Ellington is always surprising, but this cd is unique, with symphonic orchestras. Usually, these kind of experiences might be boring, but not with the Duke ! So, it is less "jazzy" of course, but still very interesting. No immortal masterpiece, but no one will regret listening to this different Ellington.

The Night Creature suite is one of my all time favorites up there with the Allman Bros. Live at the Fillmore East, Rubber Soul, The Nutcracker suite. If you imagine the Nutcracker's Tchaikovsky meets West Side Story's Bernstein in Harlem from dusk to dawn you have a picture of the proceedings.

How do you think of Duke Ellington? Do you think the primal urges of "The Mooch" or "Black and Tan Fantasy"? Perhaps the groundbreaking "Take the A Train" or popular "Satin Doll"? There are just so many facets to Ellington's music and the pieces on this album are just another different side of his genius.

Duke Ellington always wanted to push his music into the realm of "classical", creating some large scale works in that attempt (think "Black, Brown and Beige"). One of the amazing things about this album is how much he resisted trying to create Gershwin or Still wanna-be works but recorded a real jazz album that happened to have an orchestra as a backdrop. And being Duke Ellington he never let the orchestra sound like jazz-based easy listening music (no 101 Strings).

Most of the pieces feature the various instruments of a typical big band, giving a lot of time out for individual solos. The orchestra usually just adds coloristic effects, though sometimes he took advantage of the possibilities, such as some of the interesting pizzicato work in Harlem.

I don't know enough about this type of jazz to say a whole lot or to compare it to other similar works. I will say that it often sounds very cinematic. I could imagine some of the pieces being used for a sophisticated Bond type spy movie, though I enjoy this more than the best of Bond soundtrack I have. Like Bond, a lot of these pieces have a huge amount of energy.

There is also a huge amount of sophistication. I never forget who is behind the music.

OK, maybe not the greatest Ellington album of all time, but it is still great and one that I am happy to own. At the price of the mp3 download, well.... they're almost giving it away....