Duke Ellington - Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band [3 CD, 2003]


Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band is a 2003 three-disc compilation combining the master takes of all the recordings by Duke Ellington's Orchestra during the years of 1940 to 1942 with an additional nine tracks, including five alternative takes and four new masters. While essentially an expanded re-release of 1990s The Blanton–Webster Band, the packaging, sound and updated notes make this, according to Allmusic, "truly worth either an initial investment or reinvestment". All About Jazz: New York noted that these performances, from what is often considered "the band in its prime", "not only set the standard for big bands and jazz orchestras, but created an ideal near insurmountable to improve upon". The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this compilation as part of its suggested "Core Collection."

Bassist Jimmy Blanton was only with the Ellington orchestra for two years, retiring in 1941 due to tuberculosis, and dying the following year at the age of 23. Despite this compilation's "Blanton-Webster Band" subtitle, Blanton does not appear on the final 17 tracks of the collection, having been replaced on bass by Alvin "Junior" Raglin. 





  • Ivie Anderson – vocals
  • Barney Bigard – clarinet, reeds, saxophone: tenor
  • Jimmy Blanton – bass
  • Lawrence Brown – trombone
  • Harry Carney – clarinet, saxophone: alto & baritone
  • Duke Ellington – piano, celeste
  • Sonny Greer – drums
  • Fred Guy – guitar
  • Otto Hardwick – reeds, saxophone: alto
  • Chauncey Haughton – clarinet, reeds, sax: tenor
  • Johnny Hodges – clarinet, reeds, saxophone: alto & soprano
  • Herb Jeffries – vocals
  • Wallace Jones – trumpet
  • Ray Nance – trumpet, violin, vocals
  • Rex Stewart – cornet
  • Billy Strayhorn – piano, celeste
  • Juan Tizol – trombone: valve
  • Ben Webster – reeds, saxophone: tenor
  • Cootie Williams – trumpet


Unless otherwise noted, all tracks by Duke Ellington.

Disc one

  1. "You, You Darlin'" (M.K. Jerome, Jack Scholl) – 3:19
  2. "Jack the Bear" – 3:15
  3. "Ko Ko" – 2:39
  4. "Morning Glory" (Ellington, Rex Stewart) – 3:15
  5. "So Far, So Good" (Jack Lawrence, Jimmy Mundy, E.G. White) – 2:50
  6. "Conga Brava" (Ellington, Juan Tizol) – 2:54
  7. "Concerto for Cootie" – 3:19
  8. "Me and You" – 2:54
  9. "Cotton Tail" – 3:08
  10. "Never No Lament (Don't Get Around Much Anymore)" (Ellington, Bob Russell) – 3:15
  11. "Dusk" – 3:19
  12. "Bojangles" – 2:50
  13. "A Portrait of Bert Williams" – 3:09
  14. "Blue Goose" – 3:21
  15. "Harlem Air Shaft" – 2:57
  16. "At a Dixie Roadside Diner" – (Joe Burke, Edgar Leslie) – 2:45
  17. "All Too Soon" (Ellington, Carl Sigman) – 3:28
  18. "Rumpus in Richmond" – 2:46
  19. "My Greatest Mistake" (Jack Fulton), Jack O'Brien) – 3:27
  20. "Sepia Panorama" – 3:20
  21. "There Shall Be No Night" (Gladys Shelley, Abner Silver) – 3:05
  22. "In a Mellow Tone" (Ellington, Milt Gabler) – 3:19
  23. "Five O'Clock Whistle" (Kim Gannon, Gene Irwin, Josef Myrow) – 3:18
  24. "The Flaming Sword" – 3:06
  25. "Warm Valley" – 3:20

Disc two

  1. "Across the Track Blues" – 2:58
  2. "Chloe (Song of the Swamp)" (Gus Kahn, Neil Moret) – 3:24
  3. "I Never Felt This Way Before" (Al Dubin, Ellington) – 3:23
  4. "The Sidewalks of New York" (James W. Blake, Charles B. Lawlor) – 3:14
  5. "Flamingo" (Edmund Anderson, Ted Grouya) – 3:22
  6. "The Girl in My Dreams Tries to Look Like You" – 3:19
  7. "Take the "A" Train" (Billy Strayhorn) – 2:54
  8. "Jumpin' Punkins" – 3:33
  9. "John Hardy's Wife" – 3:28
  10. "Blue Serge" – 3:20
  11. "After All" (Strayhorn) – 3:19
  12. "Bakiff" (Tizol) – 3:23
  13. "Are You Sticking?" – 3:02
  14. "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'" (Ellington, Gaines, Strayhorn) – 3:33
  15. "The Giddybug Gallop" – 3:29
  16. "Pitter Panther Patter" – 3:03
  17. "Body and Soul" (Frank Eyton, Johnny Green, Edward Heyman, Robert Sour) – 3:11
  18. "Sophisticated Lady" (Ellington, Irving Mills, Mitchell Parish) – 2:47
  19. "Mr. J.B. Blues" (Jimmy Blanton, Ellington) – 3:09
  20. "Ko Ko" (alternate take) – 2:40
  21. "Bojangles" (alternate take) – 2:46
  22. "Sepia Panorama" (alternate take) – 3:24
  23. "Jumpin' Punkins" (alternate take) – 3:42
  24. "Jump for Joy" (alternate take) (Ellington, Sid Kuller, Webster) – 2:56

Disc three

  1. "Chocolate Shake" (Ellington, Paul Francis Webster) – 2:50
  2. "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)" (Ellington, Webster) – 3:17
  3. "Clementine" (Strayhorn) – 2:53
  4. "Brown-Skin Gal (In the Calico Gown)" (Ellington, Webster) – 3:06
  5. "Jump for Joy" (Ellington, Kuller, Webster) – 2:50
  6. "Moon Over Cuba" (Ellington, Tizol) – 3:09
  7. "Five O'Clock Drag" – 2:49
  8. "Rocks in My Bed" – 3:06
  9. "Bli-Blip" (Ellington, Kuller) – 3:03
  10. "Chelsea Bridge" (Strayhorn) – 2:52
  11. "Rain Check" (Strayhorn) – 2:28
  12. "What Good Would It Do?" (Harry James, Buddy Pepper) – 2:44
  13. "I Don't Know What Kind of Blues I Got" – 3:13
  14. "Perdido" (Ervin Drake, H.J. Lengsfelder, Tizol) – 3:08
  15. "C Jam Blues" (Barney Bigard, Ellington) – 2:37
  16. "Moon Mist" – 2:58
  17. "What Am I Here For?" (Ellington, Frankie Laine) – 3:28
  18. "I Don't Mind" (Ellington, Strayhorn) – 2:49
  19. "Someone" – 3:09
  20. "My Little Brown Book" (Strayhorn) – 3:13
  21. "Main Stem" – 2:47
  22. "Johnny Come Lately" (Strayhorn) – 2:39
  23. "Hayfoot, Strawfoot" (Drake, Lengsfelder, Paul McGrane) – 2:30
  24. "Sentimental Lady" – 2:58
  25. "A Slip of the Lip (Can Sink a Ship)" (Ellington, Henderson) – 2:54
  26. "Sherman Shuffle" – 2:38

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