It must be telly...

The photograph above shows a page from the  camera script for Ellington in Concert part 1 (rec. Tuesday 25 February 1964, tx. Tuesday 21 April 1964), drawn up by director Yvonne Littlewood.

The image comes from the Editorial to the latest issue of

Jazz Research Journal Volume 12, No. 1: Special issue Jazz in Television.

This particular issue of the journal was edited by Dr Nicolas Pillai of Birmingham City University. Nic is a great friend of Ellington Live and was one of the main organisers of the 2018 International Duke Ellington Study Conference in the city.

While the journal covers much more than Ellington's music, of course, the Orchestra's various appearances on the BBC during the 1960s ,and on Jazz 625 in particular,  are a feature of the studies the journal encompasses.
Nic's Editorial to this issue of the journal may be downloaded here.

A free one day conference, moreover, Jazz on the Telly, is taking place on 12 October at the University. From the Eventbrite website...

Birmingham City University is pleased to announce Jazz on the Telly, a conference to be held on 12 October 2019. This event will mark the conclusion of the AHRC-funded project, Jazz on BBC-TV 1960-1969, part of an ECR Research Leadership Fellowship awarded to Dr Nicolas Pillai. The day will include: a reflection on the achievement and challenges of the project from Pillai, an industry panel on the future of jazz television, a strategy meeting for delegates on the formation of a Jazz and Media network and the launch of two publications: the first academic special issue on the subject of jazz television (Jazz Research Journal 12: 1) and a report entitled Reconstructing Television History: the case of Jazz 625.

The intention of the conference is to gather academics, musicians and industry professionals working on jazz television and television history more generally so that we may share current work and create collaborative opportunities for the future.

Delegates will be invited to deliver a 10-min presentation (including clips) detailing their current work. The conference will be free to attend and refreshments will be provided throughout the day.

Tickets may be obtained here.

Bottomless Pockets?

An Ellington recording that costs $17.00 a minute? That's the 48 minute bargain currently up for bidding at eBay. I may have to pass on that one...

On 29 May, 1970, Duke Ellington and his Orchestra appeared at Mount Abbey Angel Library,  Mount Angel, Oregon in a performance commemorating the dedication of the library. 

Pockets, as far as I'm aware, was performed by the Ellington orchestra only once for this occasion. Approximately 62 minutes of the performance is available to view on Vimeo.

The reel-to-reel currently for auction is not therefore a complete record of the appearance. Whether it is of better audio quality than the surviving video available to view (freely!) on Vimeo, I am never likely to be in the financial position to be able to say! The photographs from the listing do give some useful information to add to our knowledge of this unique occasion in the Ellingtonian calendar.

The original listing reads...

Duke Ellington and is Orchestra Live Recording to Reel to Reel , Mount Angel Abbey Library Mount Angel Oregon May 29th 1970.

I tested the Reel on a Sony-O-Matic and it was in VERY good condition, maybe very little or any play(please see photos). The box includes a Polaroid, newspaper clippings about the show, show flyer, notes on songs played. and other notes.It's played at 7 1/2.

Interested parties may bid here.

Reed All About it...

I first heard clarinettist Samantha Wright play at the inaugural concert of the then newly formed Ellington Orchestra of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire at the Town Hall, Birmingham in early 2017. On that evening, she showed a mastery of her instrument with regard specifically to Ellington's music embracing a range of styles which captured both the woody, New Orleans inspired tones of Barney Bigard and the more classically oriented, Goodmanesque style of Jimmy Hamilton.

Samantha has continued her studies, presently in Germany, her mastery of the clarinet only accentuated by a Masters degree itself.

Generously, she has made her dissertation, An exploration of the clarinetists who performed with Duke Ellington from 1924-1942, freely available to download.

The link to the download may be found at Samantha's website here.

Life is alright in America...

An extract from a TV interview with Duke Ellington and Leonard Bernstein has been available on Youtube for some time but now the complete half hour programme has been made available.

The interview took place 2 July 1966 at the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company in River Hills, Wisconsin.

I've posted the full programme below and also included the extract...

Mapping Duke's World...

The website for the 26th International Duke Ellington Study Group Conference is now live.

The 26th International Duke Ellington Study Group Conference will take place at Georgetown University in Washington, DC from March 11-15, 2020. 

From the website...

This five-day multidisciplinary conference will bring together leading researchers and performers across the arts and humanities. The event will feature academic papers, panels, roundtables, and cultural walks/visits, as well as an exciting program of performances by local Washington DC performers.

Full conference details will be available on the website from 15 October, 2019.

Do Get Around Much...

Mosaic Records have long shone like a good deed in a naughty world. In September, their light will burn with a blue flame with the release of The Complete Woody Herman, Decca, Mars and MGM Sessions 1943-1954.

For collectors of Ellingtonia, it is interesting to note that the first disc is comprised entirely of sessions in which Ben Webster

participates and which were recorded for the Decca label in November 1943. The sides were also issued by the World Transcription service . Webster had left the Duke Ellington orchestra under something of a cloud in August of that year.  Coincidentally, Ellington himself recorded for World Transcriptions and his very first session for the label was on the same day that Webster was in the studio with the Herman Orchestra. From the ever-reliable Lord's discography, here is a 'screen shot' of the Herman sessions with Webster...

The Mosaic collection anthologises these recordings which are obtainable otherwise only across numerous obscure LPs. 

Outside of the collection's remit is one final encounter in the recording studio between herman and Webster in the forties which took place for a V-Disc session on 24 January, 1945, one title recorded: Somebody Loves Me. That particular track was published on the album Ben and the Boys.

An even more rare encounter between Herman and the Ellingtonians is also included on this seven disc set. Another session for World Transcriptions on 4 April, 1944 was recorded with a group that included Ray Nance and Johnny Hodges. From Lord, here are the details...

Twelve months earlier to the day, or as good as, Ben Webster had been a member of the Ellington Orchestra and they were appearing 'in residence' at The Hurricane Club, Broadway. Ironically, the Orchestra was again playing the Hurricane when Nance and Hodges must have 'moonlighted' to play the session with Herman. It's a small World!

Recordings of the Ellington Orchestra with Nance and Hodges at the Hurricane from that same week or so were included on a  CD released by Duke Ellington Society UK at the end of 2017.

Wisely and well...

Notice of a new book on the music of Duke Ellington: Sweet Thunder by Jack Chambers.

This is not a review. I am lucky to consider Professor Jack Chambers of Toronto University a friend and had the privilege of helping to prepare proofs of original versions of two of the essays included in this collection for publication in DESUK's Blue Light when I was Editor.

I enjoyed reading the book immensely. Jack's knowledge of Ellington's music is extensive. The style is conversational and sends the reader straight in search of the music, listening again with enhanced appreciation.

From the publicity poster...

Sweet Thunder explores the music of Duke Ellington by tracing nine themes through his amazingly productive 50 year career as composer, orchestrator, pianist, and cultural icon. Lifelong listeners to Ellington and newcomers seeking an entry point into Ellington’s voluminous works will find this book stimulating, illuminating, and entertaining.

1 Ellington’s Harlem...
“...the world’s most glamorous
atmosphere”
2 Sweet and Pungent
Duke and the Plunger Mutes
3 The Fifth Reed
Ben Webster and the Tenor Ascent
4 Lotus Eaters Unite!
The Spectral Alliance of Johnny Hodges and Billy Strayhorn
5 Panther Patter
Duke Ellington at the Piano
6 Bardland
Shakespeare in Ellington’s World
7 Afro Eurasian Ellington
8 Duke Ellington’s Parallel Universe: The Stockpile
9 Three Steps into The River

One aspect of Jack's Ellingtonian studies not covered by the book is the research he did on Ellington's 1972 composition Celebration which he presented at the Ellington conference last year in Birmingham. I'm holding out, then, in hope of a sequel to this marvellous collection of essays.

Such is the generosity of Professor Chambers, it is possible to sample quite extensively the essays in this book. While the definitive versions of Jack's essays can be read only in the book, an earlier version of Bardland may be read in an edition of the Duke Ellington Music Society Bulletin here.

A valuable supplement to the Con Chapman biography of Johnny Hodges reviewed here previously, an early version of my favourite chapter in the book, Lotus Eaters Unite! entitled Sweet as Bear Meat: The Paradox of Johnny Hodges may be read here.

Full details of the presentations Jack Chambers has made to TDES 40: The Toronto Chapter of the Duke Ellington Society may be found (2000-2012) here and (2013-present) here.

The book is available in the UK from Amazon here.