Tuesday 23 April 2019

Armory and the man...


            
NEW FINDS









A contributor to the Organissimo Jazz Forum called russes01 recently and very generously posted links to recordings of Duke Ellington and his Orchestra he had acquired on acetate. He wrote:

"Free to download - Ellington in Duluth 1946 - from broadcast acetates I found last summer.  Third is an interview with Duke and Strayhorn. Interesting snapshot of an average workday."


Dated 20th June, 1946, these recordings were previously unknown and have not appeared in any Ellington discography to date. 

 The nearest recordings in time already known are from 9 July, 1946. Here is the orchestra's personnel at that date:

Taft Jordan, Shelton Hemphill, Cat Anderson, Francis Williams, Shorty Baker (tp),
Ray Nance (tp, vln, vcl) Joe Nanton, Lawrence Brown, Claude Jones, Wilbur DeParis (tb), Jimmy Hamilton (cl, ts) Johnny Hodges (as) Russell Procope (as, cl) Al Sears (ts), Harry Carney (bar, b-cl, cl) Duke Ellington (p), Fred Guy (g), Oscar Pettiford (b), Sonny Greer (d), Kay Davis, Al Hibbler (vcl)
The contents of the uploaded music files, each of which is approximately fifteen minutes in duration are as follows:
1. Take The 'A' Train
Announcement
Take The 'A' Train
Transblucency (KD, vcl)
C Jam Blues
I’m Just A Lucky So-and-So (AH, vcl)
Announcement
Riff Staccato (cut off)

2. Riff Staccato (cut in)
Come Rain Or Come Shine (KD, vcl)
Blue Skies
Things Ain’t What They Used To Be
Outro
Intro Of Interview
Start Of Interview    

russes01 says that he "figure(s) it should be out in the world". This is a very generous gesture and adds to our knowledge of Ellington's broadcasting activities.

From David Palmquist's incomparable Duke Where and When site, it seems the venue for this broadcast was The Armory, Duleth, Minnesota.

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