DESCRIPTION:
This is a rare live recording and the only known recorded evidence of Jimmie Blanton playing slap-style towards the end of the solo, taken from a radio broadcast from June 1941 when the Ellington Orchestra took residence in the Trianon Ballroom in Los Angeles, CA.
Duke Ellington was no fool. He knew Blanton was a once-in-a-lifetime talent, and put the bass player front-and-center in his orchestra every night (unheard of at the time). He was the most talented member of the most talented band in the world. Tragically, Blanton came down with Tuberculosis and had to leave the band in fall 1941, and passed away in 1942.