Eastern promise

I can happily lose a couple of hours to the internet simply following lines of enquiry: one interesting reference will lead to a hyperlink or a Google search and, before you know it, an evening has gone by…


In this way, I recently happened upon precious footage of Duke Ellington in India which was filmed during his State Department sponsored tour of the Middle and Far East in 1963.

The tour inspired, of course, The Far East Suite – amongst the most iridescent works in the Ellington/ Strayhorn canon. Had I but time…

Anyway… The video is embedded in a blog called Blue Rhythm the main purpose of which is to raise funds for a proposed documentary, Finding Carlton: Uncovering The Story of Jazz in India. There are untold riches to explore there. A particular jumping off point for Ellingtonia is here.

This is an extract from Finding Carlton with some precious footage from the National Archive of the Ellington band's appearance.






The Blue Rhythm blog may be found here.