DR Ellington Broadcasts (26)
The fourth ”goodie” in September is program 26 in the Duke Ellington series broadcasted by the Danish Radio in the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. The broadcast is available in the “Goodies” section of the website.
This program was broadcasted on July 19, 1985 and the announcer is Bjarne Busk.
It combines a stockpile session from 1971 with excerpts from Ellington’s concert in the Coventry Cathedral February 21, 1966.
The February 1-3, 1971 stockpile session features the singer Bobby Gordon in three number – Rocks In My Bed, Love You Madly and Looking For My Man.
“Not a very subtle singer”, one commentator has said but she certainly rocks with a strong bluesy feeling. She toured with Ellington for 15 months in 1971-1973 under her artistic name Nell Brookshire.
The stockpile part of the broadcast ends with Peke – another groovy blues with Wild Bill Davis in a prominent role together with Ellington. Harold Ashby, Malcolm Taylor and Cootie Williams also solo. Peke was later issued by Storyville on the Togo Brava Suite CD.
Next comes four selections from Coventry Cathedral – Come Easter, Tell Me It’s The Truth, West Indian Pancake and La Plus Belles Africaine. For those, who have not yet bought Storyville’s complete version of the concert, have now the opportunity to hear half of it.
The broadcast ends with Ellington soloing on the piano in Japan in 1964. Bjarne Busk’s appeal to the listerners to help him to identify what Ellington is playing. It turned out to be an early version of something that later developed into Ad Lib on Nippon. In the Ellington discographies it is listed as Nagoya.
Meadowbrook Gardens Cafe Oct. 4-5 1947
Listen to the vibraphone player!
Medowbrook Gardens, situated in Culver City, California, burned down to the ground in 1948. It had been started as Sebastian’s Cotton Club, transformed into Casa Mañana and later Meadowbrook Gardens. Duke Ellington and his orchestra played here in 1946 and 1947 (and also earlier in Casa Mañana). We can offer the DESS-members some unissued broadcast material from October 4 and 5 in 1947 with some unusual features. Just go to the Goodies Room! (more…)
New York honors Duke Ellington 1965
The decision by the Pulitzer Prize Advisory Board in May 1965 to reject the recommendation by its Music Jury that Duke Ellington should be awarded a Special Citation created an outcry in the music community and in civil rights circles.
In the aftermath of this, the City of New York decided to confer on him its Bronze Medallion – the highest award it can give a civilian.
Ellington received the award on August 2, 1965 at a reception in front of the New York City Hall.
In an one and a half page article in the August 14 issue of The New Yorker, its jazz critic and columnist Whitney Balliett tells about the event.
“Many people of the jazz world and many city officials were on hand for the presentation.” Willis Conover, Nesuhi Ertegun (of Atlantic Records), Arthur Spingarn (President of the NAACP) were among them. Duke arrived with “his wife, his sister Ruth and his nephew Stephen”.
At the end of the ceremony acting New York Mayor Paul Screvane presented the award and read the inscription on the medal: “Presented in appreciation to Edward Kennedy Ellington, Known as Duke–‘Musician of Every Year’–distinguished composer and worldwide Ambassador of Good Will–By Robert F. Wagner, Mayor of the City of New York, by the hand of the Acting Mayor, on this 2nd day of August, 1965.”
Before this Duke’s personal physician, Dr. Arthur Logan and the pianist Billy Taylor had made personal laudatory remarks and a band including Clark Terry, Billy Taylor, Jerome Richardson, Ben Tucker and Joe Benjamin had played some Ellington music. A five-piece Departement of Sanitation band had done this as well.
The whole ceremony was recorded and can be heard below.
25 years later, in 1999, Ellington was posthumously awarded a special Pulitzer Prize “commemorating the centennial year of his birth, in recognition of his musical genius, which evoked aesthetically the principles of democracy through the medium of jazz and thus made an indelible contribution to art and culture.”
Was it “better late than never”?
A recording session in 1947 with Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
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Duke Ellington in a Columbia recording studio
Chester Crumpler sings Maybe I Should Change My Ways
Ellington made the last recordings of the RCA-Victor period in September 1946 and after some recordings for Musicraft in the end of that year, he signed a contract with Columbia which resulted in several studio dates, the first of which materialized on August 14, 1947 in Hollywood. In the Goodies Room members will find all the recorded material from this session, complete with alternative and breakdown takes. Four different numbers were recorded at that date: H’ya Sue, Lady Of The Lavender Mist, Women, Women, Women, and Maybe I Should Change My Ways
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HEADING FOR NEWPORT 1956
Stichting Doctor Jazz presents a previously unissued concert by Duke Ellington and his orchestra from the Hill Auditorium at Ann Arbor University in Michigan, dated 2 July, 1956. This happened just a few days before Duke and his men made their appearance at the famous Newport Festival. It is not, however, a rehearsal for that event, but rather an ordinary concert, with a repertoire reflecting what the band usually played at the time. What makes this recording unique is the very good sound quality achieved on this occasion. We also hear some outstanding solo performances, such as Clark Terry in Harlem Air Shaft, Jimmy Hamilton in Clarinet Melodrama, Britt Woodman in Theme For Trambeam, and Johnny Hodges in Prelude To A Kiss, just to mention a few. Steve Voce has written the interesting liner notes.
The complete play list is as follows: *Black And Tan Fantasy*Stompin’ At The Savoy*Clarinet Melodrama*Harlem Air Shaft*Sophisticated Lady*Theme For Trambeam*Satin Doll*Take The A Train*Take The A train*La Virgen De La Macarena*Monologue*VIP’s Boogie*Jam With Sam*The Hawk Talks*Prelude To A Kiss*Things Ain’t What They Used To Be*Day In, Day Out*
Parts of this material was published on this web-site in August 2016 under the title “Ann Arbor,2 juli 1956” (in Swedish).
The CD can be ordered from http://www.doctorjazz.nl, e-mail: doctorjazz@online.nl If you do, you will not be disappointed.
Duke Ellington at the Zanzibar Oct. 29, 1945
Stompy Jones
During the years of the Petrillo recording ban, 1942-1944, there were of course very few studio recordings by Duke Ellington and his orchestra, but fortunately for us, he and the band had long periods of engagement at the Hurricane Restaurant in NYC, from which fans were able to listen to broadcasts almost daily. This was the case also after the recording ban had been lifted. In 1943 the band played for nearly 6 months at the Hurricane and in 1944 for for about 9 weeks. A great many of these broadcasts have been issued on records in later years, many of them in the great DETS series. (more…)
Smått och gott
Historisk radioutsändning
På den amerikanska radiostationen WBGO i Newark, New Jersey kunde man för ett par dagar sedan höra ett radioprogram med rubriken “Hear the Earliest Surviving Radio Broadcast by Duke Ellington”.
Det var jazzhistorikern, författaren och pianisten Lewis Porter som i sitt alltid intressant program Deep Dive tack vare tillmötesgående från Steven Lasker kunde låta sina lyssnarna höra 8 minuter av en radioutsändning från den 11 april 1932 med Duke Ellington.
Den sändes från Publix Allyn Theatre i Hartford, Connecticut och sändningen som vi hör har bevarats tack vare att en man vid namn Larry Altpeter spelade in den i sitt vardagsrum med hjälp av en RCA Home Recording Electrola.
Lasker, som är ägare av skivan sedan 1998, har hjälpt till med ljudrestaureringen.
Merpareten av skivan är Ellington’s första framförande av “When It Is Sleepy Time Down South” med Barney Bigard och Sonny Greer i ledande roller. Men vi får också höra temat från Lazy Rhapsody och en kortversion av Double Check Stomp.
På webbplatsen http://www.wbgo.org/post/hear-earliest-surviving-radio-broadcast-duke-ellington-historic-find-deep-dive#stream/0 kan man höra radioutsändningen och läsa en utförlig artikel av Lewis Porter om den.
Gröna Lund 1963 i Stockholmstidningarna
Förre redaktören för DESS webbplats, Key Jigerström, har vänligen ställt sina kunskaper om hur man hittar information i gamla tidningar och tidskrifter till webbplatsens förfogande. Han har lusläst Stockholmspressen för dagarna runt Ellingtons spelning på Gröna Lund och har hittat lite intressant information. Både DN och Svenska Dagbladet innehöll naturligtvis annonser om evenemanget.
Svenska Dagbladet uppmärksammade också att Ellingtons Sverigeturné hade börjat och Expressen skrev om Alice Babs’ gästvisit hos Ellington en av Gröna Lundskvällarna.
Petter Himmelstrand i Expressen publicerade intervjuer med bl a Rolf Eric och Harry Carney. De kommer också att bli tillgängliga på webbplatsen.
New issue of Blue Light
The autumn issue of DESUK’s Blue Light has now been published.
The two main articles are about Ellington’s “secret sessions” in Toronto in June 1972 and Jimmy Blanton celebrating the centenary of his birth.
The first one is written by Jack Chambers and is an expanded version of the article published on the DESS website in June and August.
The author of the Blanton article is written by the Blanton scholar (and much more) Matthias Heyman in collaboration with the DESUK editor Ian Bradley. Heyman presented his doctoral thesis on Blanton earlier this year. The article aims to “demystify the many assumptions and unknowns that … surround young Jimmie’s life” and it does so very well.
In the issue, Roger Boyes reviews the last two volumes of Storyville’s DETS series and this is another good read.
Ellington-serie på Sveriges Radio 1994 (9)
Den här gången är det dags för det nionde programmet i Jan Bruérs och Lars Westins serie om Duke Ellington.
Titeln den här gången är Praise God and Dance. Den är lite vilseledande för programmet handlar om mycket mer än Sacred Concerts. Det tecknar också med breda penseldrag Ellington samarbete med skivbolag som Reprise och Impulse och ger många exempel från det.
Av någon anledning finns programmet inte listat i Svensk mediedatabas men det bör ha sänts den 2 maj 1992
Liksom de föregåendet programmen i serien finns det här programmet tillgängligt för DESS-medlemmar i radiodelen av Elllington-arkivet.
DESS-mötet 17 sep. 2018
Kvällens föredragshållare var Bo Lindström och publiken lyssnade uppmärksamt.
Bo är specialist på äldre jazz och tillsammans med fransmannen Dan Vernhettes författare till flera böcker i ämnet, bl.a. om trumpetaren Tommy Ladnier. Han har nyligen också publicerat en bok om trombonisten George Brashear.
Bo talade om dessa båda musiker men också kort om Duke Ellington.
Föredraget spelades in och är tillgängligt i antingen video eller bara ljud i avdelningen DESS-möten.
Han berättade om Ladniers och Brashears karriärer, pekade på deras spelstilar och illustrerade det med olika musikexempel. Här är några av dem i ordningen som de spelades eller var menade att spelas under föredraget. De är alla korta utdrag.
If You See Me Comin’ (Mezzrow/Ladnier Quintet 19 dec. 1938)
Pacific Coast Blues (Ethel Waters’ Jazz Masters juni-juli 1922)
Jada Blues -1 Julia Moody Acc By Joe Smith’s Band c aug.1922
Jada Blues -2 Julia Moody Acc By Joe Smith’s Band c sep. 1922
Rock Jenny, Rock 1 Georgia Strutters 23 maj 1927
I Lost My Gal From Memphis Bubber Miley And His Mileage Makers 16 maj 1930
Fullständiga versionen av musiken i föredraget finns i avdelningen DESS-möten
Bo hade mycket föredömligt gjort i ordning ett bildspel. Här är några exempel på bilder som han visade. Hela bildspelet finns i samma avdelning som musiken och föredraget.
Bo gav också publiken en snabblektion om jazzforskning och visade några av de källor som han använt för sina böcker men också hur man kan finna uppgifter om Ellington.
Ett varmt tack till Bo för att han delade med sig av sin rika kunskap.
Efter sedvanlig förtäring och mingel blev det lite film från Anders Asplunds rika arkiv. Den här gången fick publiken se Artie Shaw, Fats Waller, Lester Young, Charlie Parker och naturligtvis Duke Ellington. Uppskattat som vanligt. Filmerna finns tillgängliga i avdelningen DESS-möten. Där finns också en lista med detaljer om filmerna.
Ansvarig för inspelningen av föredraget är DESS’ ljud- och it-expert Göran Axelsson.