[ad_1]
As Duke Ellington wrote in his memoir, printed the yr earlier than he died: “What’s music to you? What would you be with out music? Music is every part.”
I learn his phrases and surprise: What would music be with out Ellington’s items to us all? This story wraps up our 2024 Jazz Appreciation Month sequence, which we kicked off with a tribute to The Duke. We’ll end the month equally—April 29 is Ellington’s one hundred and twenty fifth birthday!
Over time, I’ve written a number of tales that characteristic and rejoice Ellington, and each jogs my memory that no single story may even start to scratch the floor of his large musical influence—together with this one. And so I particularly stay up for your feedback and contributions this week.
Let’s get this occasion going!
”Black Music Sunday” is a weekly sequence highlighting all issues Black music, with over 200 tales protecting performers, genres, historical past, and extra, every that includes its personal vibrant soundtrack. I hope you’ll discover some acquainted tunes and maybe an introduction to one thing new.
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born on April 29, 1899, in Washington, D.C., and joined the ancestors on Could 24, 1974, at age 75. For a lot of readers, he wants no introduction. However all of us profit from being launched to or reviewing his life historical past. This 1988 PBS “American Masters” episode, “A Duke Named Ellington,” is an effective start line, protecting each his historical past and his influence on the world of music.
You may watch the total two-hour episode beneath!
PBS’ “A Duke Named Ellington” present web page notes his piano schooling by the hands of his mama, which led to him beginning his profession as a pianist at 17. He quickly began to compose unique music, and by age 25, he’d shaped his personal band, The Washingtonians, after relocating to New York Metropolis. A few years later, he was an everyday on the iconic Cotton Membership in Harlem, which modified every part.
In 1931 Ellington left the Cotton Membership and started a sequence of prolonged excursions that will proceed for the remainder of his life. For Ellington, the massive band was not merely made up of 5 reeds, 4 trumpets, three trombones, drums, a bass, and a piano; it was made up of people. The place different composers had involved themselves with making a sound that unified the numerous devices into one voice, Ellington believed in letting the dissonant voices of every musician play in opposition to one another. He wrote music that capitalized on the actual fashion and abilities of his soloists. For this and plenty of different causes, his soloists usually stayed with him for prolonged intervals. Among the many greatest members of his band had been Jimmy Blanton, Johnny Hodges, Cootie Williams, and Harry Carney (who was within the band for almost each one among its forty-seven years).
On the Duke Ellington Orchestra web site, Ellington biographer and Smithsonian Curator Emeritus John Edward Hasse wrote:
Nobody led a band like Duke Ellington. Nobody led a life like Duke Ellington. And nobody wrote music like Duke Ellington. He was one among a form, past class.
Broadly remembered as a pianist, Duke was rather more. In my judgment, he was America’s biggest all-around musician: composer, orchestrator-arranger, conductor-bandleader, soloist, accompanist, and musical thinker. He was the supreme creator of music for that important American establishment: the jazz orchestra or huge band.
Ellington’s band and his composing made a profound yin-yang: he couldn’t have one with out the opposite. He composed the overwhelming majority of the band’s repertoire. He wrote just for his band. And the band performed largely Ellington’s music—composed and/or organized by him. He hated being pigeonholed as strictly a jazz musician. Over his astonishingly productive fifty-year profession main the Duke Ellington Orchestra, he composed songs, brief instrumentals, multi-movement suites, scores for ballets and movement photos, and Broadway-bound musicals.
He was largely referred to as a miniaturist for his three-minute evergreens akin to Temper Indigo, Subtle Woman, and In a Sentimental Temper. However his lesser-known, large-scale works offered him with canvasses to inform greater tales, impressed by, amongst different subjects, African American historical past, his abroad travels, and his reverence for God. He expressed a drive to be the perfect, to create a novel sound and to interrupt out of musical classes, a deep respect for his heritage—and, more and more, a religion within the Divine.
One strategy to gauge a musician’s influence is by having a look at how they’re honored by different musicians. With Ellington, the listing of tributes is way too lengthy for me to embed all of them right here—see Discogs for all 750. As a substitute, I’ll share a couple of of my favorites.
On the prime of my playlist (this week, anyway) is “Thelonious Monk Performs Duke Ellington.”
As reviewer Lindsey Planer writes for AllMusic:
Monk instructions a trio that additionally presents the abilities of Oscar Pettiford (bass) and Kenny Clarke (drums) on all of the tracks sans “Solitude,” which appropriately sufficient options an unaccompanied piano. The delicacy and inherently intricate melodies that Duke Ellington is greatest identified for are completely matched to Monk’s angular and progressive interpretations.
Jazz reviewers and critics have had blended takes on this album, however I’m siding with those that prefer it.
RELATED STORY: The singular genius of Thelonious Monk
“Earl Hines performs Duke Ellington” is a masterpiece that needs to be in each Ellington fan’s assortment. From the New World Information liner notes:
This was one among Earl Hines’s final nice achievements on information, and it shows the total vary of his genius: a tremendous rhythmic creativeness, a blinding, somewhat aristocratic finesse (considerably akin to Ellington’s personal) by way of pianistic contact; and a knack for making even profound concepts appear spontaneously conceived.
－BBC Music Journal － “The Fifty All-Time Nice Jazz Discs”
[…]
All of Hines’s sources are introduced ahead and the person items have an unpredictability that makes every of them some particular type of delight. There may be the introduction to “Heaven” that reminds one of many harmonies of “Crepuscule with Nellie,” the opening of “’C’ Jam Blues” that exhibits astonishing originality of rhythm, the liberty of the taking part in of “Black Butterfly,” the vary of temper dropped at “Creole Love Name,” and so forth. One hears a very surprising sweep of left-hand innovations, reharmonizations—such because the endings of “Temper Indigo” and “I am Starting to See the Gentle”—which are stunning, and a readability of sound and scope of assault that specific a character too distinctive to take presence by clichés. When Earl Hines made these recordings, he was the seasoned useful resource solely an amazing artist could be.
Right here’s “I’m Starting to See The Gentle.”
Nice jazz vocalists additionally love Ellington—many have executed full albums of his tunes. Let’s begin with Ella Fitzgerald, scatting “Rockin’ in Rhythm.”
It’s no secret I’m a serious vocalese fan, and Lambert, Hendricks & Ross prime my favorites listing. Right here’s their full 1960 album with the Ike Isaacs Trio, “Lambert, Hendricks & Ross Sing Ellington.”
The 1973 hourlong particular “Duke Ellington: We Love You Madly” was produced for tv by Quincy Jones and featured a star-studded solid.
- Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee, Sammy Davis Jr., Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Sarah Vaughan, Billy Eckstine, Depend Basie, Joe Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, Chicago, Cootie Williams, Clark Terry, Paul Gonsalves, Harry Carney, Cat Anderson, Louie Bellson.The All Star Band (collectively):- Cat Anderson, Invoice Berry, Bobby Bryant, Ernie Royal, Clark Terry, Snooky Younger, Cootie Williams, Al Aarons, trumpet; Jimmy Cleveland, Bob Brookmeyer, Maurice Spears, Tyree Glenn, Britt Woodman, trombone; Pete Christlieb, Invoice Perkins, Marshall Royal, Russell Procope, Jerome Richardson, Murray McEachern, Invoice Inexperienced, Paul Gonsalves, Harry Carney, reeds; Vince DeRosa, Artwork Maebe, Richard Perissi, Fr hrn; Pink Callender, tuba; Dave Grusin, keyboards; Kenny Burrell, guitar; Ray Brown, Chuck Rainey, acoustic double bass; Louie Bellson, Paul Humphrey, drums; Larry Bunker, percussion; + strings together with Edgar Lustgarten, cello; Quincy Jones, music director. (Personnel on Digital camera)
- Filmed at The Shubert Theatre, Los Angeles.
Because of the blessing of YouTube, we’re additionally in a position to see this reside vocal tribute to the Duke (and others).
Ellington additionally did some wonderful collaborations, a few of which had been featured earlier on this month of Duke. I additionally lined his Sacred Live shows in 2022.
RELATED STORY: Black Music Sunday: Let’s rejoice Easter with Ellington’s Sacred Live shows
For Ellington aficionados: In case you haven’t already visited Ellingtonia, I recommend that you accomplish that—and bookmark it.
“Some Day all of the jazz musicians ought to get collectively in a single place and get down on their knees and thank Duke.”
— Miles Davis
About this website
The principal goal of this website is to offer as full an on-line discography of the recorded works of Duke Ellington as potential. The discography was created by Marcus Girvan, drawing on many sources together with Massagli and Volonté’s “The New DESOR”, The DEMS Bulletin and archive, DESUK’s “Blue Gentle”, Ken Vail’s “Duke’s Diary”, Dr. Stratemann’s “Duke Ellington – Day by Day and Movie by Movie”, Mark Tucker’s “Ellington – The Early Years” and final however not at all least, David Palmquist’s “The Duke: The place And When” (TDWAW), the important information to The Duke’s itinerary.
I’ve an enormous comfortable spot in my coronary heart for Ellington’s signature tune by Billy Strayhorn, “Take The A Practice,” for 2 causes. First, I’m a local New Yorker who rode the A practice to Harlem extra instances than I may rely, and second, as a result of in 1977, we launched Washington, D.C.’s Pacifica radio station, the place I used to be this system director, with that tune.
In closing, let’s examine in on the the brand new technology of jazz artists who’re carrying Ellington’s music ahead. Right here’s Samara Pleasure, performing “Subtle Woman”:
Please be a part of me within the feedback and put up your favourite Ellington songs, tributes, tales, and quotes! I stay up for listening.
Joyful Duke Day!
Marketing campaign Motion
[ad_2]
Source link
