Last week, the members of DESUK were blessed with a new issue of Blue Light. It is another issue full of interesting articles, information and comments.

The dominant theme is Ellington in Paris and readers get a full plate of articles on this topic.

Blue Light’s editor, Ian Bradley, summarizes, Ellington’s many visits to Paris and provides the lead-in to the three main articles on the Paris theme.

“68 hours without sleep” is a fascinating diary-style article by German-born jazz critic (and much more) Ernest Borneman written 68 years ago and most likely never published before. It gives a strong sense of the enthusiasm, chaos and festivities which surrounded Ellington’s visit to Paris in 1948. A must read for anyone, who is interested in the general environment in which Ellington lived and played his music.

Paris Blues is covered in a reprint of lengthy essay by Professor Krin Gabbard called ” Paris Blues: Ellungton, Armstrong and Saying It with Music”. It is a very solid article with a lot of details on the making of the music for the film and its integration into it.

The third article on the Paris theme deals with Ellington’s recordings and performances of “Autumn Leaves” and is written by Roger Boyes. In his habitual style, he walks the readers through Ellington’s recordings and performances of the song and advices them on which to listen to.

In addition to the Paris articles, the new issue of Blue Light also gives a detailed report on the 24th Ellington Study Group Conference written by Geoff Smith. For DESS’ members it supplements the reports on the DESS website and in the latest DESS Bulletin.