The following rare film was posted recently to Youtube. It shows Ellington taking the assembled players through Perdido.
Ellington experts from across the world pooled their resources in order to identify the musicians, the time and the place.
The line-up of the Orchestra at that time was...
Shorty Baker, Dave Burns, Al Killian, Ray Nance, Nelson Williams, tp; Lawrence Brown, Tyree Glenn, Quentin Jackson, tb; Jimmy Hamilton, cl, ts; Johnny Hodges, as; Russell Procope, as, cl; Alva "Bo" McCain, Charlie Rouse, ts; Harry Carney, bs; Wendell Marshall, b; Sonny Greer, dms; Al Hibbler, Odessa "Chubby" Kemp, Kay Davis, vcl. The trumpeter wearing a beret is possibly Ernie Royal. Billy Staryhorn is also present.
The film was probably shot on 7 April at La Ferme d’Auteuil in the Paris suburbs and shown on 12 April, according to evidence from this document...
At that time, Ellington had just begun his European tour and the orchestra appeared in Paris at the Palais de Chaillot on 12 April. Here is a page of programme notes from the concert:
And here is another image of the Parisian garden party from the shoot for Le Jazz Hot.
This is the video...
... and from the same period, the Universal international 'short', Salute to Duke Ellington...
(With thanks to Philippe Baudoin, Agostino Marzoli, David Palmquist, Brian Priestley and Patricia Willard)
Thanks for your great work! Agostino Marzoli (alias ReminiscingInTempo, alias Kind Of Duke)!
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