The road to...

... Damascus in 1963...

A very Merry Christmas in 1957...

Germany in 1950...

... and The Coconut Grove in 1936...

Beyond Catalogue: Instant Ellington

A huge haul of Ellington 78s digitised by George Blood is available to listen to freely and to download at the Internet Archive.

For anyone just beginning to explore the music of Duke Ellington, it is an excellent resource. Here's a screen grab of the Ellington page...

The Ellington pages of the archive may be accessed here.

Live in Bergen...

November 3, 1969. Bergen, Norway

Cootie Williams, Cat Anderson, Mercer Ellington, Harold "Money" Johnson (t); Lawrence Brown (tb); Chuck Connors (btb); Russell Procope (cl,as); Norris Turney (fl,cl,as,ts); Johnny Hodges (as); Harold Ashby (ts,cl); Paul Gonsalves (ts); Harry Carney (cl,bcl,as,bar); Duke Ellington (p); Wild Bill Davis (o); Victor Gaskin (sb); Rufus Jones (d); Tony Watkins (v)

0:23 Take The A Train
6:39 Cottontail
10:31 Up Jump
13:59 La Plus Belle Africaine
21:37 Come Off The Veldt
23:51 El Gato
27:14 Don't Get Around Much Anymore
30:08 Solitude
32:25 It Don't Mean A Thing
33:32 Be Cool And Groovy For Me
36:16 Ocht O'Clock Rock

Discographical details provided by our good friend Reminiscing in Tempo...

The Art Is in The Cooking

Coventry Clippings

Here are some newspaper clippings relating to Duke Ellington's visit to Coventry in 1966...

The Subject is Jazz

More goodies from Ebay...

Hello. Up for sale is an original 16mm print of an NBC/NET television program from 1958 titled, The Subject is Jazz. Excellent condition with Near Mint image, SUPERB SOUND, complete from start to finish with Head, Countdown and Tail, no splices, no vinegar odor. It is a near perfect print. The film is 1100 feet in length, and the show runs 30 minutes. This is a print and not a telecine. This, the first show in the series, is titled, What is Jazz?

Note that my photos came out a bit dark because my aperture opening was incorrect. The two films listed after this one depict a more accurate resolution/brightness.

The Subject is Jazz was an innovative 13-week series hosted by Gilbert Seldes. It featured some of the giants in the world of jazz, both in live performance and in conversation. The guest for this premiere episode was Duke Ellington. The sound and mix the engineers got from this live jazz ensemble in an early studio setting is phenomenal. Here’s a list of the performers: 

Billy Taylor – Piano (also musical director)

Osie Johnson – Drums 

Mundell Lowe – Guitar

Eddie Safranski – Bass

Carl Severinsen – Trumpet (as “Doc” he led The Tonight Show band from 1967-1992)

Tony Scott – Clarinet

Jimmy Cleveland – Trombone 

Here’s a quick rundown of the program. Note that the songs played in their entirety are quite long, featuring many solos: 

1. Intro music and opening with host Seldes.
2. Royal Garden Blues. The entire number from start to finish.
3. Seldes introduces and talks with Duke Ellington.
4. A Dixieland number is performed in its entirety (I didn’t catch the title).
5. More conversation with Duke Ellington that turns into a tribute as Billy Taylor plays portions of three of his songs: Drop Me Off In Harlem, Sophisticated Lady, and Caravan. Ellington comments how great his songs sound in the hands of Billy Taylor (and it’s true). 
6. Cottontail. The entire song is heard with plenty of solos all around.
7. Seldes wraps up the show, end credits.

Heaven Sent to Coventry

Ghost Town: Civic Television and the Haunting of Coventry

is an exciting new project organised by Helen Wheatley, Centre for Television History, Heritage and Memory Studies, as part of Coventry's bid for the title City of Culture in 20121.

The project "programmes a series of civic screenings or hauntings in cinemas and other more unorthodox venues around the city to unleash the city’s ghosts and to bring past and present (and future) Coventry together."

The presentation includes the following...

• Ellington in Coventry: A collaboration with Nicolas Pillai (Birmingham City University), Coventry Cathedral, Danny Greene (Coventry City Council), the Birmingham Conservatoire, and our archival partners, this event will incorporate a screening of Celebration (ITV/ABC, Sunday, 10 Apr 1966, 18:30 (55 mins)), the television programme of Duke Ellington’s performance of his suite ‘In the Beginning, God’ at Coventry Cathedral, on large screens placed next to the Sutherland tapestry, and a live performance of Ellington’s music at the Cathedral itself.

This is exciting news and Villes Ville will post news updates as they become available. The date for screening the television programme and the concert of Sacred music is early April next year.

Full details of the project  may be viewed here.

There will be more postings on Ellington's links to the city of Coventry later in the week.

Carnegie Controversy