did this a while back with Cowgirl in the Sand
realized i had 8 different versions of Blood Count, the last tune Billy Strayhorn wrote before he died in 1967 of cancer. it's powerful, poignant, wistful, melancholy, angry, passionate...in short, the blues, beautifully played on the Duke's tribute to strayhorn by the great Johnny Hodges, several additional versions to follow in the comments.
Posted on 10/05/2007
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My Trusted MOGs
Stand Getz, who made Blood Count something of a signature tune, from Pure Getz
and live at Tivoli in Copenhagen
My Trusted MOGs
Joe Henderson, from his tribute to Strayhorn, Lush Life
A version with Fluglehorn, from Art Farmer's Something to Live For, likewise a Strayhorn "tribute" album
My Trusted MOGs
saving the best for last
My man Mr. Watson on alto
Norris Turney, equally at home on flute and alto, who replaced Hodges on tenor in the Ellington band
My Trusted MOGs
Wow, a whole album with just one song/theme. We could start with this "Blood Count."
Of all the versions proposed Duke's and Henderson's are the ones for which I feel the most.
I need to get back to your post and re-listen...
(To be continued then)
My Trusted MOGs
it's a bit unfair i suppose to take them as one-offs, in a sense they all work better integrated into the whole of their respective albums, and "And his Mother Called Him Bill" may be my fave Ellington album, along with the New Orleans and Far East Suites. I'll do a whole Big Sweet and Blue post as well, 'cause i really love Turney's fat tenore sound.