Duke Ellington - The Alternative Takes Vol.1-3 (2001)

This is the first volume in the Ellington "Alternate Takes in Chronological Order" "complementing the French [Chronogical Melodie] Classics CD series", produced by NEATWORK in Vienna, Austria.
Purchasers of this series should keep in mind that Classics does not necessarily use the same take that, say, BMG (RCA Victor) uses on its standard reissues so these "alternate" takes may well be takes you already have if you own the standard corporate product.
The first five tracks reproduce Blu-Disc, Up-to-date, Gennett and Paramount recordings:
"Deacon Jazz" and "Oh! how I love my darling" are piano accompaniments of singers Jo Trent and Ellington's drummer Sonny Greer respectively. Both are comic music hall numbers. Florence Bristol sings "How come you do me like you do?" accompanied by Duke and a surprisingly vigorous Otto Hardwick on alto. In "Everything is hotsy totsy now" Duke plays piano while Irving Mills nasally shouts "she's my totsy, I'm her hotsy etc." and belabors a kazoo in a way that's almost musical. "Jig walk" is a 40's era recording from an apparently since deceased piano roll that Ellington himself may or may not have made. The echoing piano is occasionally overpowered by a hideous drum machine. The composition descends from one he created while still a teenager in Washington and later utilized in a 1925 musical.
Tracks 6 to 12 are Vocalion, Victor or Okeh recordings which have been released elsewhere; "Blue Bubbles", however is an outstanding early Miley-Ellington classic which BMG has for some reason not released on any of its three single CD re-issues, only on the 26-disc "Centennial set", and only Victor recorded it, so many younger Ellington fans may not have heard it.
"Jubilee Stomp" and "Take it easy" are Pathe releases, "the Mooche" a Cameo release, not terribly different from their Victor and Brunswick counterparts. The "St. Louis Blues" is performed largely by Matt Malneck and his white ham orchestra, with Duke, Bubber Miley, Barney Bigard, Wellman Braud, Freddy Guy and Sonny Greer bursting in at midpoint, to this listener's great relief.
The rest of the tracks are Brunswick/Vocalion recordings available on the 3-CD set "Early Ellington".
Sound quality is comparable to that on the Chronogical Melodie Jazz Classics, i.e. generally below the level of BMG, Sony & "Decca" reissues. Small label recordings are noisier and more distorted so listeners who are bothered by these sort of things may want to stay away; hard core fans of early jazz will probably find it acceptable.