The album I chose to review is called Money Jungle, with Duke Ellington on piano. This album was first recorded on September 17, 1962, however it was not released until February 1963 by the United Artists record label. The history of this album is quite interesting because when it was released in 1963 there were only seven songs on the album; however, in 1979 Blue Note Records reissued the album on CD and included four previously unreleased songs written for the album but never released, and two alternate versions. Eventually, in 2002, Blue Note re-released the album after improving the quality of the original recording, particularly enhancing the sound of the drums. This album resulted in the addition of two more alternate takes, increasing the track count from seven to fifteen songs in the final version of the album. The genre of jazz in this album is described as post-bop. I decided to review this album because Duke Ellington is a highly recognized name in jazz music and this album consists of only the rhythm section. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay This album had Ellington on piano, Charles Mingus on double bass, and Max Roach on drums. All three of these artists have left a very powerful legacy, so it's interesting to see how these three legends work together. Duke Ellington himself composed all the songs on this album, except for one song titled "Caravan". After discovering that "Caravan" was on this album I couldn't resist the temptation to review it since it's one of the songs we're playing. in class. Juan Tizol composed this song. The song begins with Max Roach playing a coherent but simple rhythm on the toms, followed by the introduction of Mingus on bass and finally Duke Ellington on piano. When Ellington first enters he has a dark tone, which is powerful because the drummer and bassist are not very complicated at the beginning of this piece. Throughout this piece we move from Latin to swing, however the transitions are quite simple on the drums. During the Latin portions of the song, Roach doesn't use cymbals at all and instead focuses on keeping it simple by creating a rhythm with just the toms. This provided a very powerful and distinct transition leading into the swing rhythm, which was accompanied by a seductive sound on the ride cymbal and Roach performing simple compositions on the snare drum. There are no solos, however the pianist constantly changes his playing style throughout the piece. Max Roach is very subtle for most of the piece, but gets his chance to shine at the end when he gets a few fill bars, where you hear him quickly spinning around the set with remarkable speed. Max Roach and Mingus really seem to push Ellington to the point where he dominates them both in the song. The song that affected me the most on the entire album was "A Little Max". This song was by far the most interesting I heard on the entire album. Normally a drummer is there to keep time and compliment the other musicians, however this song is basically a drum solo, which is accompanied by bass and piano compositions, exchanging the roles of the drummer with the other musicians. Roach exploits virtually every nook and cranny of his drumming using toms, snare, and even edges. Both Ellington and Mingus manage to stay very light behind the drummer and complement his solo well. Roach's style is very interesting because he seems to refuse to use the plates. In his solo he only touches the hi-hat a handful of times and doesn't use the ride or crash at all. The most admirable aspect of his playing.