Duke Ellington

Ditto on "Money Jungle" on blue note label.
I have the Duke Ellington/Louis Armstrong collaboration (now I forget the title) released as 2LP set long out of print on Mobile Fidelity Sound labs label. I think Classic Records has released the set as two separate LPs. Another one I like is Duke Ellington with John Coltrane (sorry forgot the title on that one two) on Impulse label.
Yeah really great master player, kind of zen like in his quest for economy of notes and a search for perfect melodic relationships. When I was young I thought this was old foggey music but now I think he was a genius.

This is a huge body of work. For me the older stuff can be hard to listen to - I just have a lot of trouble getting past the noise and artifacts of the recording process.

Here are a few more to consider.

Duke Ellington Meets Count Basie - two bands playing as one

The Great Summit - Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington - fab

Side by Side - Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges

Back to Back - Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges

both these are small ensembles with Hodges on horn and Ellington clearly featured on piano

Francis A & Edward K - Old Blue Eyes and the Duke who cares for him as carefully as he does Ella and Rosemary Clooney - course you gotta like Sinatra to like this one

Live In Swing City: Swinging With The Duke - Wynton Marsalis and group out of Lincoln Center

I'm not sure if they'e available on cd, but on lp:

1) The Queen's Suite
2) Intimacy of the Blues

This is not "Take The A Train", middle of the fairway Duke Ellington BUT
these are two of the greatest records I've ever heard.

BTW "Take The A Train" and all of Duke's classics are absolutely worth owning and can be found on nmumerous "Best Of" compilations.

Thanks for the recommendations! I'll be checking out all of them very soon.

Jond: Thanks for the welcome. By the way, I will have to consider moving to speakers with a smaller footprint, possibly monitors. You went through something similar, right?

Thedautch: thanks for the recommendation, I've never been to E. on E. but have only heard good things about it. As soon as I find some time to check it out, I'll let you know.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned 'Blues in Orbit' Great songs and one of my favorite recordings