Duke Ellington broadcast 10.13.45 with SID CATLETT

The immortal drummer Sid Catlett filled in for Ellington's longtime percussionist Sonny Greer in mid-October 1945. Catlett was present on a recording session for RCA Victor (two sides) just days before this broadcast. It's been suggested that he also appears on few other contemporaneous airchecks, but it doesn't sound like him to my ears.
To be able to pick up so quickly on Ellington and Strayhorn's complex creations is proof positive of Catlett's innate sense of form and structure. His comments throughout are very different than Greer's, but just as effective.
We're lucky to have not only this broadcast, but the entire run of the 1945/46 Date With The Duke series in superb fidelity, and much of the credit must go to the late Ellington collector Jerry Valburn and then also to Storyville Records for reissuing Valburn's LPs on CD with a load of supplemental material.
The personnel and tune list is included in the video.

Видео Duke Ellington broadcast 10.13.45 with SID CATLETT канала Loren Schoenberg