Strayhorn Festival

Celebrating Billy Strayhorn, an overlooked master, at 100 with a new festival

(From Chicago Tribune)

He was one of the greatest jazz composers America has produced, but he remains overshadowed by his brilliant employer, Duke Ellington.

He penned scores that are revered around the world, but masterpieces such as "Lush Life" and "Take the 'A' Train" are far more famous than the man who wrote them.

He showed courage in coming out as a gay man in an era when few artists of his stature did, but he paid dearly for that heroic stance.

Fortunately, as Billy Strayhorn's Nov. 29 centennial approaches, the world slowly is beginning to acknowledge his importance as man and musician, with Chicago to take on a prominent role in celebrating his achievements.

A citywide Billy Strayhorn Festival will run Sept. 4 through Nov. 21 in clubs, concert halls, community centers and other venues. And a new book, "Strayhorn: An Illustrated Life" (published by Evanston-based Agate Bolden), will pair historic images with commentary from Ramsey Lewis, Nancy Wilson, Dianne Reeves and other major jazz figures.

Coordinated by the Auditorium Theatre — which presented a sprawling Miles Davis Festival in 2011 — the Strayhorn celebration will feature performances of his work in many forms, as well as panel discussions examining Strayhorn's place in music, culture and American society.

Though it's easy to understand why the Auditorium had put its resources behind a festival celebrating Davis, a global jazz icon with deep ties to Chicago, Strayhorn might seem like a surprising follow-up.

"The music is fantastic — that is without question," says Brett Batterson, executive director of the Auditorium Theatre, stating an incontrovertible truth.

"It just seemed like given the opportunity to raise the visibility of Billy, it was something we wanted to do. … To introduce him to people who may not have heard him. To honor him for his bravery in coming out, at a time when other people weren't doing that. And to salute his genius."

Batterson had a head start on conceiving such an event, for he knew Alyce Claerbaut, Strayhorn's niece and president of Billy Strayhorn Songs Inc. She lives in the Chicago area, has been advocating for her uncle's place in the jazz pantheon for decades and years ago told Batterson of a centennial that was years away. He didn't forget.

"He knows the legacy, and he wanted to make sure that Chicago was one of the major cities for this," says Claerbaut.

"Brett said, 'We had a model with Miles Davis, and we could probably do that with Billy Strayhorn.' He went out, wrote a grant (application), got funding."

Batterson secured support from the Chicago Community Trust, the festival's lead foundation supporter, with additional resources from the Joyce Foundation.

The $150,000 budget for the Strayhorn Festival is less than the $250,000 allotted for the Davis celebration, which presented 21 shows in 18 clubs (more than is scheduled as of now for the Strayhorn event).

But the tone of the Strayhorn celebration will be somewhat different from the Davis extravaganza, in part because the upcoming event will have an educational emphasis. Scholars, musicians and others will convene in various locations to examine Strayhorn's life and its impact on contemporary culture.

"The other piece of this (worth noting) — because of the Auditorium's educational mission — is Billy's choice to be an openly gay man at the time he chose to do it, (which) was a very brave decision," says Batterson.

"But it allowed for him to be taken advantage of."

Indeed, Strayhorn's openness about his sexuality meant that more than half a century ago, in a very different America, he could not bask in the spotlight and wide acclaim lavished upon his boss, Ellington. So Ellington, obviously a genius in his own right, benefited from the wizardry of music Strayhorn wrote for the Ellington organization, with Strayhorn enjoying few of the accolades.

"Duke ended up being somewhat complicit in the subordination of Strayhorn," Strayhorn biographer David Hajdu says in the 2007 documentary film "Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life."

"He didn't actively diminish Strayhorn, squeeze him out. But he allowed it. And I think it was a mistake. A big mistake made by a great man capable of better."

Or as composer-scholar Gunther Schuller put it in the film, Strayhorn became, "in the highest sense, a slave" to Ellington.

Strayhorn centennial celebrations, such as the upcoming Strayhorn Festival and the Strayhorn book, can serve as a posthumous corrective, belatedly giving Strayhorn his due as master composer and pioneer of equal rights. That the festival occurs in the wake of Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states makes the occasion all the more timely.

"He was very important to our society in many, many ways," says Claerbaut of her uncle who died in 1967 at age 51. "And a lot of that history has been underrated.

Among the festival's many events, two stand out: Jeff Lindberg's Chicago Jazz Orchestra performing newly commissioned arrangements of Strayhorn's music on Sept. 4 in Millennium Park during the Chicago Jazz Festival; and "Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn," featuring singers Darius de Haas and Joan Curto with pianist Alan Broadbent, the Joel Hall Dancers, orchestra and chorus in concert, at the Auditorium Theatre on Nov. 21.

What does Batterson hope will come of all this music, discussion and analysis?

"It's the social message, along with the entertainment value," says Batterson.

Few jazz figures combine those themes more poignantly than Strayhorn.

Following are highlights of the Billy Strayhorn Festival as it now stands, with events to be added. For details, visit auditoriumtheatre.org or phone 312-341-2310.

Chicago Jazz Orchestra. Jeff Lindberg's band kicks off the festival with new versions of Strayhorn repertoire; 8:30 p.m. Sept. 4 at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, near Randolph Drive and Michigan Avenue; free; go to chicagojazzfestival.us.

Mike Smith Quartet. Saxophonist Smith and pianist Baskin will collaborate on music of Strayhorn; starting at 9:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at Andy's Jazz Club, 11 E. Hubbard St.; $10; 312-642-6805 or andysjazzclub.com.

"The Life and Music of Billy Strayhorn." Northwestern University Professor E. Patrick Johnson collaborates with Kim Hunt, Johari Jabir and Cedric Brown in a discussion of Strayhorn's life, with musical performance and recordings. 4 p.m. Oct. 4 at Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St.; free; centeronhalsted.org.

"Jazz'n on the South Side" featuring Dee Alexander. The great Chicago singer performs music of Strayhorn. 7 p.m. Oct. 7 at Caribbean Cove, 8020 S. King Drive.

D'Erania. The saxophonist performs Oct. 30 at T&JJ's, 718 S. 5th Ave., Maywood.

"Strayhorn: an Illustrated Life" (Agate Bolden). The coffee table book includes a foreword by Ramsey Lewis and essays by authors David Hajdu, Walter van de Leur and film director Robert Levi; to be published Nov. 10; $35.

"Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn." The festival's grand finale will be a revue of Strayhorn's music featuring vocal soloists, dancers, chorus and orchestra. In addition, the Auditorium will present its first annual Eighth Wonder Award. 8 p.m. Nov. 21 at the Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Parkway; $29-$68; tickets go on sale 10 a.m. Friday; 312-341-2300 or auditoriumtheatre.org.

Washington Wobble

From an Ebay auction:

THESE ARE THREE EXCEPTIONALLY EARLY AND RARE SIGNED PHOTOS OF BLACK AMERICAN ENTERTAINERS FROM  WITHIN THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE TIME PERIOD 1929-1933. THESE WERE LOCATED TOGETHER AND ARE BEING SOLD TOGETHER. THEY FEATURE THE FOLLOWING:

8 BY 5 INCH LOVELY PHOTO IMAGE OF FREDI WASHINGTON INSCRIBED: "TO LILLI SHEP..HOPING THE BOND OF OUR FRIENDSHIP WILL NEVER BE BROKEN...WITH LOVE  FREDI  1933."

FREDI WASHINGTON WAS A LIGHT SKINNED BLACK WOMAN WHO PLAYED THE MULATTO WOMAN PASSING FOR WHITE IN THE 1934 MOVIE "IMITATION OF LIFE" RELEASED IN 1934.IN 1933 SHE STARRED WITH PAUL ROBESON IN EMPEROR JONES. PRIOR TO THOSE MOVIES, FREDI WAS A DANCER IN BLACK AND TAN AND SHUFFLE ALONG AND TOURED WITH DUKE ELLINGTON ON WHOM SHE REPORTEDLY HAD A CRUSH. SHE MARRIED ONE OF ELLINGTON'S BAND MEMBERS. AS FOUND IN PHOTOS ON PINTEREST, FREDI WASHINGTON WAS A STUNNING WOMAN AND SHE WAS OFTEN PRESSURED TO PLAY ROLES PASSING AS A WHITE WOMAN IN REAL LIFE WHICH SHE REFUSED TO DO.

DESPITE HER BEAUTY, HER LIGHT SKIN AND GREEN EYES WORKED AGAINST HER FOR FUTURE FILM WORK. THIS PHOTO IS STAMPED ALLEN, N Y AND WAS TAKEN BY HARLEM RENAISSANCE BLACK PHOTOGRAPHER JAMES LATIMER ALLEN. ALLEN WAS KNOWN FOR HIS "HEAVY GAUZE" TECHNIQUE AS SEEN ON THIS PHOTO OF FREDI. HE PHOTOGRAPHED MANY OF THE FAMOUS BLACK AMERICANS OF THE 1920S AND 1930S INCLUDING LANGSTON HUGHES, PAUL ROBESON AND MANY OTHERS.

FREDI WAS VERY ACTIVE AFTER HER FILM WORK ENDED HELPING TO START THE NEGRO ACTOR'S GUILD IN 1937 AND EDITING THE PEOPLE'S VOICE STARTING IN 1942. SHE ALSO WORKED FOR THE NAACP. 

FINDING A SIGNED PHOTO BY FREDI WASHINGTON IS A RARE TREAT AND NO DOUBT WILL BECOME A HIGH SPOT IN ANY COLLECTION.

FOUND WITH THE FREDI PHOTO IS THE DUKE ELLINGTON SIGNED 4.25 BY 6.25 INCH DUKE ELLINGTON. GIVEN THE RELATIONSHIP TO FREDI, I THOUGHT IT PROPER TO SELL THE TWO ITEMS ROGETHER. ALSO FOUND WITH THESE TWO PHOTOS IS A THIRD PHOTO OF A JOSEPHINE BAKER STYLE PRESUMED ENTERTAINER WHO INSCRIBED THE PHOTO: "TO FRANCES, WISHING YOU THE BEST IN LIFE WITH LOTS OF LOVE, I AM ALWAYS YOUR SINCERE FRIEND, RUTH 10/6/29" THIS LAST PHOTO IS QUITE ROUGH AS SHOWN. IT MEASURES 5 BY 7 INCHES.

GOOD LUCK

(You'll need it...)

Plymouth Sound

by Mr Alan Williams, Media and Communications Officer

The live performances of jazz legend Duke Ellington, and how they differed from his recorded work, are to be explored in a new research project by a Plymouth University academic.

Lecturer in Music Dr Katherine Williams has been awarded the first ever Jazz Research Fellowship by the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation and the Jazz Education Network.

The two-year fellowship will provide her with access to one of the world’s most extensive musical archives – held in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington D.C – where she plans to advance her existing research into one of the genre’s most important figures.

Dr Williams, module leader for performance within the University’s Music degrees, said:

“Jazz is always surrounded by a sense of mysticism, and it is a genre that continues to inspire audiences to this day. Much of the music was written in the 1920s and 30s, but its appeal lives on through the fact there is so much improvisation involved. There have been few greater purveyors of that than Duke Ellington, and the result is the music heard by live audiences is in many cases hugely different to that on recordings, and they both differ to what was originally written.”

As part of her fellowship, Dr Williams will travel to Washington DC to explore the Smithsonian Institution’s collection of original papers, photographs, sheet music, recordings and advertising material.

She hopes to use that information to further understanding about the history of improvisation, and how it has influenced musical performances and can continue to do so in the future.

Dr Williams also plans to set up a band in Plymouth, encouraging students and the local community to recreate Duke Ellington’s work in its various stages as a way of representing jazz’s enduring appeal. 

At the completion of the fellowship, she will deliver final presentations of her research at the Smithsonian Institution, as well as at the Jazz Education Network (JEN) Conference in 2017.

Dr Williams, who trained as a classical saxophonist before completing a PhD in classical music and jazz, has this year spoken about her research at events in Ireland, Belgium and California. She said:

'It is amazing to receive this level of international recognition, both personally and for the University, and I cannot wait to go to the Smithsonian and begin my research. Duke Ellington was a true pioneer – recognised as a composer rather than simply a musician and band leader – and it will be fascinating to explore the full extent of his talents. I also hope I can use what I learn to inspire students about the different ways they might approach performance in their futures.'

"Duke Ellington was a true pioneer – recognised as a composer rather than simply a musician and band leader – and it will be fascinating to explore the full extent of his talents"  

Blood Count?

23rd International Duke Ellington Conference

23rd International Duke Ellington Conference Ellington and Strayhorn

A Celebration: 6-8 November, 2015, Reed College, Portland, Oregon.

Website is here.

Conny Plank Reviewed

The reviews are coming in for the newly released Conny Plank Sessions CD/vinyl.

First of all, Kevin Whitehead discusses the release with David Biancullli in this podcast:

Full transcription here.

And from the website Pitchfork, the following review by Ron Hart:

When the Conny Plank estate revealed that they have in their possession a recording of the experimental German producer and big band titan Duke Ellington in the studio together, it was indeed a surprise. But given the Duke's decades-long track record of taking creative risks, the two disparate minds coming together made a certain kind of sense.

Plank, who got his start as the soundman for famed German actress/singer Marlene Dietrich, was a maestro at multi-tracking, creating alien atmospheres for pioneering experimental rock acts such as Guru Guru, Cluster, Kraftwerk, and Neu!.  Plank wasn't entirely foreign to jazz, having done sound the year before for fellow countrymen Alexander von Schlippenbach on the piano great's seminal album The Living Music and Nipples, the free-jazz classic by saxophone colossus Peter Brötzmann. Ellington, meanwhile, usually worked with a large ensemble and an even larger imagination for where to take it, a combination that seemed custom-made for multi-track recording. As with the rest of Ellington's rich and storied career, a combination of fate, savvy, and mutual connections brought the aging bandleader and the vanguard engineer together for a brief time at Rhenus Studio in Germany's Harlem of kosmische muzik, Cologne.

Perhaps the most intriguing thing about this session, which contains three takes apiece of two different songs, is how Ellington's Orchestra comes across when filtered through Plank's audio setup. For a producer whose work is so affiliated with heavy doses of pitch bending, echo, controlled reverb, and other forms of early electronic sound manipulations in his work, it's wild to hear how natural this recording is, as though Plank—himself a great admirer of the Duke—knew not to trifle with music that writer Henrik von Holtum compares to Johann Sebastian Bach in the liner notes to this release. "With both Bach and Ellington, you can sit down at a piano simply to go through it building chords and something great always happens," he explains. "This music is so rich, and it is virtually indestructible."

On the three versions of "Alerado", it is the combo organ work of Wild Bill Davis that takes center stage. Here, Davis picks up where he left off upon joining Ellington in 1970 for a leading man role on "Blues for New Orleans", the opening track off that year's New Orleans Suite. By the time they get to the third take, Davis seems to have discovered his inner Billy Preston, taking the brass section to a church somewhere between a cathedral and a ballpark, running full stride in a way that wastes no second of the opportunity provided to him by Duke, who seems happy to let Davis take the wheel.

But if there is any evidence from this session of a direct creative connection between Duke and Plank it is on the set's second track, "Afrique". Duke is front and center, and there's a discordance in his playing that suggests an admiration for Cecil Taylor or Andrew Hill. This song would wind up, in its more percussion-driven form, on Afro-Eurasian Eclipse, a record revered for its excursions into African folk music, Southern R&B, and even rock'n'roll. But on the three versions of "Afrique" recorded with Plank, Ellington can be heard exploring minimalism as expertly as his most vibrant, Technicolor playing from the heyday of swing.

When Ellington entered Rhenus Studio in the summer of 1970, the story goes that his goal was to use the space to record some stock material for later use. He didn't realize that he was working with one of pop music's bold visionaries. In hindsight, it's a meeting as monumental as such fabled unions as Prince and Miles Davis or Keith Richards and Gram Parsons; the kind of gigs music nerds book in their heads. Only, for this one there's hard evidence of its existence, a coming together of a great American icon and an adventurous young soundman from Deutschland that's as beautiful as it is unorthodox.

Source: Pitchfork

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