Like the earlier volumes in
Franco D'Andrea's series of albums honoring
Duke Ellington's suites,
The Deep South Suite consists of excerpts from a number of unrelated suites written throughout
Ellington's career, some of them written by or in collaboration with
Billy Strayhorn. With bassist
Ares Tavolazzi and drummer
Massimo Manzi, the pianist explores rarely recorded works as the intriguing "Hearsay or Orson Welles", a blues-drenched interpretation of the playful "Sunset and the Mockingbird" (from The Queen's Suite), and a dissonant arrangement of "Uwis" (from The Uwis Suite). Even dedicated
Ellington fans who are familiar with all of the original recordings of these works will be surprised at the facets that
Franco D'Andrea's trio reveals with their consistently excellent performances. ~ Ken Dryden