Stockholm 24 January 1967, 1st concert

Duke in 1967

Duke Ellington’s European tour in 1967 started in Paris on January 13 and ended in the same city on March 10. Nearly all the dates in between were dedicated to concerts in at least 11 different countries. In Sweden, there were performances in Stockholm on January 24 and in Malmö two days later, with a visit to Oslo on the way. It must have been a crazy schedule! There are two concerts surviving from Stockholm, but we have no recordings from the Malmö event.

We now invite you to listen to the 1st concert from Stocholm’s Concert Hall. You’ll find it in the Goodies Room. The orchestra was more or less the same as the one visiting Sweden the previous year, with the exception that Rufus Jones was now seated behind the drums instead of Sam Woodyard and that Money Johnson was added to the trumpet section.

Lawrence Brown in Rue Bleu

The show starts with one of Billy Strayhorn’s finest compositions, Johnny Come Lately. The concert material has been edited and comes from a SR broadcast. The program included some  new or fairly recent compositions such as Swamp Goo, Rue Bleu, A Chromatic Love Affair, Wild Onions and Mara Gold which had not been played to a Swedish audience before. The concert was a joint one with Duke Ellington and his Orchestra and Ella Fitzgerald and her trio and organised by Norman Granz.

The complete playlist is as follows:

*Johnny Come Lately*Swamp Goo*Up Jump*The Shepherd*Kinda Dukish & Rockin’ In Rhythm*Rue Bleu*Chromatic Love Affair*Wild Onions*Sentimental Lady*Things Ain’t What They Used To Be*Mara Gold*Things Ain’t What They Used To Be into Cotton Tail (with Ella Fitzgerald)*

Russell Procope is heard on Swamp Goo, playing his New Orleans inspired clarinet. After the somewhat wild Up Jump, Cootie Williams is featured in The Shepherd, before the piano-player breaks in with Kinda Dukish. Rue Bleu is a feature for Lawrence Brown, where Money Johnson also can be heard briefly. Harry Carney plays impressively in A Chromatic Love Affair and Cat Anderson is heard high above he rest of the band in Wild Onions. Since Rufus Jones had joined the band recently, it is no surprise that he got his own solo vehicle in Mara Gold. Ella Fitzgerald and her trio are taking part in the comcluding number, Cotton Tail.