Piano in the Foreground explained

Piano in the Foreground
Type:	Album
Artist:	Duke Ellington
Cover:	Piano in the Foreground.jpg
Released:	1961
Recorded:	March 1 & 2, 1961
Genre:	Jazz
Label:	Columbia
Chronology:	Duke Ellington
Prev Title:	Piano in the Background
Prev Year:	1960
Next Title:	The Great Summit
Next Year:	1961

Piano in the Foreground is an album by American pianist, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington recorded and released on the Columbia label in 1961.^[1] It features Ellington in a piano trio setting, emphasising his own keyboard prowess rather than the big band arrangements more typical of his recordings.

Track listing

All compositions by Duke Ellington except as indicated

1. "I Can't Get Started" (Vernon Duke, Ira Gershwin) – 4:23
2. "Cong-Go" (Aaron Bell, Ellington) – 4:16
3. "Body and Soul" (Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton, Johnny Green) – 4:49
4. "Blues for Jerry" – 4:38
5. "Fontainebleau Forest" – 2:53
6. "Summertime" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Dubose Heyward) – 3:52
7. "It's Bad to Be Forgotten" – 3:22
8. "A Hundred Dreams Ago" – 2:26
9. "So" – 4:33
10. "Searching (Pleading for Love)" – 1:49
11. "Springtime in Africa" (Bell, Ellington) – 3:46
12. "Lotus Blossom" (Billy Strayhorn) – 3:18
13. "All the Things You Are" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern) – 4:00 Bonus track on CD reissue
14. "All the Things You Are" [alternate take] (Hammerstein, Kern) – 3:51 Bonus track on CD reissue
15. "Piano Improvisation No. 2" – 3:25 Bonus track on CD reissue
16. "Piano Improvisation No. 3" – 2:48 Bonus track on CD reissue
17. "Piano Improvisation No. 4" – 1:53 Bonus track on CD reissue
18. "Piano Improvisation No. 1" – 9:45 Bonus track on CD reissue

• Recorded:

at Columbia Records 30th Street Studio on March 20, 1957 (tracks 15–18) (stereo)

at Columbia Records 30th Street Studio on October 10, 1957 (tracks 13–14) (monaural)

at Radio Recorders, Los Angeles on March 1, 1961 (tracks 1–11) & March 2, 1961 (track 12) (stereo)

Personnel

• • Duke Ellington – piano Aaron Bell – bass (#1–12)
• Jimmy Woode – bass (#13–18)
• Sam Woodyard – drums

Notes and References

1. http://www.depanorama.net/index.htm A Duke Ellington Panorama