Impressed

From 2021, a Duke Ellington edition of Brownwood Basement with Gilles Peterson

Live: March 2023

Saturday 25 March 19:30

Harmony in Harlem Diminuemndo and Crescendo in Blue, St Andrew's Street Baptist Church, Cambridge CB2 3AR

Harmony In Harlem is performing in Cambridge on Saturday 25th March. Returning once again to St Andrew's Street Baptist Church, the concert is entitled Diminuendo & Crescendo in Blue after the challenging blues couplet which is a tour de force for whole orchestra, amongst other authentic Ellingtonia from the 1930s through to the 1960s.

Details here.

26 March, 15:00 (EST)

Ellington Effect Workshop #25: The Tattooed Bride (Part Three)

Join us for the live Zoom workshop on Sunday, March 26th at 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

 

Can't make the live call?  Your ticket includes access to the video recording forever.

 

Each presentation will last around 2 hours, followed by a Q & A.

 

Joining any workshop also gets you access to the private Ellington Effect Facebook group, where lively discussions continue after the workshops finish.

 

About the workshops

The Ellington Effect workshops take place once a month, and David picks a different Ellington composition to analyze for each one.  In about two hours, he talks through the piece note by note, line by line, analyzing the piece at both macro and micro levels.

 

David Berger has studied the music of Duke Ellington for over 50 years, and has transcribed over 500 Ellington and Strayhorn arrangements and compositions. Because of this, he is able to make connections to Ellington's other pieces, talk about trends and eras in Ellington's writing, and discuss the influences of changing personnel on the music over time.

 

At the end of each workshop, David answers questions for a half hour or so.  These are always lively and fascinating, as workshop attendees tend to include some highly knowledgable Ellingtonians as well as plenty of intelligent musicians who ask insightful questions.

Details here.

31 March-1 April, 20:00 ET

Internationally Ellington, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Rose Theatre, NYC

A cohort of rising star talent explore the international side of Duke Ellington. 

 

There will be a free pre-concert lecture at 7pm for each performance.

 

The fruits of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s educational mission will be on display with Internationally Ellington, featuring a hand-picked ensemble of some of the greatest young talent in jazz meeting the challenges posed by Duke Ellington, JALC’s lodestar and jazz’s greatest composer. “Duke played with musicians all over the world, incorporated so many people into his band, wrote music for all the different cultures – everything from the Far East Suite to the Shakespearean suite (Such Sweet Thunder) to the Latin American Suite to the Liberian Suite,” says Wynton Marsalis. “Duke was out there in front, dealing with the world as a singular place.”

 

PERFORMANCE LINEUP

 

Joe Block, music director/piano

Walter Blanding, tenor saxophon

Herlin Riley, drums

Steve Wilson, alto saxophone

Nathaniel Williford, trumpet

Grace Fox, trumpet

Anthony Hervey, trumpet

Jesus Ricardo, trumpet

Noah Halpern, trumpet

Jacob Melsha, trombone

Rashaan Salaam, trombone

Jasim Perales, trombone

Zoe Obadia, alto saxophone

Daniel Cohen, tenor saxophone

Josh Lee, baritone saxophone

Marty Jaffe, bass

Robbie Lee, vocals

 

This program is presented as part of the Ertegun Jazz Concert Series.

 

Details here.

 

Cavett Cavil

Somebody up there in classic American TV chat show heaven is being very generous to YouTube. Selections from Duke Ellington's various appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show pop up with some regularity (see here) and now the archives of The Dick Cavett Show are being plundered to similar effect. I have not yet watched these clips in succession but they may comprise just about a complete episode of the show featuring Duke Ellington and Mary McCarthy, audio of which was recently released by Ricky Richard from The Louis Armstrong House Museum.

 

And here from a later Dick Cavett Show in 1971, Duke Ellington discusses his sleeping habits...