In the era of the 78 rpm gramophone record, Ellington and his various orchestras and small units recorded almost one thousand titles (1925-1954). The one hour which constitutes this present collection is around one fiftieth of this huge legacy. It covers the period 1927-1935, and surprisingly perhaps, over half the titles included are not Ellington compositions. The listener thus has the opportunity to study the orchestra in several untypical performances.