Toney Awards

President and Mrs Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson, His Excellency The President of Liberia and Mrs Tubman, Duke Ellington

A recent interesting item for sale on eBay confirms the spelling of the first name of vocalist (to use an antique term) Toney Watkins who was a fixture of the personnel of the late period of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. His name was often spelled 'Tony' even here on the programme for a concert given at The White House on 27 March, 1968. There is signatory evidence to the contrary, however, since this particular document had been autographed by Watkins himself, as the photographs show.

Here is a screen shot from the ever-reliable Duke Where and When website, with information about the White House concert...

The reception was held in honour of the President of Liberia, William Tubman and the music was played by the Duke Ellington Octet. I should certainly like to hear those selections from Liberian Suite played with that instrumentation. It is unlikely any recording was made of the event.

There is a fascinating link on the Where and When website to an article about the reception  entitled Jeff Castleman: Bass Player and Lone Survivor. The colour photograph which headlines this post is taken from that source.

Here are the photographs of the programme for the concert...