Square One

While Duke Ellington was (under) employed at The Aquacade, Flushing Meadow in the summer of 1955, he worked on the libretto and music for a proposed Broadway show The Man With Four Sides.

He appeared on the Dave Garroway radio show with singers Marion Cox and Jimmy Grissom in order to promote the project.

Yesterday, an acetate of that programme sold on eBay for $264.

Public spirited as we are at Ellington Live, we placed a bid but, unfortunately, the item slipped through our fingers. There must be at least one Ellington aficionado out there with deep pockets...

For the record (pun intended), here are the details of the lot:

JAZZMAN 78'S RECORD ROOM

TITLE  :  THE MAN WITH FOUR SIDES

ARTIST :  DUKE ELLINGTON

SPEED: 33

SIZE : 12

LABEL/NUMBER : ROCKHILL ACETATE

MONO : X

STEREO : 

OTHER INFO : THIS IS A VERY RARE AND POSSIBLY THE ONLY COPY OF THE MATERIAL. IT WAS WRITTEN AND PERFORMED ON A DAVE GARROWAY RADIO SHOW AND WAS USED ONCE AND FORGOTTEN  - THIS MAY WELL BE THE ONLY COPY AND IT ONCE WAS OWNED BY DUKE HIMSELF. 

 FOR BEST PLAYBACK USE A STANDARD 78 STYLUS

RECORD CONDITION SIDE 1 : VG + + +

RECORD CONDITION SIDE 2 : VG + + + 

TITLES :  THE MAN WITH FOUR SIDES

PERSONNEL :  DAVE GARROWAY INTRODUCING - SINGERS  MARIAN COX, JIMMY GRISSOM, WITH LUTHER HENDERSON - PIANO, JIMMY WOODE -BASS,  THE COMPOSITION WAS WRITTEN AND NARRATED BY DUKE ELLINGTON

COMMENTS : RECORDED  1954/55 (THIS IS A GUESS)

I wonder what the evidence is for the statement of providence "it was once owned by Duke himself"? The vendor's guess is close on the recording date. This programme was recorded on 28 August 1955.

His belief that this is "possibly the only copy of the material" is misplaced. A copy belongs in the Smithsonian, National Museum of American History as the screen shot below demonstrates.