Stockholm 1994 (1)
After almost two years of preparations, the official opening of the Ellington ’94 conference in Stockholm took place on May 20, 1994. It was the 12th one in the series of Study Group Conferences.
The night before, the participants had got acquinted at a “Get-Together-Party” and had time to read the 40 pages program provided to all.
Program 94 (pdf downloadable)
Ads about the conference had been in the Stockholm newspapers well in advance.
Almost 250 Ellington experts and aficionados from 18 countries had registered for the conference. It took place in the Scandic Crown Hotel in the center of Stockholm, where the participants could listen to a lot of presentations and music and also to mingle with each other.
Music events also took place at the Stockholm Concert Hall , The Swedish Radio Concert Hall and in many other venues in Stockholm.
In November, the website will provide a number of snapshots from the conference. They will be based on contributions by Göran Wallén, the organiser and chairman of the conference, and Sjef Hoefsmit’s video from it.
Here is Hoefsmit’s video from the opening of the conference with Göran Wallén and Alice Babs.
The Treasury Shows Vol. 24
Storyville has now issued volume 24 in “The Treasury Shows” series. It is the next to last in the series and it represents a jump of seven years from the broadcasts in volume 23.
It is a very different orchestra from the one heard in the 1946 broadcasts and the world has changed a lot around Ellington and big band music.
By 1953, Ellington is the only big band leader, who has not disbanded his orchestra since the start and the year before, Downboat Magazine gave the Duke a special recognition for this.
The album offers four June 1953 broadcasts from Blue Note in Chicago and an April 1, 1944 broadcast from Hurricane Restaurant in New York. The Blue Note broadcasts were originally issued as volume 47 and 48 in the DETS LP series.
They demonstrate very well the energy and skills of the rejuvenated Ellington orchestra. I hope that those who consider the early 1950s a disastrous period in Ellington’s career take time to enjoy what the newcomers to the band like Clark Terry, Willie Cook, Britt Woodman, Paul Gonsalves and others brought to it.
For the first time in the DETS series, two of the broadcasts have no U.S. Government bond promotion whatsoever. Both were apparently transmitted in the “Music For Modern” series, which was one of NBCs programs for jazz and big band music.
By the time the broadcasts took place, Ellington had made his first recordings for Capitol. In the absence of bond promotion, he took ample time to promote them.
When Storyville’s DETS series comes to its end with volume 25, Storyville has achieved something incredible for which it must be highly lauded by the Ellington and other jazz fans.
Interpreting Ellington (2)
Thore Ehrling & his orchestra play East St. Louis Toodle-Oo
The above recording is our starter for a small programme of prominent jazz musicians who present their own interpretations of Ellington’s music, to which we include also Billy Strayhorn’s compositions.
Thore Ehrling’s recording of East St. Louis-Toodle-Oo comes from an SR broadcast in 1945. This orchestra had many talanted jazz musicians, such as Gösta Törner on trumpet, Georg Vernon, trombone, John Björling and Carl-Henrik Norin reeds and they together present a very enjoyable version of Ellington’s early theme song. The rest of the programme is of mixed origin, and we present the tunes in the original Ellington chronology. You will find the complete programme below. (more…)
Duke at Cafe Zanzibar, Sept. 23, 1945
Duke Ellington på Hurricane Restaurant, senare omdöpt till Cafe Zanzibar
Lawrence Brown är solist i Love Letters
Bilden ovan är sannolikt från Hurricane Restaurant 1944. Ellington och hans orkester var engagerade där under ett stort antal veckor under år 1943 och 1944. Etablissemanget genomgick en renovering i början av 1945, och döptes därvid om till Cafe Zanzibar, där vi återigen återfinner Duke Ellington och hans mannar under sensommaren och hösten 1945. Från åren 1943 till 1946 finns en myckenhet radioutsändningar bevarade, varav många finns utgivna på DETS-serien . I det här fallet rör det sig om en MBS-utsändning,(MBS=Mutual Broadcasting System) som inte utgivits tidigare och som DESS-medlemmarna nu kan hitta i sin helhet i Godisrummet. (more…)
Smått och gott / Bits and Pieces
Nästa klubbmöte
Nästa DESS-möte äger rum torsdagen den 7 december 2017. Fullständig kallelse finns i nästa nummer av Bulletinen.
Grundaren av skiv- och distributionsbolaget AdLib, Ivan Sundberg, kommer att bjuda på en musikalisk “Pytt-i-Panna à la Duke efter behag” och Stockholm Jazz Trio kommer att svara för den levande musiken.
Trion bestående av Daniel Tilling piano, Jan Adefelt bas och Jesper Kviberg trummor och den kommer att framföra något de kallar för History of Piano Trio Jazz med bl.a. musik av Duke Ellington och Billy Strayhorn.
Ivie Anderson
David Palmquists oumbärliga webbplats “The Duke – Where and When” (TDWAW) (http://tdwaw.ca) har nu försetts med en tillägssida fokuserad på Ivie Anderson.
Den har utvecklats tillsammans med Steven Lasker och Ken Steiner och innehåller mycket information om Andersons karriär och liv. Rekommenderas på det varmaste. Länken till den är http://tdwaw.ellingtonweb.ca/IvieAnderson.html.
Laurent Mignard Duke Orchestra
Den 29 april 2017 gav orkestern gav en Ellington-konsert i den legendariska studio 104 i Maison de la radio i Paris. France Musique sände en inspelning av den i två delar den 23 och 24 september. Länken till dem är https://www.francemusique.fr/personne/laurent-mignard. Men en sammanklippning av de båda utsändningarna finns också i radioavdelningen av Ellington-arkivet.
Ellington-serie på Sveriges Radio 1994 (1)
Den 10 januari 1994 sände Sveriges Radio det första av tio program om Duke Ellington och hans musik. Idén till serien kom från Lars Westin och Jan Bruér, som också ställde samman programmen och svarade för ”pratet”.
”Det var den planerade Ellington-konferensen i Stockholm i maj 1994 som gav oss impulsen att sända programserien”, säger Jan Bruér, ”och vi var glada att Jazzradions ledning – Bosse Broberg – ställde upp på idén”.
”Som Lars Westin säger i inledningen av det första programmet hade vi ingen brist på material. Utmaningen var i stället att ställa samman det så att vi gav en så mångfacetterad bild av Ellington som möjligt och också täckte hans olika epoker.”
”Vi hade också förhoppningen att programmet skulle nå bortom den inre kretsen av hängivna Ellington-vänner och hjälpa nya generationer att upptäcka Ellingtons storhet.”
Programserien sändes varannan vecka och avslutades den 19 maj 1994.
Varje program hade sin egen profil och det första programmet är lite av ett Ellington-kalejdoskop, som introducerar olika stilar, musikaliska ansatser och Ellingtons musiker.
Precis som när programserien ursprungligen sändes kommer webbplatsen att göra ett nytt program tillgängligt varannan vecka.
Det första programmet kallat “Kinda Dukish” finns nu tillgängligt för DESS-medlemmar i radiodelen av Ellington-arkivet.
Ellington Study Group Washington D.C. 1983
The first full-scale Duke Ellington Study Group Conference was organized in May (5-7) 1983 by Chapter 90 of The Duke Ellington Society Washington D.C. .
Some 90 people took part in the meeting. The program was a mixture of presentations, live music and discussions as would be the case in future Ellington conferences.
The conference has been preserved on tapes. This article makes use of six K7 tapes in the Benny Åslund Collection. He most likely got it from the one who made the recordings – was it Jack Towers? – or possibly from Jerry Valburn. The sound quality is quite good but there are of course some glitches.
Among the presenters and speakers at the two and a half-day conference was Martin Williams, Dan Morgenstern, Bruce Kennan, Patricia Willard, Willis Conover, Jerry Valburn, Eddie Lambert and Sjef Hoefsmit.
The topic of Williams’ presentation was “Ellington, The Composer” and he gave many examples to make his point(s). Apparently, the audience had sheets with the music he played but one can enjoy his talk without them.
Blue Light 2017-3 and 2015-3
The 2017 autumn issue of Blue Light has been distributed to DESUK members.
Following in the steps of the previous issue, it basically has one major article and some more house-keeping ones about DESUK activities and information on concerts with Ellington music in the U.K.
Possibly, this is because of the length of the article on Irving Mills’ Publicity Operation in the 1930s contributed by Steven Lasker. This very interesting and detailed article is highly recommended.
It discusses the four advertising manuals / press books that the Irving Mills organization produced in the 1930s of which the first two were entirely dedicated to promoting Ellington. The article includes a 20 pages facsimile of the 1931 advertising manual for Ellington. It was republished in 1933 together with additionally 26 pages.
Those pages will apparently be published in the next issue of Blue Light together with an article by Carl Woideck, who gave a presentation on the advertising manuals at the 2016 Ellington Study Group Conference in New York.
Trianon Ballroom, Seattle, May 1, 1954 (2)
Britt Woodman
Britt Woodman plays Theme For Trambean
We continue with some more music from the Ellington dance date att Trianon Ballroom on May 1, 1954 in Seattle for th Goodies Room. We start where we ended previously with In The Mood since that performance was not fully complete. Soloists are: Clark Terry, Russell Procope, Jimmy Hamilton and Ray Nance. Ultra Deluxe, which comes next and is written by Mercer Ellington, is a fine piece of Ellingtonia, which unfortunately did not stay in the reportoire for very long. It has solos by Harry Carney, Jimmy Hamilton, Ray Nance and Paul Gonsalves. The rest of this particular session is dedicated to solo performances by Rick Henderson, Britt Woodman, Ray Nance, Harry Carney and Jimmy Hamilton. (more…)
DESS-mötet 2 okt 2017
Här är en kort rapport från mötet baserat på andrahandsuppgifter från några av deltagarna och med vänlig assistans av fotograferna Sonja Svensson (videos) och Bo Haufman (foton).
Kvällens annonserade föredragshållare, Ivan Sundberg, drabbades av förhinder men Leif Hallin – känd bl.a. från sitt jazzprogram Jazz Etz på Radio Sigtuna – ryckte in med bravur och kåserade om Leif Anderson och Smoke Rings.
Det blev naturligtvis en hel del Ellington men också annat. Bl.a. fick publiken höra “Boo-Dah” från det första Smoke Rings-programmet och “If You Were In My Place” från det sista. Vi har klippt dem samman med ett par andra inslag från föredraget.
Efter pausen bjöd trion Klas Lindquist på (tsax och klarinett), Erik Söderlind (gitarr) och Svante Söderqvis (bas) på strålande musik av hög klass.
Sonja Svensson fångade ett par av numren med sin sin kamera och ger oss möjlighet att få höra ur det lät.
De DESS-medlemmar som sökt sig till Franska Skolan hade en trevlig kväll men de kunde ha varit fler.
En utförlig rapport från mötet kommer i nästa nummer av Bulletinen.