released 1963)

Rating: 90/100 - Genre: Big Band, Swing.

Duke Ellington and Count Basie meet on record in a way that rewards sustained listening: the session recorded in July 1961 at Columbia’s 30th Street studio presents two orchestral philosophies in conversation, and the album that resulted — issued under titles such as First Time! The Count Meets the Duke and Battle Royal (The Duke Meets the Count) — is as much a lesson in orchestral behavior as it is a collection of swinging performances. The two leaders arrive already formed by biography and long professional practice: Ellington, born April 29, 1899 in Washington, D.C., carried a lifetime of composition for big band, film and concert formats; Basie, born August 21, 1904 in Red Bank, New Jersey, embodies the Kansas City approach that prizes groove, riffing and compact solos.

The two bandleaders’ methods intersect on the album in instructive ways. Ellington’s practice was to write with named players in mind and to exploit orchestral possibilities: his charts turn players’ timbres into compositional colors and use short, crafted solos as structural devices. Basie’s practice emphasizes a spare, thrusting rhythm section — Count’s light, economical piano, Freddie Green’s consistent four-to-the-bar guitar, and a drummer-and-bass partnership that prefers space and forward momentum — with riff-based arrangements that put groove before exposition.

The date was recorded on July 6, 1961, at Columbia’s 30th Street studio and produced by Teo Macero. The engineers and producer used the stereo field deliberately, placing the Count Basie Orchestra predominantly in the left channel and the Duke Ellington Orchestra predominantly in the right so listeners could hear interplay without sonic congestion. Recording both full orchestras in the same room — rather than separating or overdubbing parts — meant the session became an acoustic forum where ensembles traded phrases and colors in real time; the studio’s large, tube-rich acoustic and Macero’s attention to clarity let individual brass thrusts and reed replies read cleanly across the mix.

Personnel matters in every bar. The combined cast runs to roughly twenty-plus horns plus a doubled rhythm section; among the names present are Cat Anderson, Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Harry Carney, Freddie Green, Thad Jones, Frank Wess, Sam Woodyard, and Sonny Payne, with Billy Strayhorn present in arranging roles on certain charts and Juan Tizol contributing valve-trombone color on Wild Man. With that many named voices available to arrangers and the producer, each arranging choice — who solos when, which rhythm engine drives a passage, whether a reed voicing takes an Ellingtonish role over a Basie riff — becomes musically meaningful. The session engineering typically preserved the two bands’ identities while letting soloists from one group answer or complement soloists from the other.

The program alternates Ellington heads and Basie standbys in a pattern that invites comparison: the opener Battle Royal is written in a blues-inflected Ellington idiom that emphasizes sectional call-and-response and short, pointed ensemble hits; the mix places high-register trumpet proclamations opposite darker reed replies so the track reads like a staged exchange of timbres more than a long solo showdown. Next, Thad Jones’s To You brings tighter, modern brass voicings into the room and makes space for a brief trombone spotlight; the chart functions as a compact vehicle in which harmonic color and crisp ensemble work are the primary pleasures. Take the “A” Train is used here as a large-band showpiece: the familiar AABA melody remains the anchor but solo space is distributed between Basie-side and Ellington-side players so that phrasing contrasts — clipped, percussive attacks versus more legato alto lines — become the point of interest rather than reiterating the tune’s words.

The Basie repertory on the date gets revoiced in ways that expose how the two orchestras respond to classic material. Corner Pocket (a.k.a. Until I Met You), a Basie staple by Freddie Green, remains groove-centered and keeps Freddie’s steady guitar pulse in the pocket while short trumpet and tenor choruses trade riffs; when Ellington’s voicings are applied to Basie riffing, the effect is a hybrid that reveals what each band prioritizes in phrasing and tone. By contrast, Wild Man, linked to Ellington’s Paris Blues work, unfolds as an episodic vignette with drum punctuations, cameo woodwind lines and cinematic gestures that make the track feel like a compressed soundtrack movement. Frank Wess’s Segue in C permits modal or static harmonic movement so reed colors — including flute passages associated with Wess — can float over a steady foundation, and B D B (Ellington/Strayhorn) behaves like a clean, arranged blues with short, shaped solos. Jumpin’ at the Woodside reasserts riff-driven swing: shouted ensemble figures, compact solos and Freddie Green’s comping return the listener to a communal Basie pocket that functions as the record’s kinetic payoff.

The session documentation and liner-notes identify which players take which choruses, and the producer and arrangers distribute solos so that each voice functions as a contrasting point: Alto lines from Hodges read differently next to Gonsalves’s tenor punches; Cat Anderson’s high-register trumpet cuts through dense ensemble voicings where needed; Harry Carney’s baritone anchors long tones that alter the color of entire sax sections; Freddie Green’s guitar acts as the hidden pulse that keeps the groove steady without seeking the limelight.

The production and room are integral aspects of how the music communicates. Columbia’s 30th Street studio had a large, live chamber that lends a natural bloom to big ensembles, and Macero’s approach for this date emphasized live capture and a clear separation in the stereo field so that listeners could treat the record as a comparative listening exercise. Modern reissues, remastering work and annotated liner notes — notably the expanded CD editions with notes by Aaron Bell and Phil Schaap — have clarified session logistics, added alternate takes and offered the annotations necessary for micro-study: who solos where on which take, how ensemble hits tighten across takes, and what editorial choices produced the issued masters.

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Friday, October 3, 2025

Review: Duke Ellington & Count Basie - Battle Royal (The Duke Meets the Count) (recorded 1961, released 1963)

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