La Dolce Vita

I recently discovered, via Spotify, a recording of a Duke Ellington performance which has not been made available before. 

My best guess is that the recording is taken from Duke Ellington's appearance at XIV FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE DEL JAZZ which took place in Bolgogna, Italy in 1973 whilst Ellington was on his final European tour.

The festival continues, annually, to this day and the website  says:

Nei giorni 8-9-10 novembre 1973 si tenne il XIV Festival Internazionale del Jazz che presentò interessanti gruppi di giovani: uno italiano, la Big Band degli allievi del Conservatorio di Bologna diretta da Ettore Ballotta, l’altro americano, “The Young Giants of Jazz” con Jimmy Owens, Gary Burton, Cedar Walton e Roy Haynes. Furono inoltre presentati alcuni dei miti che negli ultimi cinquant’anni avevano fatto grande e reso popolare il jazz: la celebre orchestra di Duke Ellington, B.B. King, Sarah Vaughan, e, infine, Miles Davis.

Google translates this - very loosely - as:

'In the days 8-9-10 November 1973 was held the XIV International Festival of Jazz which showed interesting groups of young people: one Italian, the Big Band of the students of the Conservatory of Bologna, directed by Ettore Ballotta, the other American, "The Young Giants of Jazz "with Jimmy Owens, Gary Burton, Cedar Walton and Roy Haynes. They were also presented some of the myths that over the past fifty years had made great and popularized the jazz orchestra of the famous Duke Ellington, BB King, Sarah Vaughan, and finally, Miles Davis.'

From the ever-reliable Ellingtonia discography, full details of the engagement are as follows:

DUKE ELLINGTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA  Bologna, I       8 November 1973

Concert, Palasport

Mercer Ellington(t); Harold "Money" Johnson(t,v); Barry Lee Hall, Johnny Coles(t,flh); Vincente Prudente, Art Baron(tb); Chuck Connors(btb); Russell

Procope(cl,as); Harold Minerve(cl,as,fl,pic); Harold Ashby(ts,cl); Paul Gonsalves, Percy Marion(ts); Harry Carney(cl,bcl,as,bar); Duke Ellington(p); Joe Benjamin(sb); Quentin White(d); Anita Moore, Tony Watkins(v)

¬ Kinda Dukish                                    

_| Rockin' In Rhythm

Creole Love Call        

Satin Doll       

Spacemen     

In A Sentimental Mood        

¬ Caravan     

_| In Triplicate (In Duplicate)         

New York, New York - vAMo           

I Got It Bad - vAMo   

Blem - vAMo 

Chinoiserie    

Basin Street Blues - vMJ      

Hello, Dolly! - vMJ     

Medley          

1. Don't Get Around Much Anymore          

2. Mood Indigo         

3. I'm Beginning To See The Light 

4. Sophisticated Lady           

Love You Madly - vTW        

Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me - vTW  

One More Time For The People - vAMo,TW          

Things Ain't What They Used To Be    

Courtesy of Spotify, here is the album, with half an hour's worth of selections from the concert programme, recorded - and released - by RAI Radio in Italy.