A Christmas present courtesy of Duke Ellington Society of Sweden: film of Ellington's Third sacred Concert performed at Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar, 10 November, 1973. The full story of the concert is told here.
It occurs to me that Santa Maria del Mar is possibly the only place of worship to host two different Sacred concerts. Ellington appeared there four years earlier on 24 November, 1969 to perform his Second Sacred Concert. During that visit, he saw that one of the three kings pictured in a stained glass window was black and this became his inspiration for his final major work, Three Black Kings.
Here is the rarest of the three concerts of Ellington's Sacred music...
I finally got to watch (wireless trouble all day) and — wow. It's sad to watch, knowing at every moment that the end is near. But things catch fire here and there, even though the band seems almost an afterthought ("Oh yes, and the band!"). Tony Watkins really comes through at the end — when it looks as if Duke was expecting Alice Babs to sing. Thanks for sharing this, Ian.
ReplyDeleteThanks for watching, Michael - and very best wishes!
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