In 1970 Duke Ellington played a company gig for the 75th anniversary of the sock and stocking factory Falke in Schmallenberg, a small town (population: 25,000) in the Sauerland region of (then West‐) Germany, halfway between Kassel and Cologne. At one point we were asked about the concert and became curious about why and how it happened in the first place. We wrote to Franz‐Otto Falke, together with his brother Paul one of the co‐owners of the factory since 1951, and asked for the details. It took a couple of weeks, then we received an envelope containing a report by the Falke employee Klaus Fenger who in 1970 was working for Falke in advertising, had been assigned the task of finding an appropriate jazz ensemble for the event and who now shared his very personal memories of how it all came about. We contacted Klaus Fenger in Zambia, Africa where he lives today, organizing bush safaris, to ask him for permission to translate and share his memories of that special event in his earlier career, and he gladly agreed. Franz‐Otto Falke provided a copy of the program as well as some photos from the concert and dinner afterwards. Here, then, is the story behind Duke Ellington's concert at Schmallenberg's municipal auditorium on 10 July 1970...
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