This is a cheap remaster and complilation of Ellington's old greats. It sounds poor, looks cheap, and is messy all the way around. Go get New Orleans Suite, Far East Suite, Festival Session, Jazz Violin Sessions, By Ellington anything but this!

"Black and Tan Fantasy," "Moonglow," "Boy Meets Horn" "Take the 'A' Train," "Jump for Joy." Those classics and 89 others are featured on this amazing four-disc set put out by Proper Records. To me, this is Duke Ellington at his very best. "Masterpieces" showcases the classic big band swing sound including an occasional vocal accompaniment, sweet horn solos and a hopping piano.
While the unquestioned star is bandleader and arranger Ellington, other music luminaries such as Cootie Williams, Barney Bigard, Ben Webster and the incomparable Johnny Hodges also feature.
The sound quality is superb, always a concern with music from the first half of the 20th century.
Some may quibble with a song or two that was left off but I spotted no obvious omissions.
"Masterpieces" is a must for any devotee of Ellington's or the big band sound. The booklet is nice addition but don't bother trying to read it while listening to the CDs, you won't want any distraction from some of the best music ever recorded.

This is about as coherent an overview of the earlier recordings of Ellington that you are likely to find. Ellington and his orchestra recorded with Vocalion, Okeh, Brunswick, Columbia & RCA Victor at various times, and re-recorded, several times, most of the selections found on this collection. The result is a tangle of recordings that makes the definitive Ellington collection impossible. Complicating matters is the fact that different modern corporations (Sony & BMG, for example) own the rights to the earlier record labels. Adding a truly complete Ellington collection from this period to your library might be possible in theory, but at enormous expense and effort.

If you don't feel like devoting that type of time and money to such a quest, this collection is perfectly nice substitute. Reasonably well-engineered and with excellent liner notes, this collection provides a good cross-section of Ellington's work over 2 decades. The selections, for those who particularly care, are in chronological order, and are supposed to be the first recordings issued on the label in question. The notes will also tell you which original labels under which these recordings were issued, and also the band personnel for each selection.

It also helps that this collection is extremely affordable. You get 4 discs containing nearly 5 hours of music for little more than 20 dollars. It is hard to complain about that. Hard-core Ellington devotees will want a more definitive collection, of course. If you are looking for more from this period, the complete collections of the Okeh & Brunswick labels are available. The Vocalion label is (I believe) available with the RCA/Victor complete collection. I particularly like the Brunswick collection, and would encourage its addition to your collection, but this collection here is an excellent place to start.

If you don't know Duke Ellington's music, and are looking for a good introduction, buy this. It is simply fantastic, and the price can't be beat.

Are you one of the lucky ones who knows, in advance, you'll be shipwrecked? Then you can plan to take along this especially great 4-cd set of Duke Ellington. You'll be so happy you did..... You'll be especially happy when you're picking fruits and berries, gathering kindling, and building that hut. Why? Because, you'll be in heaven when listening to these tunes. Walking around, dancing, eating, painting, swimming, waving to airplanes, stargazing, whatever (!) it will work beautifully ...... and even if you miss that ill-fated ship, and you just have this music in your own home, you will have endless joy with this perfect, amazing music from the wonder of Duke Ellington................ Rated: one million stars, because of the additional bonus factor that you'll never, ever get sick of these records.