The Mule's 10 random CD picks (2)

* Coleman Hawkins - 1943-1944 (Classics 807)

* Duke Ellington - The Great Chicago Concerts (Music Masters 65110-2)

* Cat Anderson - The Definitive Black & Blue Sessions: Cat Speaks (Black & Blue BB 971.2)

* Luckey Roberts & Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith - Luckey & The Lion: Harlem Piano Solos (Good Time Jazz 10035)

* Rossano Sportiello - Rossano. In The Dark (Blue Swing 002 / Sackville SKCD 2-2070)

* Bennie Wallace - Disorder At The Border. The Music Of Coleman Hawkins (Enja ENJ-9506 2)

* Sarah Vaughan - 1951-1952 (Classics 1296)

* Gene Ammons & Sonny Stitt - God Bless Jug And Sonny (Prestige PRCD-11019-2)

* Wild Bill Davison - Pretty Wild and With Strings Attached (Arbors ARCD 19175)

* Various Artists - The Jazz Piano (Mosaic Singles MCD-1012)

Leonard Feather on Duke Ellington (NYT, Dec. 1944)

Between May and December 1943, a series of articles on Ellington's Carnegie Hall debut was published in the American magazine Jazz.

John Hammond fired the controversy up with his article "Is The Duke Deserting Jazz?", published in the May 1943 issue, where he criticized Ellington's music (particularly Black, Brown & Beige) for having lost connection with its original function for dancing, and for having become too complex. Hammmond had previously criticized Ellington's Reminiscing In Tempo in his article "The Tragedy Of Duke Ellington", published in the November 1935 issue of Downbeat, for not showing any commitment to social causes.

Leonard Feather, acting both as a critic and as Ellington's press agent, responded to Hammond with a ferocious rebuttal in the May 1943 issue, suggesting possible personal reasons behind Hammond's criticism of Ellington.

Jazz's editor Bob Thiele took a more moderate possition in the July 1943 issue, with an article called "The Case Of Jazz Music". Three other articles were added to this debate: Jake Trussell's "Ellington Hits The Top, And The Bottom" (May 1943) and "In Defense Of Hammond" (July 1943) and Jim Weaver's "Jazz And Ellingtonia" (December 1943).

The following article by Leonard Feather, "The Duke And His Place In Jazz History", was published in the New York Times twelve months after this controversy.

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