The Duke Ellington Orchestra’s European tour of 1967 has already generated a generous spread of bootleg discs, but perhaps none of them as vibrantly recorded as this Stuttgart concert from 6 March. Matters do not, however, get off to a promising start. An unkempt 50-second scrap of ‘Take The “A” Train’ just about hangs together – before the curtain rises on the orchestra’s true glories. For those of us who adore ‘Rockin’ In Rhythm’, ‘Perdido’, et al, but have enough versions on our shelves, the main attraction here is the unusual programme. Following a sprightly trot through ‘Johnny Come Lately’, the orchestra bounces into ‘Swamp Goo’, a tune that appears to owe its chord voicings and orchestral colours to ‘The Mooche’, even as Russell Procope’s soulful clarinet nudges it into another direction. ‘A Chromatic Love Affair’, a ballad worthy of ‘The Single Petal Of A Rose’, finds Harry Carney swimming deep through fleet-of-foot modulations and whole-tone scales, floating against the harmonic anchors. The final piece, ‘Kixx’, is a close cousin of ‘Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue’ and the intensity of Rufus Jones’ solo sends the crowd home on a high. ‘Kixx’ also highlights what a hard-driven, funky band Ellington had in 1967, with raw-boned brass stabs and trenchant saxophones that could easily have given James Brown a run for his money. An exceptional Ducal night.