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Stockholm 1994 (2)
After the opening of the conference, the first morning had a very strong Swedish accent.
It started with a panel talking about “Ellington in Sweden 1939”. Participants in the panel were Alice Babs, Rolf Dahlgren, Bertil Lyttkens och Hans-Henrik Åberg.
Thanks to a change in the program, the audience could then enjoy an improvised concert by the Swedish pianist Berndt Egerbladh, who also brought Alice Babs onto the stage.
The morning session ended with Benny Åslund – appropriately – giving his greetings to the conference and showing some of his films of the Ellington band’s visits to Sweden.
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 In Copenhagen and Stockholm 1965
Ellington’s 1965 European tour lasted from January 25 to February 28. It started in France where Duke and the orchestra performed in Paris, and Lyon. They then went north, first to Copenhagen (Denmark) and then to Sweden for concerts in Lund, Malmö and Stockholm. After stops in Germany and Switzerland, the tour ended with two weeks of concerts (and a telecast) in England from February 13 to February 28
In this article we focus on Ellington’s concerts in Copenhagen and Stockholm but cover also what happened in between.
The concert in Copenhagen took place in COPENHAGEN TO BE ADDED
The Swedish jazz critic and Ellington fan Leif Anderson reviewed the concerts in Copenhagen, Lund and Malmö in the Swedish jazz magazine Orkesterjournalen and he was quite positiv to what he had heard.
Ellington’s concerts in Stockholm took place on February 2 and the venue was Konserthuset (Stockholm Concert Hall).
Photo and copyright: Roland Sterner
The two concerts – one at 7 pm and one at 9pm – were well attended but the critics were rather negativ.
Orkesterjounalen’s Bertil Sundin seems to have had his opinion formed already before the concerts started. “One can not expect that this group of older gentlemen will sound particularly inspired and in Stockholm on February 2 they didn’t ” he wrote. Sundin only had positiv comments on Johnny Hodge’s performance of “Come Sunday” and Paul Gonsalves’ of Chelsea Bridge.
The two reviews are available in the Ellington Archive
One of the concerts were broadcasted by Swedish Radio, most likely the second one, and DESS members can listen to it and download it in the Goodies Room. Here is a short excerpt from the broadcast.
The Opener
First 2017 issue of the DESS Bulletin
The first issue of the DESS Bulletin for 2017 has just been published and is on its way to the subscribers.
The cover story of the issue is about Otto Hardwick.
In his usual detailed way Bo Haufman – the editor of the Bulletin – portraits Ellington’s C melody and alto sax player for many years and tells the story of of his sometimes turbulent times inside and outside the Ellington orchestra. Among other things, it is interesting to learn more about Hardwick’s time away from Ellington in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
The article is accompanied by a discography on Hardwick’s recordings outside the Ellington band.
In the article, Haufman mentions the 1932 Vidaphone movie “Smash Your Baggage” featuring Elmer Snowden and his Small’s Paradise Orchestra, which at the time included Hardwick. Roy Eldridge, Dicky Wells and Al Sears were other band members at the time.
Hotel Sherman and the Panther Room
All DESS members should by now enjoy the new members-only CD with broadcasts from Hotel Sherman in September-October 1940. If you are not a member yet, get yourself a membership as quickly as possible.
The restaurant of the hotel was called College In and housed the Panther Room / Malaya Room nightclub.
Lite DESS-nyheter
Nästa medlemsmöte
Nästa medlemsmöte äger rum äger rum den 12 december. Rune Sjögren, en av DESS’ medlemmar, kåserar om sin syn på Duke Ellington.
Efter pausen framträder ensemblen Swedish Pastry med Claes Brodda (styrelseledamot i DESS) på klarinett och tenorsaxofon, Martin Wikström vibrafon, Bertil Fernqvist gitarr och Curt Andersson bas. De kommer att spela inspirerad av Benny Goodman, Ove Lind, Åke Hasselgård och naturligtvis Duke Ellington.
Medlemstillskott
Lars Mide, Ordförande Mästare för S:t Johanneslogen Det Gyllene Snittet i Karlstad, har sett till att DESS i ett huj har fått sju nya medlemmar. Det är medlemmarna i orkestern HejDukar, som fick DESS-medlemskap som tack för sin spelning av Ellingtonmusik på ett logemöte nyligen. Orkestermedlemmarna fick alla ett brev undertecknat av DESS’ ordförande Leif Jönsson som bekräftelse på medlemskapet.
Foto: Per Almskog. En längre artikel om Ellington-kvällen kommer att publiceras i nästa nummer av “Brödrakontakt, tidskrift för frimurare inom 5:e fördelningen” Den finns tillgänglig på bibliotek.
Bullen på väg
Den är nu tryckt och klar och bärs på måndag till posten f.v.b. till DESS’ medlemmar, som bör förbereda sig för trevlig läsning senare i veckan. Det är ett fullmättat nummer.
Och med Bulletinen följer den här gången årets CD framtagen exklusivt för medlemmar i DESS. Den tar oss till tider när Duke och orkestern var som bäst.
Meadowbrook, Cedar Grove, New Jersey, June 9, 1951
Sultry Serenade We continue our visits to Frank Dailey’s Meadowbrook in Cedar Grove NJ. The date is now June 9, 1951 and this time we offer a program that is slightly longer than the previous ones.
This is because we have put together two different tapes from this date into one, which have all known surviving recordings made at this occasion and in the order they were played.
The first part is not known to have been broadcasted, whereas the second part is from an MBS broadcast. Above you can listen to a fine rendition of Sultry Serenade by Britt Woodman, but to listen to the rest of these fine performances you will have to be a DESS-member and go to the Goodies Room. (more…)
Duke Ellington in 1956 – the Month of October
Ellington’s whereabouts during the first part of October 1956 is quite undocumented. He might have done a tour of the southern part of the east coast in the first part of the month but specifics exist only for two dates – Tampa, Florida on October 5 (Fort Homer Hestory Armory) and Charlotte, North Carolina on October 11 (Ovens Auditorium).
Thereafter, he seems to have made a short stopover in New York and then continued with a short tour of Ohio, West Virginia and New Hampshire in the third week of October. While in New York, Ellington signed a contract for three weeks of performances at the Blue Note in Chicago at the end of December and beginning of January.
By the fourth week of October, Ellington was back in New York and went into the Columbia Studios on October 22 and 23 to record the remaining parts of “A Drum Is A Woman”. This time he recorded Rhythm Pum Te Dum (Carribee Sequence), Madam Zajj (Carribee Sequence), Ballet Of The Flying Saucers, Congo Square and Zajj’s Dream. On October 23, the recordings were made in Columbia’s famous 30th Street studio.
Ellington then remained in New York until the end of the month except for appearances in Washington D.C. (October 25) and Boston (October 28). In New York he seems to have played at a big rally for the Eisenhower-Nixon presidential ticket and at a Republican “First Voters Ball”.
Duke Ellington in 1956 – the month of September
The recording of “A Drum Is A Woman” would become a major activity for Ellington in September 1956 but the month started by Ellington winding up his engagement at Blue Note in Chicago.
Then he went on the road again. His immediate whereabouts after Chicago are not known but on September 10 he started a week-long engagement at the Colonial Tavern in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The club was one of the most famous jazz venues in Canada at the time.
Before arriving in New York City in the early morning of September 17, the Ellington orchestra played at the Town Casino in Buffalo, New York on September 16. A recording of a broadcast from the club exists.
The recording session for “A Drum Is A Woman” was supposed to start in the mid-afternoon but apparently it took some time before everybody was in place in the studio – Ellington included.
According to Irving Townsend, the band members arrived one by one but once everybody was in place they “began to complain loudly about wasting all night just sitting around. At that moment Ellington walked into the room, stopping to kiss his female visitors, chatting with everybody as he worked his way slowly toward the piano. Then, with a bow toward the control room, he asked, “Am I late? Oh, dear. What time is it anyway?”
Carribee Joe, Congo Square, A Drum Is A Woman and Rumbop was recorded.
The following day Ellington and the band started a week-long engagement at the Red Hill Inn in Pennsauken, New Jersey – another well-known jazz venue in the 50s and early 60s.
MBS made a remote broadcast from the club for its “Bandstand U.S.A.” program during Ellington’s appearance there.
Having ended the engagement at Red Hill Inn on September 24, Ellington and the members of the orchestra rushed back for another recording session of “A Drum Is A Woman”. It started just before midnight on September 24 and run all night of September 25th into the wee hours of the morning.
One or more takes of Rhythm Pum Te Dum, Caribee Joe, What Else Can You Do With A Drum, A Drum Is A Woman, Hey Buddy Bolden, Congo Square (Matumbe), Madam Zajj were recorded during this long session.
After a two day break, which included a performance at the Sports Arena at Fort Dix, New Jersey, Ellington and the orchestra was back in the Columbia recording studio for another “A Drum Is A Woman” session. This time New Orleans (Sunrise Act 1), New Orleans (Sunrise Act 2), New Orleans (Parade), Rhumbop, Hey Buddy Bolden, Zajj’s Dream (Carribee Interlude), The Greatest Thing There Is, Congo Square and A Drum Is A Woman were recorded.
The recording session more or less ended the month for Ellington. If there were other engagements in the last couple of days of the months, they are not known.
This post has been written using information from http://www.tdwaw.ca and http://www.ellingtonia.com – two absolutely invaluable sources of information on Ellington’s whereabouts and activities.
Ellington in Dakar April 1966
In April 1966, Duke Ellington appeared at the “1er Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres” in Dakar, Senegal.
It was a tour arranged by the U.S. State Departement. He was quite an honored guest and seems to have enjoyed the event fully.
He was also prominently featured in the film made to introduce the Festival to the world.
A couple of weeks ago, France Musique showcased Duke Ellington’s concert in Dakar on April 9, 1966 in its not to be missed “Les légends de jazz” program series. It is the full concert in excellent sound except for the short “Take The “A” Train” theme and the usual medley.
This is link to listen to the concert.
Members of DESS can also download it in the Ellington Archive.
A segment of the beginning of the medley is in this video clip.