This entry in Sony's Jazz Moods series offers a tasty selection of early recordings by the peerless Duke Ellington Orchestra. With 14 tracks recorded between 1927 and 1941, it's a solid one-disc introduction to the first three stages of Duke Ellington's enormous recorded legacy.

The earliest material here—"The Mooche" and "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo", (the Duke's first theme song)—give a great sense of the unique "jungle sound" that first made Ellington's reputation. The band was still quite small at this point, but the remarkable Ellington approach is already present—the muted horns growl and wail like unearthly animals. There's an urgency and rawness and a lowdown, urban feel to these tunes that remains utterly arresting.

The songs here from the early 1930s—including rollicking classics like "Ring Dem Bells", "Rockin' In Rhythm" (the band's second theme song), and the immortal "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)"—represent the maturing Ellington sound.

During this period, the Duke added more players to his brass and reed sections—plus vocalist Ivie Anderson—and began writing more complex arrangements, highlighting the unique talents of his individual soloists. The mid-thirties explosion of the Big Bands was still a couple of years ahead, but the Duke (along with Fletcher Henderson) had already devised the template for how a large band could swing.

Over half of the songs in this collection are from 1936 to 1941. During these years, the Ellington Orchestra attained full size and peaked for the first time. The Duke responded to the competition of the Swing Era with brilliant recordings like "Caravan", "Cotton Tail", "Braggin' In Brass", and Billy Strayhorn's first composition for the Ellington band, the blow-the-roof-off "Take The 'A' Train" (which remained the Duke's theme song from this time forward.) This material swings as hard as the Count Basie band, but with the greater musical and emotional sophistication that was always the Duke's hallmark.

These classic recordings include all of Ellington's great soloists of those early years—reed players Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Barney Bigard, and Ben Webster; trumpeters Buber Miley, Rex Stewart, Cootie Williams, and Ray Nance; trombonists Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown, and Tricky Sam Nanton; bassmen Wellman Braud and Jimmy Blanton; and drummer Sonny Greer. And then there's the Duke himself, with a subtle piano style that was always completely unlike anyone else's.

If there's anything to complain about with this collection, it's that it could easily have included a few more tracks, and that it doesn't have detailed notes on the recordings. Of course, there are also many other multiple-disc anthologies out there that cover the same ground in vastly more detail, but Jazz Moods – Hot is a fine choice for folks just starting to dip into these essential earlier Duke Ellington masterworks.