La Bellissima Africaine

Rarest of the rare, a track from this CD (of Italian origin?)has been posted for us to hear by a generous YouTuber(?)

 

More details about this release may be read on Page 5 here.

Second Sacred Concert

With  special thanks to Ehsan Khoshbakht at  Take the 'A' Train whose post first alerted me to the 'complete Second Sacred Concert on You Tube.

The Reel Deel: Swings through Japan

See the original listing here.

Take a punt...

To be published in December, The Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington. The hardback edition may be pre-ordered here.

The paperback edition may be pre-ordered here.

Here is all the detail available from the Amazon UK site:

Book Description

Publication Date: 31 Dec 2014 | Series: Cambridge Companions to Music

Duke Ellington is widely held to be the greatest jazz composer and one of the most significant cultural icons of the twentieth century. This comprehensive and accessible Companion is the first collection of essays to survey, in-depth, Ellington's career, music, and place in popular culture. An international cast of authors includes renowned scholars, critics, composers, and jazz musicians. Organized in three parts, the Companion first sets Ellington's life and work in context, providing new information about his formative years, method of composing, interactions with other musicians, and activities abroad; its second part gives a complete artistic biography of Ellington; and the final section is a series of specific musical studies, including chapters on Ellington and song-writing, the jazz piano, descriptive music, and the blues. Featuring a chronology of the composer's life and major recordings, this book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Ellington's enduring artistic legacy.

Product Description

Book Description

Duke Ellington is widely held to be the greatest jazz composer. This comprehensive and accessible Companion is the first collection of essays to provide an in-depth overview of Ellington's career, music, and place in popular culture and will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in his enduring legacy.

About the Author

Edward Green is a professor at Manhattan School of Music, where since 1984 he has taught jazz, music history, composition, and ethnomusicology. He is also on the faculty of the Aesthetic Realism Foundation, and studied with the renowned philosopher Eli Siegel, the founder of Aesthetic Realism. Dr. Green serves on the editorial boards of The International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, Haydn (the journal of the Haydn Society of North America), Проблемы Музыкальной Науки (Music Scholarship), which is published by a consortium of major Russian conservatories, and is editor of China and the West: The Birth of a New Music (2009). An active composer, he received a 2009 Grammy nomination for his Piano Concertino (Best Contemporary Classical Composition) and a commission offered jointly by thirteen of America's major concert wind ensembles, which resulted in his 2012 Symphony for Band.

Life and Art

Commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of Duke Ellington's death took place yesterday at the graveside of Duke Ellington, Woodlawn Cemetery, New York City. Duke's grand daughter Mercedes was present with a small group of musicians including Art Baron, trombonist with  the orchestra.

Homage to Catalonia

Box of delights

A couple of very interesting videos have recently been posted to the cathode ray youtube. Firstly,footage and audio from a concert in Bucarest, 4 November, 1971:

And here is film from The Richard Nixon Foundation of Ellington attending the White House as Guest of Honour celebrating his seventieth birthday.

Material from other engagements is also included in the montage: Tootie for Cootie is perhaps from a dance engagement at The Smithsonian Institute, 20 January, 1969. It's Freedom and Praise God and Dance may be from a university function. The recording of Volupte may have been made 31 March, 1963 from a dance date at Bolling Air Force Base, Washington D.C.perhaps recorded by Willis  (Voice of America) Conover who produced the documentary on the White House celebration.

(With thanks to Brian Koller for discographical clarification).