Turcaret Encore

Rosy Varte, georges Wilson and director Jean Vilar in rehearsal for Turcaret, 1960

With many thanks to Anne Legrand, we can now publish the musicians who took part in the recording session with Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn for Jean Vilar's production of Turcaret.

The personnel is as follows:

Maurice Thomas, Fred Gérard, Vincent Casino, Roger Guérin (tp) - André Paquinet, Marcel Galiègue, Billy Byers, Nat Peck (tb) - Jo Hrasko, René Nicolas (as) - Georges Grenu, Marcel Hrasko (ts) – Lucky Tompson (ts) William Boucaya (bar) - Raymond Guiot (fl) - Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn (p) - Guy Pedersen (b) - Christian Garros (d). 

Palais de Chaillot, Paris

30 December , 1960.

In what must have been only the briefest period for rehearsal and recording, Ellington and Strayhorn blended the talents of these musicians into a truly Ellingtonian sounding ensemble.

Much more research is needed yet into how their paths led these musicians to these dates but this is a splendid addition of research to the Duke Ellington discography.

On a final note - for now - about Turcaret, here is part of a chapter on the production from Le Jazz à la Lettre by Janick Séite:

L’appartenance d’Ellington à l’esprit baroque explique-t-elle l’intérêt que le musicien a éprouvé envers l’œuvre d’un écrivain que rien ne le prédisposait à rencontrer : le romancier et dramaturge Lesage ? Lesage, surtout connu pour son Gil Blas, a été classé par certains historiens de la littérature, au côté du Montesquieu des Lettres persanes ou du premier Voltaire, parmi les représentants typiques de cette variante (tardive et dégradée ?) du baroque à laquelle on donne le nom de rococo. Il reste que la rencontre du musicien et de l’écrivain doit d’abord tout au hasard. Son examen va permettre de considérer sous un autre jour cette question du rapport du jazz au langage qui est à mon sens la question centrale pas seulement de ce livre mais encore de l’art de Duke Ellington et peut-être même du jazz.
À la fin de 1960, le Duke effectue un séjour de huit semaines à Paris, une ville qu’il aime beaucoup. Il s’agit d’enregistrer, avec des musiciens français, la musique du film de Martin Ritt Paris Blues. Séjour professionnel donc, mais séjour d’agrément aussi : Duke a donné congé à son orchestre durant deux mois et il retrouve à Paris Fernanda de Castro Monte, une jeune femme sophistiquée et cosmopolite qui exercera une profonde influence sur son mode de vie et dont il a fait la connaissance peu de temps auparavant. Ce qui se rapproche le plus de l’idée que je me fais des vacances, dira-t-il à propos de ce séjour parisien. On multiplie les réceptions en son honneur ; il rencontre Jacques Prévert et Alexandre Trauner, Georges Auric et Charles Aznavour…

Does Ellington's belonging to the Baroque spirit explain the interest that the musician felt in the work of a writer whom nothing predisposed him to meet: the novelist and playwright Lesage? Lesage, best known for his Gil Blas, has been classified by certain historians of literature, alongside the Montesquieu of Persian Letters or the first Voltaire, among the typical representatives of this variant (late and degraded?) of the Baroque to which we give the name rococo. It remains that the meeting of the musician and the writer must first of all happen by chance. Its examination will allow us to consider in another light this question of the relationship of jazz to language which is in my opinion the central question not only of this book but also of the art of Duke Ellington and perhaps even of jazz.

At the end of 1960, the Duke spent eight weeks in Paris, a city he loved very much. It is a question of recording, with French musicians, the music of the film of Martin Ritt Paris Blues. A professional stay, therefore, but also a holiday for pleasure: Duke gave his orchestra a two-month leave and he found Fernanda de Castro Monte in Paris, a sophisticated and cosmopolitan young woman who would exert a profound influence on his way of life and whose met shortly before. What comes closest to the idea that I have of holidays, he will say about this Parisian stay. Receptions in his honor are multiplied; he meets Jacques Prévert and Alexandre Trauner, Georges Auric and Charles Aznavour…