Ellington's version of jazz history in 3 minutes & 45 seconds
Jazz scholar Lewis Porter has an interesting post featuring an all-but-forgotten composition in which Ellington runs down the history of jazz in three+ minutes. The only available recording is on a short film-clip, which Porter includes in his post.
Here's Porter's account of what happens:
A lot happens in this piece, which actually runs about 3 minutes and 45 seconds. First of all, it’s not a chronological history. It’s a kind of collage, with many short sections at different tempos that could, conceivably, be rearranged at will. It starts with a close-up ...