Friday 28 April, 2023: 10h00 - Médiathèque Musicale de Paris
Resumé
During his first international tour in 1933, Ellington conquered Europe. After England and
Holland, he discovered in France a new audience and an artistic recognition that he had not yet received in the United States. Not only did this encounter exceed his expectations, but Duke Ellington found the desire to pursue his career for a long time to come...
Friday28 April, 2023, 10h45: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris
Resumé
Duke Ellington enjoyed a long and rich association with France, especially its City of Light. No nation outside of the United States played as significant a role for him as did France. Over 40 years, he visited Paris nearly 20 times. From his first visit in 1933 until his last in 1973, the band’s performances in France energized Ellington and his band members and made a profound impact on French musicians and music aficionados. He performed in Paris and 26 other French cities; played nearly one hundred concerts; made radio, television, and film appearances and one of his best live recordings; accepted commissions; was feted frequently; composed the score for the movie Paris Blues; produced albums for South African musicians Sathima Bea Benjamin and Dollar Brand; and was bestowed with some of the greatest praise he ever received. For Ellington, the significance of Paris was psychological, social, and musical.
Table Ronde
Friday 28 April, 2023, 11h45: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris
Duke and the Lights, chaired by Leïla Olivesi. With the participation of John Edward Hasse, Marylin Lester, Leïla Olivesi, Laurent Mignard and Daniel Maximin.
Résumé : The aim of this round table is to discuss the values of the future... those of the Enlightenment and those of Duke Ellington.
Programmes of Duke’s concerts in Paris by Leïla Olivesi
Friday 28 April 2023, 14h15: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris
Resumé
We intend to consider Ellington’s works within the process of its musical creation more than regarding a single recording session. This music is constantly evolving through the performances of this longest ever lasted orchestra, whose main dedication was to play on stage all year long. While studying the French concerts programmes, and especially the Parisian ones, we’ll be able to look at the story of this music from Pleyel in 1933 to the Palais des Sports in 1973. Except a few times, the programmes would usually suggest a long list of works among which Ellington would pick the final chosen compositions for the night. Duke Ellington was a great show man, as well as a great performer of this music, never totally planned, nor totally improvised. Hopefully, taking a closer look to these Parisian performances will allow us to discover some of Ellington’s setlist’ secrets.
Duke Ellington, Jean Vilar and Turcaret, by Anne Legrand
Friday 28 April 2023, 16h00: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris
Résumé
On the night of December 29th to 30th, 1960, Duke Ellington recorded at the TNP (National Theatre Popular) the music for the play entitled Turcaret by Alain-René Lesage, directed by Jean Vilar. If the recording takes place in a single night, we will come back to his setting up, the investment, the projects and the dreams of Duke and Vilar that this piece from the beginning of the 18th century arouses. Since 2010, several works have been published with the discovery of new documents. This presentation will be enriched with new archives concerning this meeting of Duke Ellington with Jean Vilar, around the play by Lesage.
Ellington Researchers' Panel, Steven Lasker, Ken Steiner, David Palmquist and Michael KilpatrickFriday 28 April– 16h15: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris
Résumé
Four eminent Duke Ellington experts overview their commitment : their motivation to study Duke’s world, the sources and archives each of them has researched and what they have found, how and where they have shared what they have found, some recent finds of notable interest, what they still hope to find...
Django Meets Duke by Philippe Baudoin
Saturday 29 April – 10h00: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris
Résumé
Face-to-face meetings between Duke and Django were not very frequent, even if they were intense – for example the American tour of 1946. But besides these face-to-face encounters, we will compare the musical similarities found in their respective recordings – for instance the famous train imitations: Duke’s 1933 Daybreak Express and Django’s 1937 Mystery Pacific. You will discover other hidden but equally astonishing similarities in the work of these two geniuses. Philippe Baudoin will use Loren Schoenberg’s documents, jazzman and director of the Harlem Jazz Museum, to make you hear the live rarities by Duke and Django and some other Ellingtonian treasures from the famous Savory collection.
Julian Priester, six months with the Duke by Ken Steiner
Saturday 29 avril– 15h00: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris
Resumé
Julian Priester has a long resume. He’s played with Sun Ra, Muddy Waters, Dinah Washington, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, John Coltrane, Ray Charles, Woody Herman, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, and many others. Priester is also a composer of note, has led his own groups, and recorded as a leader. When Lawrence Brown retired at the end of 1969, Priester was hired by Ellington. Although Priester’s time with Duke was short, it was pivotal in Priester’s career. Priester did not make it to Paris with Ellington, but has many happy memories of performing for Parisian audiences. Ken Steiner and Julian Priester have been neighbors in Seattle since 2016. Ken will discuss Julian’s career with an emphasis on his time with Duke.
Fred Guy by Nick Rossi
Saturday 29 April– 15h45: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris
Resumé
Nick Rossi’s presentation will focus on Frederick Lee Guy (1897-1971), member of the Ellington rhythm section for 25 years. Serving initially as a banjoist and subsequently as a rhythm guitarist, Guy with Sonny Greer was a constant throughout a significant portion of the maestro’s most fruitful and celebrated periods. Born Virginia, Guy moved to New York and Harlem at a young age where he eventually met and joined the Ellington band. This biographical sketch will survey the plectrist’s life and offer some insight to his relationships both in and independent of the Famous Orchestra. Additional context will be provided about the role of the banjo and guitar in contemporaneous jazz orchestras, as well as Guy’s place in the history of those instruments. Finally, some consideration will be given to Ellington’s use of Guy, the only full-time banjoist/guitarist in the band during this period, in both recording and live settings.
Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité: Duke Ellington and Artistic Freedom by Carl Woideck
Saturday 29 April - 16h30: Médiathèque Musicale de Paris
Resumé
Charles Mingus said of Duke Ellington: “When he's playing, what they call accompaniment to the soloists, he never repeats his chords. . . . He's just continually creating background behind the solos.” When playing the piano, Ellington clearly took great artistic liberty. Ellington also extended artistic liberty to the musicians in his band. Some of the most fascinating examples of this are found in the evolution of Ad Lib on Nippon as heard in its first movement, Fuji. Documented in live and studio recordings from January 1965 to December 1966, Ellington and his bassist, John Lamb, took considerable artistic liberty with each performance. To illuminate this artistic liberty-taking, we will in part examine Fuji from Ellington’s 30 January 1965 concert at Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
La collection de Jean Portier by Gilles Portier
Saturday 29 April - Médiathèque Musicale de Paris
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