Featuring Paul Gonsalves


Featuring Paul Gonsalves is an album by American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader Duke Ellington. Without new material to work with, Ellington recorded the album with his orchestra and saxophonist Paul Gonsalves in 1962 during a four-hour recording session. It was not released until 1985 by Fantasy Records.

Critical reception

Writing for Playboy, Robert Christgau said while his own tastes in jazz ran to bebop rather than Ellington's big band, Gonsalves' performance highly impressed him: "It goes without saying that Gonsalves shows more sonic and harmonic imagination than such R&B contemporaries as Lee Allen and Sam 'The Man' Taylor. The beauty is that he's not above outhonking them as well." The AllMusic review by Stephen Cook awarded the album four ouf of five stars and stated, "Gonsalves turns this one-off session into one of the more enjoyable titles in Ellington's catalog".

Track listing

  1. "C Jam Blues" - 5:14
  2. "Take the "A" Train" - 5:43
  3. "Happy Go Lucky Local" - 5:03
  4. "Jam With Sam" - 3:18
  5. "Caravan" - 6:12
  6. "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'" - 4:49
  7. "Paris Blues" - 3:30
  8. "Ready, Go!" - 5:01