One In A Million

Million Years. Autograph musical manuscript.    Condensed score for saxophone, bass and horn

Author: ELLINGTON, Duke 1899-1974

Title: Million Years. Autograph musical manuscript. Condensed score for saxophone, bass and horn

Description: 

Folio (ca. 320 x 240 mm). Unbound. 1-1/3 pp. Notated in pencil on 4 systems of 3 staves per page on one side of a bifolium of 12-stave "Passantino Brand" music manuscript paper. Complete. Unsigned and undated, but ca. 1950. 

With some corrections, alterations, and autograph performance notes including solo cue for Juan Tizol (1900-1984), the Puerto Rican trombonist who performed regularly with Ellington. 

Together with:

A typed statement dated February 21, 2006 confirming that the manuscript was given to J. Bradley Shigeta by the composer's son Mercer Ellington in 1995 "as a personal gift for my assistance with the Duke Ellington Orchestra."

"Duke Ellington was possessed by music. He acknowledged his lifelong obsession in these words: 

Roaming through the jungle of 'oohs' and 'ahs,' searching for a more agreeable noise, I life a life of primitivity, with the mind of a child and an unquenchable thirst for sharps and flats. The more consonant, the more appetizing and delectable they are. Cacophony is hard to swallow. Living in a cave, I am almost a hermit, but there is a difference, for I have a mistress. Lovers have come and gone, but only my mistress stays. She is beautiful and gentle. She waits on me hand and foot. She is a swinger. She has grace. To hear her speak, you cant believe your ears. She is ten thousand years old. She is as modern as tomorrow, a brand-new woman every day, and as endless as time mathematics. Living with her is a labyrinth of ramifications. I look forward to her every gesture. Music is my mistress, and she plays second fiddle to no-one." Rattenbury: Duke Ellington, p. 1.

Ellington is widely recognized as the most important composer in jazz history.

Seller ID: 39932

Subject: Autographs & Manuscripts, New Arrivals

Raiders of the Lost Archive: 2

Saving every recorded note the Ellington orchestra ever blew is probably an impossible task on a Herculean scale. Archival work on the recorded and printed legacy of Duke Ellington is something we take great interest in. 

Here is one that got away in a recent eBay auction, the details posted here for the record...

From the vendor's description...

2 Vintage Reel to Reel Audio Recordings Duke Ellington Jazz 30's 60's Music

Item description from the seller

2 Vintage Reel to Reel Duke Ellington Audio Recordings

Concert    9/7/1961 

Concert    7/26/1939

NOT TESTED

Trusting What is on Box is Actually What's on Reel in Box

The 26 July 1939 recording is readily available. The interesting 'find' in this listing is the recording from Houston, Texas, 1961.

This, too, has clearly done the rounds on the collectors' circuit, back in the day.

Discographical details here come from ellingtonia.com

Most of the non-commercial recordings listed on this site originate from privately held recordings which exchanged hands on the collectors' circuit. To what extent a 'complete' set of these recordings is held in one place, an archive which could be accessed by researchers, we do not know. To quote the Bard, however, " 'tis a consummation devoutly to be wished"!

DUKE ELLINGTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA Houston, TX  7 September 1961

Dance, Music Hall

Willie Cook, Edward Mullens, Cat Anderson(t); Ray Nance(t,vl,v); Louis Blackburn, Lawrence Brown(tb); Chuck Connors(btb); Jimmy Hamilton(cl,ts); Russell Procope (cl,as); Johnny Hodges(as); Paul Gonsalves(ts); Harry Carney(cl,bcl,as,bar); Duke Ellington(p); Aaron Bell(sb); Sam Woodyard(d); Milt Grayson(v)

Take The ‘A’ Train (theme)                        

¬ Black And Tan Fantasy               

 | Creole Love Call               

_|The Mooche                      

Newport Up              

Tenderly                    

Cops (Asphalt Jungle)                   

Congo Square                     

Summertime                        

Autumn Leaves                    

Rockin' In Rhythm               

Passion Flower                   

All Of Me                    

Day In, Day Out - vMG                     

Why Was I Born - vMG                    

One More once - vMG                     

Jones             

Take The "A" Train (theme)                       

V.I.P. Boogie             

Jam With Sam                     

Skin Deep                 

Medley                       

1. In A Sentimental Mood               

2. Don't Get Around Much Anymore                     

3. Mood Indigo                     

4. I'm Beginning To See The Light                       

5. Sophisticated Lady                     

6. Caravan                

7. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me - vMG                    

8. Just Squeeze Me - vRN              

9. It Don't Mean A Thing - vRN                   

10. I Let A Song & Don't Get Around Much                      

 

¬ Diminuendo In Blue                    

_| Wailing Interval                

Take The ‘A’ Train (theme)                        

 

The Essence of Prudente

Vince Prudente has worked with some of the biggest names in popular music – Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman. No name is bigger than Duke Ellington, who the trombonist and author of this book calls, “My mentor, my encourager, my boss, my accompanist, my confidant, my friend”.

Prudente worked with Duke Ellington during the last two years of the composer’s life. It is a period in Ellington’s career that is unjustly overlooked comprising as it does some of his most powerful and personal music, informed by Ellington being at a stage in his life when he was exercised by thoughts of his mortality, negotiating with eternity as it were. 

The fact that the life and the work were essentially the same thing for Ellington is the mark of a true artist and is the essence of this book. It is evident from his writing here, that this fusing of the life and the work is true also of Vince Prudente. Advised by his therapist to start a journal and to try to write something every day, The Essence and Duke Ellington is the result. Whilst an autobiographical outline can be descried within its pages, the book is much more than that.  It is the distillation of the wisdom accrued over the course of a lifetime as a professional musician, rich in experience, on and off the road. It is a celebration of family, friends and colleagues along the way and also a voyage of discovery, every challenge, every frustration, presenting the opportunity to learn and grow. Vince Prudente has created nothing less than a parable on a life lived well, told with humility; courage, honesty and integrity evident on every page.

The book is available at...

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

barnes and noble

Social Media Significance

Ellington Live has a seat on the committee of the Duke Ellington Society UK and contribute as much as we can to the Society's social media profile.

As such, here is a handy 'cut out and keep' guide to the various "ways and conditions" it is possible to interact with the Society via social media.

Click on the links below. With the exception of 'the artist formerly known as Twitter', X, all these media may be accessed without signing up to join

Chief among these is the Society's Facebook page.

X marks the spot here.

The Society also has accounts with Instagram...

... and Threads

Our newest social account is with Blue Sky...

It is possible to join the discussion at Discord...

There is also a monthly e-newsletter to which readers may subscribe here.

Live: September 2024

Sunday, 15 September, 16:00 (CET)

Jazz Aux Champs Elysées 2024 Année Duke Ellington

Laurent Mignard Duke Orchestra

au Splendid

In 2003, Laurent Mignard founded the Duke Orchestra to recreate the Duke Ellington Sacred Concert in Saint Sulpice, then the Far East Suite in Beirut. The Duke Orchestra and its dream team of soloists gradually established themselves as the best Ellingtonian orchestra in activity (according to the Duke Ellington Music Society), to project the legacy in concerts and (re)creations on the greatest stages. Composer, Laurent Mignard is inspired by Ellington, Ornette Coleman, Debussy, Dutilleux, Takemitsu ... in search of the balance between serenity and surprise, beyond traditional tonal laws. Laurent Mignard is president of the Maison du Duke.

(Didier Desbois as, Aurélie Tropez as, cl, Olivier Defays ts, Carl ts, fl, Philippe Chagne bs, Claude Egea tp, Sylvain Gontard ou Gilles Relisieux tp, Jérôme Etcheberry tp, Malo Mazurié tp, Nicolas Grymonprez tb, Michaël Ballue tb, Jerry Edwards tb, Philippe Milanta p, Bruno Rousselet b, Julie Saury d, Laurent Mignard dir)

Details here.

Sunday, 15 September 15:00 (EDT)

Ellington Effect Workshop #43: Boy Meets Horn

Join us for the 43rd Zoom webinar in David Berger's Ellington Effect workshop series, which will focus on Ellington's iconic composition Boy Meets Horn. The Ellington Effect workshops are monthly Zoom meetings where David dives into a single composition each time, analyzing it musically line by line, as well as relating pertinent stories about Duke and the band, and answering questions from attendees.  

About Boy Meets Horn

Following previous concertos for his star soloists, Ellington created this masterpiece with and for Rex Stewart. As Ellington explained, he thrived on limitations. In this case, Rex had six effective notes where he could employ his half valve technique. Although Ellington gets full credit for this piece, according to Rex, the two of them worked out his cornet part together, and then Duke scored it for the band.

This was not the first concerto Ellington wrote for Rex. Trumpet In Spades was written in 1943. It featured Rex’s technique at a very fast tempo. Successive concertos for Barney Bigard (Clarinet Lament), Johnny Hodges (unrecorded Concerto For Johnny), Lawrence Brown (Yearning For Love), and Cootie Williams (Echoes Of Harlem) preceded Boy Meets Horn. Later concertos include Concerto For Cootie (Williams), Golden Cress and Blue Cellophane (Lawrence Brown), Air Conditioned Jungle and Silk Lace (Jimmy Hamilton).

Ellington was a master at recognizing his players’ strengths and idiosyncrasies and capitalizing on them. Rex Stewart’s expressive use of half valve effects was a big part of his musical personality and set him off from other trumpet and cornet players. Louis Armstrong popularized half valve techniques like falloffs and glisses. Cootie Williams adopted those techniques and added scoops and bends, but Rex took it to another level. In Boy Meets Horn, originally entitled Twits and Twerps, successive, humorous half valve non-pitches characterize the a theme of the concerto.

As with all great concertos, the entirety of the ensemble is integral to the composition and not mere accompaniment. What could be sheer buffoonery in another arranger’s hands becomes comic genius with Ellington. Surprisingly, other bands arranged and played Boy Meets Horn, most notably Benny Goodman featuring Chris Griffin.

Tickets available here. Annual membership available here.

Wednesday, 25 September, 18:00 (BST)

Duke Ellington Society UK Social via Zoom

This is a private event for members of Duke Ellington Society UK and subscribers to their email newsletter.