Vinyl - Duke Ellington - Money Jungle

The recording room rented by the United Artists company at Sound Makers Studios, on Manhattan's 57th Street, doesn't exactly look like a jungle. But, on the afternoon of Monday, September 17, 1962, it had all the makings of a petunia. The latter has set up branches in the building's corridors, elevators and even on the sidewalk. Among the passers-by, Edward Kennedy Ellington tries to chase Charles Mingus Junior. The latter has packed up his double bass and taken off. From a window, Alan Douglas, the session's producer, observes the scene; you can guess that he's only moderately fond of the picturesque....

Text by Alain Gerber