Piano in the Foreground

Duke Ellington famously downplayed his role in his visionary band - "I'm just the piano player" - but he was a wonderful jazz pianist, a swinger formed in the era of boogie and stride piano who layered those origins with almost free-form impressionism, classical devices, blues and gospel. His pianistic influence on Thelonious Monk, Abdullah Ibrahim and Stan Tracey, to name only three of scores of disciples, is evident throughout Piano in the Foreground. This rare Ellington piano-trio set combines a group of 1957 pieces with a 1961 set bearing this album's title. Sam Woodyard is the drummer on both, with Aaron Bell and Jimmy Woode sharing bass.

There's plenty of the relaxed stride feel and dreamy ballad romanticism that might be expected, but the overriding impression is of the remarkable openness of Ellington's approach - the musicians later testified to how little was said or planned. There are startlingly contemporary-sounding tone poems such as Fontainebleu Forest and Springtime in Africa; Summertime is almost a free-jazz piece of stabbing chords; and the four completely improvised pieces among the bonus tracks are worth the price of the disc on their own.

Blues in Orbit is an orchestra collection, recorded in 1959 by Teo Macero. An informal feel pervades it, and there are some special moments - not least a a vivacious Ray Nance on violin in a hooting C Jam Blues. But this is more of a routine Ellington exercise than the lost gem it's sold as - though a previously unissued item, the train-mimicking Track 360, does make you want to leap out of your seat and run for the platform. (The Guardian)