Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue

Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington's album is based on Money Jungle, a recording by pianist Duke Ellington with double bassist Charles Mingus and drummer Max Roach,[1] which was released in 1963.[2] Her core trio for the recording included pianist Gerald Clayton and bassist Christian McBride.[3] Carrington said that she did not realize that her recording was made fifty years after Money Jungle, and that she had made the decision to do it about half a dozen years earlier.[4]

All but three of the tracks were written by Ellington.[3] Carrington's "Grass Roots" is a blues, her "No Boxes (Nor Words)" is a post-bop piece,[3] while Clayton's ballad "Cut Off" alludes to Ellington's "Solitude".[1] On "Rem Blues/Music", Shea Rose and Herbie Hancock read Ellington's poem "Music".[1]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Down Beat	[5]
The Guardian	[6]

Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue was released by Concord Jazz on February 25, 2013.[7] It won the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album.[8]

The Down Beat reviewer wrote that the presence of guests reduced the focus of the album, and commented that the trio tracks were more successful.[5] The JazzTimes reviewer criticized as obvious the use of "money-themed sound bites by present and former presidents", but described the album as a whole as "wholly engrossing".[9] For AllMusic's Thom Jurek, the spoken sound bites were "an artistic, musical indictment of the pervasive corruption in Western capitalism"; he praised Carrington because she "reveals the pervasive nature [of] the blues in the original album's compositions and intent, and underscores how their importance resonates in jazz's present tense".[3]

All tracks were written by Duke Ellington, except where noted.

1. "Money Jungle" – 6:21
2. "Fleurette Africain" – 5:56
3. "Backward Country Boy Blues" – 6:00
4. "Very Special" – 4:11
5. "Wig Wise" – 6:17
6. "Grass Roots" (Terri Lyne Carrington) – 4:38
7. "No Boxes (Nor Words)" (Carrington) – 5:37
8. "A Little Max (Parfait)" – 5:01
9. "Switch Blade" – 6:28
10. "Cut Off" (Gerald Clayton) – 5:08
11. "Rem Blues/Music" – 6:44

Source:[3]

• Terri Lyne Carrington – drums
• Gerald Clayton – piano
• Christian McBride – bass
• Clark Terry – trumpet, vocals (track 2)
• Robin Eubanks – trombone (tracks 2, 9)
• Antonio Hart – flute (tracks 2, 9)
• Tia Fuller – flute (track 2), alto saxophone (track 9)
• Nir Felder – guitar (track 3)
• Arturo Stabile – percussion (track 8)
• Lizz Wright – vocals (track 3)
• Shea Rose – vocals (track 11)
• Herbie Hancock – vocals (track 11)

Source:[5]