The more you listen, the more respect you have for Jackson and his musical ideas.
The Duke is nothing if not a fitting tribute from one musical genius to another.
— review by Jack Goodstein, blogcritics.org, 19 June 2012
Jackson didn't simply take the Duke's melodies and try to modernize their possibilities.
He made every attempt to capture the spirit of Ellington's lively style, his range and diversity,
as well as the Duke's ability to match performers with material.
— review by Wesley Britton, blogcritics.org, 10 June 2012
Jackson has added a new layer to the commercial-jazz crossover world with this disc. 'The Duke'
would be proud.
— review by Steven Bergman, Edge (US), 28 June 2012
'The Duke' is an interesting and occasionally rewarding exercise in canonical interpolation.
Just keep the skip button on your remote easily accessible.
— review by Chris Chafin, Capital New York (US), 26 June 2012
What I hear in this album is Joe Jackson doing what he's always done: soaking in the essence
of something and then extending it through his own eclectic past. There are definite traces of his
previous work here...
— review by Mark Saleski, Something Else!, 13 July 2012
Some remakes emit sparks, but all too few. [...] Joe Jackson's obvious love of jazz is commendable,
and like peer Elvis Costello, he continually expands his sound and experiments in other genres. However,
tinkering with Ellington's elegant and groundbreaking catalog is a dangerous undertaking, and much of
The Duke falls short of capturing the timeless essence of these songs.
— review by Kit O'Toole, Something Else!, 24 June 2012
But most of the time, Jackson's new arrangements of Ellington's compositions don't serve the
songs so much as they betray the arrogance of a musician who wants to show us how he can bring
this music into the present day while ignoring many of the qualities that made it timeless. Duke
Ellington was a man with remarkable creative ambitions who also understood the virtues of simplicity;
Joe Jackson clearly follows his hero in the former category, but the latter lesson has been lost
on him, judging from The Duke.
— allmusic.com, June 2012
(2.5/5 stars)
The result could be described as a colourful multicultural conglomerate which breathes the
naturalness of mixing desks and Dolby Surround systems. (my translation; original: Das Ergebnis
kann man demgemäß als buntes, multikulturelles Konglomerat bezeichnen, das die
Natürlichkeit von Mischpulten und Dolby-Surround-Anlagen atmet.)
— rollingstone.de, 20 June 2012
(2/5 stars)
'The Duke' is an awful, awful record. It ain't got any swing, and it don't mean a thing.
— review by Steve Greenlee, Boston Globe (US), 25 June 2012
Further reviews:
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