Valediction by Ethan Iverson

More from Ethan Iverson's Substack newsletter Transitional Technology about the forthcoming première of his new suite Valediction...

TT 277: C Jam Blues

more on Orchestrating Ellington

ETHAN IVERSON

27/06/2023

Hello from Winchester, England, where Valediction: An Ellington Suite premieres at The Grange Festival this weekend. 

Valediction is covered in detail in my article “Orchestrating Ellington” at NewMusicBox.

The concluding “C Jam Blues” integrates the jazz sextet into the symphony for a rousing finale. 

I wrote in “Orchestrating Ellington”: 

The first question is, “Does an orchestra swing?” The answer is, “probably not.”

There have been many occasions when a symphony orchestra is supported by a jazz rhythm section. Most of the symphonic records released under Duke Ellington’s name utilize that hybrid. 

There’s nothing wrong with that, but it is also a conservative solution. I took a potentially dangerous plunge and wrote out a walking bass line for pizzicato basses and celli, tutti, for all the many choruses of this “C Jam Blues” arrangement.

Bass part:

Cello part:

As far as I know, this will be the first time such an orchestration has been attempted. The dedication is to the great lineage of undersung but essential Duke Ellington bassists:

in memory of Wellman Braud, Jimmie Blanton, Billy Taylor, Junior Raglin, Wendell Marshall, Jimmy Woode, Ernie Shepard, Aaron Bell, John Lamb, a.o.

The drummer in the sextet, Jerome Jennings, is a great jazz musician who knows who Sonny Greer and Sam Woodyard are. I’m asking Jerome to just bring his hi-hat into the orchestra. He’ll start the piece with four bars of swing hi-hat, and after that Jerome will have to manage the feel of 30 or so pizzicati low orchestral strings as best he can. The arrangement runs 8 minutes, with string, wind, and brass intros, backgrounds and ending. Towards the end, the whole string section will strum pizzicato chords underneath the concluding shout choruses. (The greatest master of four-to-the-bar comping, Freddie Green, will either nod his head in peaceful repose — or despairingly turn over in his grave.)

Jerome could use his whole kit, of course, but it will be more novel and avant-garde to simply feature the hi-hat.

This arrangement — a true pièce d'occasion — will only be played here, at the Grange, on a Friday and Saturday night in Hampshire. What’s the worst that could happen? At any rate, Dominck Farinacci, Patrick Bartley, Christian Tamburr, and Mathis Picard will have a unique background to blow against!

---

Apparently Mercer Ellington actually gets credit for the slender melody of “C Jam Blues.” Charming video of 1940’s-era genius in action exists, although the band is miming to a recording.

Memory Lane:

“C Jam Blues” and “The Mooche” were on my first Ellington recording, part of an LRC Jazz Classics cassette tape anthologizing Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Ray Charles. The whole LRC collection specialized in bootleg tracks of dubious provenance and uneven quality, but this was a great cassette! I listened to both sides over and over, with the Ellington tracks quickly becoming my favorites.

Digitally this same six-minute “C Jam Blues” can be heard on the LRC album Take the “A” Train. I’m not sure of the year or some of the personnel: I’ve seen 1956 with Jimmy Woode and Sam Woodyard listed, but those busy drum fills don’t sound like Woodyard to me, it seems more like a 60’s performance, maybe with Rufus Jones on drums. At any rate I still love this recording. It may “just” be a blues in C, but it is still Ellington music to its very core. Certainly it was a superb introduction to the Ducal soundscape when I was 12 years old.

...

In 1985, when that LRC cassette was issued and found its way to my home in Wisconsin, music recorded in 1967 was only 18 years old. In 2023, we are now 38 years from 1985. Tempus Fugit.

Source

You can read more about Valediction and Ellington: From Stride To Strings here...

Ellington In Order: Update 2

More details just in on the new streaming series Duke Ellington In Order about the provenance and mastering of the recordings for Volume 1. In a post on Steve Hoffman Music Forums, series producer, Chuck Granata writes: 

"Regarding the new mastering of the early Ellington tracks:

 

We have culled the tracks from the best existing transfers and masterings in our vault, which includes the holdings of Victor, Columbia, Okeh, Brunswick and other labels. Many of the early Victor recordings were transferred by Ellington expert and recording/restoration engineer Steve Lasker; the Columbia-associated labels transfers were done through the years by Columbia/Sony Music Studios engineers Tim Geelan, Larry Keyes, Mark Wilder, Darcy Proper and Matt Cavaluzzo. In all cases, the transfers were made from the best available recording elements by some of the finest transfer and restoration engineers in the business, and we felt their work has held up beautifully through the years. In order to have the chronologically programmed tracks 'hang' together as seamlessly as possible, Sony Music engineer Vic Anesini has remastered the new playlists and has done his usual expert job of taking vintage source material recorded at numerous studios in the early years of electrical recording, and made them sound as consistent and fresh as possible.

 

As one might expect, the Ellington catalog is not just one of the most massive recording catalogs in the world; it is one of the largest and overall time-spanning bodies of work in the Sony Music Entertainment archive. As you know, there's a lot of interweaving and overlap when it comes to the number of labels, songs and groups Ellington recorded with SIMULTANEOUSLY in those formative years. It has been a privilege to organize, compile and coordinate this new chronological initiative for DSP, which will eventually encompass every recording owned and controlled by Sony Music. I'm happy that my fellow forum members seem to like the idea and are enjoying the new playlists! I have already planned to include some unusual material in the mid-40s volumes, and am hoping to find some hidden rarities as we continue this wide-scope endeavor. A special thanks goes to the folks at Legacy Digital, who have encouraged the 'completist' philosophy so that our listeners can have access to all of Ellington's Sony-owned music - and make custom-playlists as desired."

 

Duke Ellington International Meeting 2023

 

1933, Ellington’s first steps in Paris by Jean-François Pitet

Friday 28 April, 2023:  10h00 - Médiathèque Musicale de Paris

 

Resumé

During his first international tour in 1933, Ellington conquered Europe. After England and

Holland, he discovered in France a new audience and an artistic recognition that he had  not yet received in the United States. Not only did this encounter exceed his expectations, but Duke Ellington found the desire to pursue his career for a long time to come...

Duke Ellington à Paris by John Edward Hasse

Friday28 April, 2023, 10h45: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris

 

Resumé

Duke Ellington enjoyed a long and rich association with France, especially its City of Light. No nation outside of the United States played as significant a role for him as did France. Over 40 years, he visited Paris nearly 20 times. From his first visit in 1933 until his last in 1973, the band’s performances in France energized Ellington and his band members and  made a profound impact on French musicians and music aficionados. He performed in Paris and 26 other French cities; played nearly one hundred concerts; made radio, television, and film appearances and one of his best live recordings; accepted commissions; was feted frequently; composed the score for the movie Paris Blues; produced albums for South African musicians Sathima Bea Benjamin and Dollar Brand; and was bestowed with some of the greatest praise he ever received. For Ellington, the significance of Paris was psychological, social, and musical.

Table Ronde

Friday 28 April, 2023, 11h45:  Médiathèque Musicale de Paris

Duke and the Lights, chaired by Leïla Olivesi. With the participation of John Edward Hasse, Marylin Lester, Leïla Olivesi, Laurent Mignard and Daniel Maximin. 

 

Résumé : The aim of this round table is to discuss the values of the future... those of the Enlightenment and those of Duke Ellington.

Programmes of Duke’s concerts in Paris by Leïla Olivesi 

Friday 28 April 2023, 14h15: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris

Resumé

We intend to consider Ellington’s works within the process of its musical creation more than regarding a single recording session. This music is constantly evolving through the performances of this longest ever lasted orchestra, whose main dedication was to play on stage all year long. While studying the French concerts programmes, and especially the Parisian ones, we’ll be able to look at the story of this music from Pleyel in 1933 to the Palais des Sports in 1973. Except a few times, the programmes would usually suggest a long list of works among which Ellington would pick the final chosen compositions for the night. Duke Ellington was a great show man, as well as a great performer of this music, never totally planned, nor totally improvised. Hopefully, taking a closer look to these Parisian performances will allow us to discover some of Ellington’s setlist’ secrets.

Duke Ellington, Jean Vilar and Turcaret, by Anne Legrand 

Friday 28 April 2023, 16h00: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris

 

Résumé

On the night of December 29th to 30th, 1960, Duke Ellington recorded at the TNP (National Theatre Popular) the music for the play entitled Turcaret by Alain-René Lesage, directed by Jean Vilar. If the recording takes place in a single night, we will come back to his setting up, the investment, the projects and the dreams of Duke and Vilar that this piece from the beginning of the 18th century arouses. Since 2010, several works have been published with the discovery of new documents. This presentation will be enriched with new archives concerning this meeting of Duke Ellington with Jean Vilar, around the play by Lesage.

Ellington Researchers' Panel, Steven Lasker, Ken Steiner, David Palmquist and Michael KilpatrickFriday 28 April– 16h15: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris 

Résumé  

Four eminent Duke Ellington experts overview their commitment : their motivation to study Duke’s world, the sources and archives each of them has researched and what they have found, how and where they have shared what they have found, some recent finds of notable interest, what they still hope to find...

 

Django Meets Duke  by Philippe Baudoin

Saturday 29 April – 10h00: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris

 

Résumé 

Face-to-face meetings between Duke and Django were not very frequent, even if they were intense – for example the American tour of 1946. But besides these face-to-face encounters, we will compare the musical similarities found in their respective recordings – for instance the famous train imitations: Duke’s 1933 Daybreak Express and Django’s 1937 Mystery Pacific. You will discover other hidden but equally astonishing similarities in the work of these two geniuses. Philippe Baudoin will use Loren Schoenberg’s documents, jazzman and director of the Harlem Jazz Museum, to make you hear the live rarities by Duke and Django and some other Ellingtonian treasures from the famous Savory collection.

 

Julian Priester, six months with the Duke by Ken Steiner

Saturday 29 avril– 15h00: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris

Resumé

Julian Priester has a long resume. He’s played with Sun Ra, Muddy Waters, Dinah Washington, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, John Coltrane, Ray Charles, Woody Herman, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, and many others. Priester is also a composer of note, has led his own groups, and recorded as a leader. When Lawrence Brown retired at the end of 1969, Priester was hired by Ellington. Although Priester’s time with Duke was short, it was pivotal in Priester’s career. Priester did not make it to Paris with Ellington, but has many happy memories of performing for Parisian audiences. Ken Steiner and Julian Priester have been neighbors in Seattle since 2016. Ken will discuss Julian’s career with an emphasis on his time with Duke.

 Fred Guy by Nick Rossi

Saturday 29 April– 15h45: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris

Resumé

Nick Rossi’s presentation will focus on Frederick Lee Guy (1897-1971), member of the Ellington rhythm section for 25 years. Serving initially as a banjoist and subsequently as a rhythm guitarist, Guy with Sonny Greer was a constant throughout a significant portion of the maestro’s most fruitful and celebrated periods. Born Virginia, Guy moved to New York and Harlem at a young age where he eventually met and joined the Ellington band. This biographical sketch will survey the plectrist’s life and offer some insight to his relationships both in and independent of the Famous Orchestra. Additional context will be provided about the role of the banjo and guitar in contemporaneous jazz orchestras, as well as Guy’s place in the history of those instruments. Finally, some consideration will be given to Ellington’s use of Guy, the only full-time banjoist/guitarist in the band during this period, in both recording and live settings.

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité: Duke Ellington and Artistic Freedom by Carl Woideck

Saturday 29 April - 16h30: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris

Resumé

Charles Mingus said of Duke Ellington: “When he's playing, what they call accompaniment to the soloists, he never repeats his chords. . . . He's just continually creating background behind the solos.” When playing the piano, Ellington clearly took great artistic liberty. Ellington also extended artistic liberty to the musicians in his band. Some of the most fascinating examples of this are found in the evolution of Ad Lib on Nippon as heard in its first movement, Fuji. Documented in live and studio recordings from January 1965 to December 1966, Ellington and his bassist, John Lamb, took considerable artistic liberty with each performance. To illuminate this artistic liberty-taking, we will in part examine Fuji from Ellington’s 30 January 1965 concert at Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

La collection de Jean Portier by Gilles Portier

Saturday 29 April - Médiathèque Musicale de Paris

Ellington In Order: Update

News just in from Ellington In Order Producer, Charles L. Granata...

Here is the release schedule for the next volumes in the series for 2023:

Volume 1: (1927-1928) 16 June 2023

Volume 2: (1928-1930) 14 July 2023

Volume 3: (1930-1932) 11 August 2023

Volume 4: (1932)          15 September 2023 

Volume 5                       13 October 2023

Volume 6                       17 November 2023

Ellington In Order

 

Very exciting news. Sony Music Entertainment have begun a project to issue all of their Duke Ellington holdings via streaming services. To that end, the first volume of the project was released, just this week, Duke Ellington: Ellington in Order Volume 1 (1927-28)

The release comprises the first 43 sides Ellington recorded for the family of labels now owned by Sony. Considering they own all the masters, chiefly, to Ellington's releases on Columbia and RCA this will be a huge project covering the majority of Ellington's most significant recordings.

Sony had already tested the water for releasing the back catalogue of recordings from the intersection of jazz and popular music which defined American music in the first half of the Twentieth Century with two releases of Doris Day recordings, Doris Day: The Complete Okeh and Columbia Recordings, 1940-1946 and Doris Day: The Complete Columbia Singles 1947-1948.

When these projects were released, I contacted their producer Charles L. Granata to ask if were likely Sony might be thinking about a similarly comprehensive release issue for the works of Duke Ellington. To my surprise in his reply he said:

"...you must have some sort of ESP as I am currently undertaking a complete assessment of the Duke Ellington recordings owned by Sony Music, and in parallel with the Doris Day playlists creating a chronological series on Duke in the same manner! The digital series is called “Duke Ellington In Order,” and will soon be launched with a 44-track playlist of his earliest Columbia, Okeh and Victor recordings."

Chuck further told me:

"... we are taking the best available sources and transfers we have - many of them excellent - and sprucing them up for these new DSP playlists. ...we are utilizing all of the vault resources at our disposal - including the remasters done by our best engineers through the years - and presenting the recordings in a way that collectors can enjoy them (whether as single downloads/streams or by making their own custom albums by plucking tracks from multiple playlists). The idea, of course it to put up EVERY track by the artist so they’re available.

Insofar as Ellington and the 1947 period goes, YES: we will get to that point and I will make sure that everything is laid out neatly and chronologically. Once we get to that period in his career there are some unreleased surprises that I’d like to integrate into the playlists, to keep it interesting for those Ellingtonians who love the music!"

I have long looked with dismay at the way Ellington's pre-1940 recordings are presented on streaming services and YouTube: a mishmash of poorly presented, often pirated, inaccurately labelled sides. These steps by Sony Music Entertainment mean that at last Ellington's work will be curated properly and presented professionally.

Yes, it's a shame these works aren't being reissued on compact disc but that would be expensive, impractical and apart from an inexplicable fetish for 'vinyl', the market has turned (for now) decisively away from physical product.

In terms of Ellington's legacy, it is to streaming that future generations will look and therefore right and proper it is to these platforms Sony has turned. It is not so much that Duke Ellington's is 'serious music' but, rather, music that repays serious attention. It is music for the ages and with this new project it can continue to find new audiences. As Duke Ellington himself would undoubtedly say:

"Chuck Granata. Thank you very much for Chuck Granata."

More news on this project as it comes in...