Duke Ellington made sublime music before 1940 and after 1942, but somehow it always comes down to those three crucial years in between when you want to talk magic. During that time, all the pieces came together. By 1940, the already crack band had been joined by three (not two, as the title would have you believe) remarkable musicians, who prodded Ellington's own creative imagination to new peaks: tenor saxophonist Ben Webster, pioneering bassist Jimmy Blanton and arranger-composer Billy Strayhorn.

Suddenly it was like production-line genius: the band began turning out more masterpieces per month than other bands produced in whole careers. Skimming the surface alone is frightening: "Take the 'A' Train," "Cotton Tail," "Harlem Air Shaft," "In a Mellotone," "Ko-Ko," "Chelsea Bridge," "All Too Soon." There's much more, and all of it crackles with originality and contemporary vitality.

What's most exhilarating is to hear Ellington molding indigenous sounds – jazz, blues, pop – with whatever outside influences he needed (European impressionism, Afro-Latin rhythms) to extend and reshape them into his own distinct language. There's a thrilling sense of unlimited boundaries with this band. Ellington may be the acknowledged auteur, but one of the pleasures of his work has always been in separating the parts from the whole. This collection can be enjoyed as a masterwork of composition and leadership or as a series of individual triumphs from the greatest team of jazz players (Johnny Hodges and Cootie Williams, et al.) ever assembled. In drawing together all that preceded him, Ellington pointed the way to all that followed. If you care about American music in any form, this is an essential record. (RS 495)

STEVE FUTTERMAN