Double Play -...

Vol 54 No.1 September/October 2012

The Newsletter of the Duke Ellington Society, Chapter 40, Toronto, Canada is mailed prepaid to members in good standing.

Further information pertaining to the Society’s activities may be obtained from the Editor.

1791 Pattinson Crescent, Mississauga, ON., Canada, L5J 1H6; Phone 905-823-1086; e-mail:[email protected]

Web site: www.torontodukeellingtonsociety.co

2012 Toronto Jazz Festival

To kick off the 2012 Toronto Jazz Festival, Brian

Barlow’s Orchestra played a good long set of

Ellington /Strayhorn music. This was essentially

the same band that we enjoyed so much at our

April Fundraising concert. After the obligatory

opening remarks from the Master of Ceremonies

Rob Fogle, Toronto Jazz Festival Artistic Director

Josh Grossman and City Councilor Gary

Crawford, the band played A Train, Caravan, In A

Mello Tone, Fascinating Rhythm, Mood Indigo,

Love You Madly, Perdido and topped it all off

with a rousing version of The Jeep is Jumpin’

starting the festival off in grand style.

Many thanks to Colin Brown, Roslyn Harris,

Ariadne Keyes, Alan and Judy Shiels, Barry

Tisdale and Matt Woods for distributing

information about The Duke Ellington Society to

the audience

September 11 General Meeting.

Alan Shiels opened our first meeting of the new

season to 33 members and guests. Among the

guests, introduced by Judy Shiels were two

Second World War veterans, Philip Gray who was

a Lancaster bomber pilot and Ivor Foster , a mid

upper gunner in the same ’plane. Philip is also an

author who has written a book of his experiences

during his missions - Ghosts of Targets Past: The

Lives and Losses of a Lancaster Crew in 1944-45.

They were greeted warmly by the meeting.

Alan then introduced the trio who were to play for

us, The Edwin Sheard Trio from Humber College.

Edwin played the alto sax, Patrick O’Reilly was

on guitar and Julian Anderson – Bowes played the

bass. This trio is the one that did such a good job

at our outreach event at the Friends, Flowers and

Music event at the Etobicoke Conservancy

last spring. The trio played I Let a Song Go Out

of My Heart, Satin Doll, Black and Tan Fantasy,

Isfahan and Caravan before we took a break.

Refreshments for this evening were kindly

provided by Jean Griffiths.

After the break the band started with Bojangles

and carried on with Azure, Take the “A” Train,

Star Crossed Lovers, Things Ain’t What They

Used to Be, Single Petal of a Rose and they

finished off with a strong version of Cottontail.

The band put on a great show and demonstrated a

more youthful approach to the music which we

commonly hear. Live music made a welcome

change to our presentations and one which we are

likely to repeat.

Bill Wilson made the official vote of thanks

which was enthusiastically seconded by the

audience.

Welcome New Member:

We welcome a new member, though remote:

Charles Stewart of Los Angeles who was a former

President of the chapter located in Los Angeles.

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Double Play -Jack Chambers sent this note:

By strange coincidence, when I arrived at the Rex

Hotel on Wednesday night (September 12) to see

a quintet called Tesseract, I found myself in the

presence of three of the young Humber grads

whom I had listened to for almost two hours the

night before at our monthly meeting of the Duke

Ellington Society. Alto saxophonist Edwin

Sheard, guitarist Patrick O’Reilly and bassist

Julian Anderson-Bowes, our Ellington trio on

Tuesday, made up three-fifths of Tesseract, along

with their Humber classmates Leland Whittey on

tenor and Derek Gray on drums.

I was afraid it might be too much of a good thing,

but when the music started I realized it was a

different thing altogether. In Tesseract, playing

their own musical blend of fusion, Wayne Shorter

abstractionism and down-home urbanity, the

respectful young men of the night before were

transformed into adventurers. Patrick O’Reilly

was almost unrecognizable (musically) from one

night to the next. Where he was self-effacing

playing Ellington, seemingly happy staying deep

in the mix, he was the most voluble (and probably

the loudest) soloist with Tesseract, ripping Jimi

Hendrix riffs that filled the room on one tune and

manipulating echoes with his foot pedals. The five

young men played with gusto and fire, totally at

ease with one another and with the audience,

about half of it their age. One tune, “Twenty-First

Century Folk Song,” written by the elfin Derek

Gray, gave the band its most distinctive groove

and brought inspired solos from Edwin Sheard

and Leland Whittey.

And naturally as I listened I couldn’t help but

think about what might have been. Supposing our

Ellington trio had played Duke’s music in their

terms instead of working so hard at playing it

straight. They surely know that Steely Dan gave

new life to “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo” by playing

it on their own terms. What would have happened

if they had let Patrick O’Reilly riff on, say,

“Black and Tan Fantasy” or “Bojangles”? Duke

Ellington can take that. So could we, I think.

The Trio of Edwin Sheard, Patrick O’Reilly and

Julian Anderson – Bowes.

October 9th General Meeting.

The first part of the October meeting was taken up

by our Annual General Meeting. Martin Loomer

opened the proceedings with a welcome to the 33

members in attendance. After some discussion

about the lack of volunteers for positions on the

Executive committee Martin Loomer proposed a

motion, seconded by Alan Shiels, that we suspend

our constitution temporarily to allow Jim

Northover and Chris McEvilly who served two

terms each as Secretary and Treasurer

respectively to be re elected in these positions.

Our constitution prevents individuals from

serving more than two consecutive terms in any

position. The motion was passed unopposed.

Martin Loomer then proposed that the following

be elected as the Executive Committee for the

2012 – 2014 seasons. The motion was seconded

by Stan Schiff. The 2012 – 2014 Executive

Committee will be:

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President – Martin Loomer

Vice President – Position remains unfilled.

Secretary – Jim Northover

Treasurer – Chris McEvilly,

Programme Chair – Irene Barton

Jean Griffiths – Refreshment Chair

David Stimpson and Mel Manley were to serve as

Directors at Large.

The motion was passed unanimously. We have

the unfilled position of Vice President still open

and are actively seeking to fill it. Please talk to

one of the members of the Executive committee if

you feel that you can serve.

Chris McEvilly gave his Treasurer’s report which

Stan Schiff recommended that we accept and

made such a motion. Alan Shiels seconded the

motion which was passed. Copies of Chris’s

report have been previously provided. If anyone

needs further copies, please let me or Chris know.

Several matters arose from the floor:

2013 Fundraising Concert – Alan Shiels now has

tickets which he will be delighted to sell. Alan

also mentioned that he had a response from Peter

Milcyzn Toronto City Councilor for the area as to

how we could make a contribution to The Jeff

Healey Memorial Park. Jeff was a member of

TDES 40 for many years and had made several

presentations to the group. Several suggestions

were made and we will decide how we will

proceed with the matter.

Matt Wood announced that Al Basian would no

longer be able to continue his participation in the

phone committee. Mel Manley immediately

offered to replace him.

Stan Schiff referred back to a motion made by

him several years previously to which we had

agreed that copies of Timner’s Ellingtonia and

(The New Desor) by Massagli and Volonte be

provided to the Toronto Reference Library. We

had been able to purchase the Timner volume but

we had been unable to find The New Desor. Stan

announced that he had learned that The New

Desor was now available directly from the authors

and wished to proceed with the purchase of a

copy. As Stan’s original motion had not yet been

fulfilled it was still a valid instruction and Stan

agreed to purchase the volume and be reimbursed

by TDES 40 when appropriate.

At the conclusion of the AGM the meeting was

passed onto Bill Wilson who presented another in

his excellent series of Ellington - Played by

Others.

From Dave Grusin’s 1993 album, Homage to

Duke Bill selected Take The “A” Train with solos

by Grusin on piano and Harvey Mason, drums

and John Patitucci, bass. The orchestration

featured strong passages from the woodwind and

French horn sections. Bill next featured

Cottontail from the Duke Ellington Legacy Band

2008 album– Thank You Uncle Edward which

featured Duke’s nephew Edward Kennedy

Ellington II on guitar. The number also featured

band leader and tenor player Virginia Mayhew

and vocalist Nancy Reed. The lyrics were

originally written by Jon Hendricks for Annie

Ross to sing. The Mooche was next played by the

Klas Lundquist Nonet which specializes in

playing Ellington music, from a 2010 recording in

their 2008 CD You Need it. Bill then presented

Strayhorn’s ballad Lotus Blossom as played by

Keith Ingham with Harry Allen on tenor sax. from

the 1994 album, Celebration of Billy Strayhorn’s

Music. From the Sackville CD Ellington ‘87 Bill

selected I Let a Song Go out of My Heart, played

by a band that included Fraser McPherson, Oliver

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Jones and Neil Swainson which played at the

Ellington ‘87 conference held in Toronto.

Caravan, as interpreted by Les Brown recorded

ostensibly at a concert in Hollywood in 1953 was

played next followed by Louis Armstrong’s

version of Do Nothin’ ‘til You Hear from Me

arranged by Russ Garcia and recorded in 1957 in

Los Angeles. At this point we took a short break

with refreshments again kindly provided by Jean

Griffiths.

From the Phil Woods/Jim McNeely 1991 CD

Flowers for Hodges Bill selected the medley –

Warm Valley, Star Crossed Lovers and Isfahan.

Bill then selected the same tune, Isfahan as played

by Stephanie Nakasian’s band from the 1993 CD

French Cookin’ with band members Hod O’Brien

(p), Bobby Routch (Fr. Horn), Nobby Tota (b)

and Ray Mosca (Dr.). The Sackville CD

produced by Ted O’Reilly Live at Daniel’s a short

lived Toronto club yielded Creole Love Call with

band members Vic Dickenson, Jim Galloway,

Dan Mastri and Paul Rimstead. From the 1998

album Simple Pleasures we heard Day Dream

sung by Joe Coghlan accompanied by Mark

Eisenman, John Sumner and Steve Wallace. From

another Sackville album, The Back Room Romp

recorded in 1995 Bill selected the eponymous a

track played by Keith Ingham and Harry Allen.

The Ian McDougall Quintet, with Oliver

Gannon(g), Ron Johnson(p), Craig Scott(d) and

Neil Swainson (b) played It Don’t Mean a

Thing…from his CD In A Sentimental Mood -

The Ian McDougall Quintet Plays Ellington and

Strayhorn. To conclude an outstanding evening’s

entertainment Bill played Things Ain’t What They

Used to Be as played by Frank Capp Nat Pierce

Orchestra from their Juggernaut Strikes Again!

Album of 1981

Roslyn Harris offered well deserved thanks to Bill

Wilson for his excellent presentation and also

thanks Barry Tisdall for his contribution with the

sound system.

Upcoming TDES 40 Meetings

November 13 – Ron Wood’s topic will be The

Piano Player.

December 4 - Annual Christmas Party to be held

at the Arts & Letters Club, Toronto. The John

Sherwood quartet will play for us. Mike Murley

will be the horn player accompanied by Pat

Collins, bass and Terry Clarke, drums. Judy

Shiels announced that tickets would be available

at the October meeting. $70 for members and $75

for non members. I would recommend that you

speak to Judy Shiels to reserve your tickets soon

as the event is always sold out.

January 8 2013 – TBA

February 12 Jack Chambers – Harlem, The

World’s Most Glamorous Atmosphere.

March 12 TBA

April 9 – TBA

April 27 – Annual Fund Raising Concert

May 14 - TBA

June 11 – Member’s Choice

Upcoming Events

Bill Wilson announced that once again he will be

organising two Jazz at R.Y. concerts. The next

one will be held on November 4th at 2 p.m. and

will feature Gene Di Novi and The Generations

Trio with Andrew Scott on guitar and Neil

Swainson bass. The concert will be held in Royal

York United Church, 851 Royal York Road.

Please talk to Bill Wilson to get tickets or they

may be purchased at the door.

Meetings of the Toronto Chapter of the Duke

Ellington Society are held on the 2nd Tuesday of

each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W

Visitors always welcome

Plenty of Free Parking

Vol 54 No. 2 _____November 2012





Further Thoughts from the October AGM.

At our Annual General Meeting in October, your

President and Executive carried out all the required

procedures to take care of TDES business. Probably

in the interest of time, there was no address on the

activities of the Society in 2011-12. This is

unfortunate since TDES had an extraordinary year.

Here are some of the great accomplishments of the

2012-13 year besides the usual entertaining

presentations at our monthly meetings. On November

18th, 2011, we collaborated with the Toronto

Reference Library to present the Jim Galloway

Quartet to a packed hall. On December 6th, we held

our annual holiday party at the Arts & Letters Club

with the Nancy Walker Quartet. We broke our

attendance record with an audience of 98. In our

March meeting, a large and vocal membership

reviewed a motion to approve the funding of two

$20,000 endowment grants, matched by the Ontario

government to York University and Humber College.

Many ideas for use of our funds were discussed and

in the end, we now have endowment trust funds in all

three post-secondary jazz programs in the Toronto

area. On April 1st 2012, TDES arranged the music for

the “Friends, Flowers and Music” event at the

Etobicoke Centennial Park Conservancy and hired

Edwin Sheard, Julian Anderson-Bowes and Patrick

O’Reilly from Humber College to play Ellington –

Strayhorn floral compositions. On Saturday April

28th 2012, TDES held our annual fundraising concert

with the presentation of the Brian Barlow’s Big Band.

With the addition of tap dancer, David Cox, and the

vocals of Heather Bambrick, the highly accomplished

band members performed a stirring concert. As

usual, we had a full house at Walter Hall and the net

revenue raised has set us up for future initiatives.

And then TDES helped sponsor the Brian Barlow Big

Band as they launched the TD Toronto Jazz Festival

on June 22nd, 2012. Without our help, Brian said, this

concert would not have been able to go ahead. Our

new banners were proudly displayed in front of the

concert stage. All these activities could not have

taken place without the enthusiasm, hard work and

organizational skills of your Executive and especially

Judy and Alan Shiels. They are to be congratulated

for perhaps the most eventful year of our existence.

Well done.

Bruce Barton

Minutes of the November 13th General Meeting

In the absence of Martin Loomer, Alan Shiels opened

the meeting to 23 members. Before we could get to the

content of the meeting there were several items of

business. Stan Schiff had located a source of The New

Desor which we wish to purchase to donate to the

Toronto Reference Library. It will cost approximately

$300. Patricia Poole moved and Roslyn Harris

seconded a motion that Stan go ahead and purchase the

volume. Stan has prior agreement from the Reference

Library that it will be a welcome addition to their

collection Alan Shiels requested that the library send

Stan a letter confirming this.

Mel Manley indicated his concern for John Hornsby

since he has been unable to attend any of our meetings

for some time. It was moved by Chris McEvilly and

seconded by Patricia Poole that we make John Hornsby

an Lifetime Honourary Member of The Toronto Duke

Ellington Society as an expression of our gratitude for

his many years of membership, during which he has

not only made a significant contribution to the

success of our society, but has enhanced the

reputation of the society enormously through his

participation in other related groups. This motion was

unanimously approved.

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Alan then turned the meeting over to Ron Woods

whose subject for the evening was Ellington – The

Piano Player.

Ron opened his presentation with Kinda

Dukish/Rockin’ In Rhythm from the 1963 recording of

the Great Paris Concert with which Duke often

opened his concerts. Ron said that as we all know,

Ellington often referred to himself diffidently as The

Piano Player; early in his career he seemed to be just

a big band pianist but as he developed, he became

appreciated as an interesting and creative one. An

early solo recording of Duke’s piano was Swampy

River recorded in 1923 which Ron played for us,

demonstrating Duke as an assertive player with heavy

stride influences which Duke claimed he had from

Willie “The Lion” Smith and James P Johnson. To

illustrate we heard The Lion’s playing of 1939

recoding of Rippling Waters in which his left hand of

which he was inordinately proud, stood out. Ron then

moved to a more modern recording from the 1961

album, Piano in the Foreground in which Duke’s

playing in a Trio setting is highlighted. We heard a

sophisticated and interesting approach to I Can’t Get

Started in which Duke was accompanied by Aaron

Bell and Sam Woodyard.

Not many piano players became disciples of Ellington

but one of the few Ron pointed out was Thelonius

Monk who said he owed Duke a great debt of

gratitude. We heard, as an illustration of his playing,

from the Genius of Modern Music album, April In

Paris. From another small group album Side By

Side, accompanied by Johnny Hodges we heard the

1959 recoding of Going Up.

In 1940 Duke recorded four duets with the bassist,

Jimmy Blanton. We heard Pitter Panther Patter,

which was recorded when Blanton was just 19 years

old. Ron played, from the 1972 album, This One’s

For Blanton a reprise of Pitter Panther Patter with

Ray Brown accompanying Ellington. At this point

we took a short break with refreshments kindly

provided by Roslyn Harris and Colin Brown.

After the break, Ron returned to his subject by

playing one of Ellington’s medleys, taken from the

1952 Seattle Concert which included Don’t Get

Around Much Anymore, Mood Indigo, I’m Beginning

to See the Light, Prelude to a Kiss, It Don’t Mean a

Thing…, Solitude, I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart

and concluding with Don’t Get Around Much

Anymore. It was Duke’s way of playing his popular

hits, which the audience expected; freeing the band to

play Duke’s chosen music of the night.

In a thirteen month period, from August 1961 to

September 1962 Duke made four landmark albums

produced by Bob Theile. From the first, The Great

Summit, with Louis Armstrong we heard the rarely

recorded Azalea with a trumpet solo and vocal by

Armstrong. The lyrics were by Ellington himself.

From the Ellington meets Coleman Hawkins album of

1962 we heard Self Portrait of the Bean, a joint

number of Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Nine days

later Ellington made the Money Jungle Album made

with Max Roach and Charles Mingus from which we

heard Ellington, in a very muscular stride mood

playing Very Special. The last of the four Bob Theile

produced albums was Duke Ellington and John

Coltrane from which Ron selected In a Sentimental

Mood. From 1960’s Piano in The Background album

in which Ellington is heard in a big band setting

George Shearing’s Lullaby of Birdland was chosen.

In 1952 Duke gave three recitals at the Whitney

Museum of Modern Art from which we heard an

abbreviated version of Soda Fountain Rag and from

the Perfume Suite, Dancers In Love. From 1967,

Duke’s broadcast recording of his Octet at the

Rainbow Grill yielded Perdido. Ron’s concluding

example illustrating Duke Ellington’s piano playing

was taken from the album …And his Mother Called

Him Bill in which Ellington is heard playing a

reflective and emotional version of Strayhorn’s Lotus

Blossom.

Matt Wood thanked, on behalf of the meeting, Ron

Woods for his excellent presentation and Bruce

Barton for his contribution as sound engineer.

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December 4 - Annual Christmas Party to be held at

the Arts & Letters Club, Toronto. The John Sherwood

quartet will play for us. Mike Murley will be the

horn player accompanied by Pat Collins, bass and

Terry Clark, drums. Judy Shiels announced that this

event was now sold out.

January 8, 2013 – Bruce Barton – Video presentation

February 12 Jack Chambers – Harlem, The World’s

Most Glamorous Atmosphere.

March 12 Stephen Cohen - Ellington Vocal Pot Pourri

April 27 – Annual Fund Raising Concert

May 14 – It has been suggested that at this meeting

members will reminisce about their first introduction

to jazz, their first record purchase and first exposure

to the music of Duke Ellington. Details to follow.


***

Live Jazz Events

THE FUTURE OF JAZZ AND OTHER THOUGHTS

I continually hear that jazz is dying. I see signs all

around me — the closing of clubs, the white or

balding heads of the audience and the utter lack of

coverage in the newspapers (hello, Globe and Mail).

On a Friday a week or so ago, my wife and I went to

Quotes, a favourite spot of ours, to listen to Kelly

Jefferson play his tenor with the Canadian Jazz

Quartet. The CJQ comprises Gary Benson on guitar,

Frank Wright on vibes, Duncan Hopkins plays the

bass and Don Vickery keeps time. The CJQ plays

with a different guest each week and the gig goes

from 5 until 8 so that we old-timers can get to bed at a

decent time. As usual, the music was delightful, the

food was reasonable and the service affable. As every

week the same sociable fans show up, almost like

family, except there are few youngsters. Then we

heard that Quotes would be closing by year-end.

Another sad blow to jazz in Toronto.

This particular day we had been invited to a party at

Poetry Jazz Café where the music would start at 9:30.

Located at 224 Augusta, the café had opened up a

little over a year ago when the owner, with very little

capital, took over a small store. Sean is a very keen

jazz lover and has been plowing any profits back into

the business and he has really improved the space.

Next year he plans on adding a kitchen — it’s that

kind of place! It’s not listed in Whole Note because

Sean is worried about too many people at the door.

Anyway, that night we were treated to hearing Ron

Westray, a trombonist from the States who in 2009

was appointed to the Oscar Peterson Chair in jazz

performance at York University. He mostly played

his flugelbone — a sort of cross between a valve

trombone and a flugelhorn or bass trumpet. Quite

interesting. The pianist, Patrick Hewan, was superb

and rhythm was provided by Artie Roth on bass and

drummer Joe Ianuzzi. A most enjoyable evening —

and the place was filled with young folk!

So maybe young people just don’t go to where us

oldsters go.

If I may be simplistic, jazz started as a marching

music and a generation later it was big band dance

music. A further generation on, we sat around in a

club or concert hall listening to solos. So there’s a

chance that a new generation will take jazz to another

interesting space. Witness the talent coming from

Toronto, York and Humber jazz schools as evidenced

by Edwin Sheard’s trio that played at our September

meeting.

So don’t give up hope — just go out and support live

jazz! Check out Whole Note magazine. There are lots

of places to choose from. You may not recognize the

names of the players, and there probably will be no

big names — most have passed on anyway. It’s our

choice — we must support live music or jazz

becomes an historical artifact. Any live jazz is better

than what is on TV.

Chris McEvilly

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Philately:

A new Miles Davis/Edith Piaf set of two stamps

jointly offered by the U.S. Postal Service and

France’s La Poste was issued on June 12 2012.

Montreal jazz pianist Oliver Jones will be honoured

by Canada Post with a commemorative stamp in

2013. Jones' stamp will be part of a 2-stamp series

paying tribute to black history in Canada.

Annual Dues

The TDES 40 financial year runs from September 1st

through August 31st of the following year. In order to

meet the Society’s obligations for Montgomery’s Inn,

rentals, postage, printing and expenses in a timely

fashion, it is imperative that annual dues be paid as

early in the year as possible. Those who joined the

Society subsequent to the annual concert in April

2012 are exempt from dues payment for the current

year.

Dues are $35 for a single membership and $50 for a

family membership for payments made on or before

October 12th 2012. Payments made after that date are

subject to a $5.00 surcharge to offset bank penalties

for late deposits. If you have not already made your

payment, please mail your cheques:

Chris McEvilly,

Treasurer, The Duke Ellington Society,

10 Edgemore Drive,

Toronto, ON.,

M8Y 2M8

Be sure to include your name, address, home phone

number and email address.

New and Interesting

Barry Tisdall has pointed out that there is a new

biogrphy of Juan Tizol, recently published.

Juan Tizol – His Caravan Through American Life and

Culture by Basilio Serrano. It was published May

2012 and appears to be quite a substantial volume at

429 pages.

*****


Ellington Society are held on the 2nd Tuesday of each

month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W



Vol 54 No.3 December 2012





Toronto Duke Ellington Holiday Party.

Ninety five members and guests of the Toronto

Duke Ellington Society, Chapter 40, attended the

2012 Holiday party which was held, once again,

at the Great Hall of the Arts and Letters Club on

December 4th.

Members and guests socialized until 7:00 pm

when Martin Loomer made the formal welcome.

A delicious dinner was served immediately which

consisted of a tomato and boconicci salad, roast

chicken breast with a mélange of roast vegetables

and a dessert of tiramisu.

The Musical entertainment for the evening started

at 8:15 pm, supplied by the John Sherwood

Quartet with Terry Clarke on drums, Pat Collins

bass and Mike Murley on tenor sax whom Martin

Loomer introduced. The band started a strongly

with Things Ain’t What They Used to be with

Mike Murley making a subtle Lester Young

quote. The quartet followed with I Got it Bad and

That Ain’t Good in a much slower tempo. A

Rick Wilkins’s arrangement of Mood Indigo in ¾

time gave everyone a chance to shine. The band

then went into Billy Strayhorn’s Chelsea Bridge.

To conclude a very lively set we heard an

extended version of Caravan with everyone

having a chance to solo.

After the break John Sherwood’s Quartet played I

Let a Song Go out of My Heart to get us back in a

swinging mood. To leaven the proceedings we

heard the band play a popular Brooks Sherman

number of 1934, East of the Sun, West of the

Moon with strong tenor and piano solos; a strong

rousing piece. To slow matters down we were

treated to In A Sentimental Mood with a very well

played bass solo by Pat Collins. In an attempt to

close the set John Sherwood’s men played It

Don’t Mean a Thing... a very exciting up tempo

piece. Due an enthusiastic standing ovation from

the appreciative audience the band sent us on our

way with In A Mellotone played hot.

A great evening, one of the best, certainly

continuing the high quality of our Holiday Party

Celebrations. A super venue, great meal and

superb musicians. I think the whole Duke

Ellington Society owes Judy Shiels a debt of

gratitude for organising such a wonderful event. .

Judy has told me that she has already reserved

The Arts & Letters Club for next year’s Holiday

Party, December 3rd 2013. She is keen to hear

from all members as to whom she should invite to

play for us next year. Please let her know your

thoughts.

Name Badges

Alan Shiels has announced that name badges for

members’ use at our meetings are now available.

Please see Jim Northover if you would like one.

We do encourage members to have name badges

for ease of identification. Though the cost of the

badges has risen considerably they will cost

members $10 each. The balance of the cost will

be borne by the Society.

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New Books

A couple of new books on jazz topics have been

recently published.

Why Jazz Happened is the first comprehensive

social history of jazz. It provides an intimate and

compelling look at the many forces that shaped

this most American of art forms and the many

influences that gave rise to jazz's post-war styles.

Rich with the voices of musicians, producers,

promoters, and others on the scene during the

decades following World War II, this book views

jazz's evolution through the prism of

technological advances, social transformations,

changes in the law, economic trends, and much

more.

In an absorbing narrative enlivened by the

commentary of key personalities, Marc Myers

describes the myriad of events and trends that

affected the music's evolution, among them, the

American Federation of Musicians strike in the

early 1940s, changes in radio and concert-

promotion, the introduction of the long-playing

record, the suburbanization of Los Angeles, the

Civil Rights movement, the "British invasion" and

the rise of electronic instruments. This

groundbreaking book deepens our appreciation of

this music by identifying many of the

developments outside of jazz itself that

contributed most to its texture, complexity, and

growth.

This description is taken from Amazon.com. The

book is to be released on December 17, just in

time for Christmas. Mark Meyers writes the blog ,

JazzWax, which may be accessed at

www.jazzwax.com. I have learnt from his blog

that Mark Meyers will post a five part video about

this book in order to peak our interest.

There is a new biography of Kid Ory written by

John McCusker which was published on August

24 2012. The book description is taken from

Amazon.com

Edward "Kid" Ory (1886-1973) was a trombonist,

composer, recording artist, and early New Orleans

jazz band leader. Creole Trombone tells his story

from birth on a rural sugar cane plantation in a

French-speaking, ethnically mixed family, to his

emergence in New Orleans as the city's hottest

http://www.jazzwax.com/

3

band leader. The Ory band featured such future

jazz stars as Louis Armstrong and King Oliver,

and was widely considered New Orleans's top

"hot" band. Ory's career took him from New

Orleans to California, where he and his band

created the first African American New Orleans

jazz recordings ever made. In 1925 he moved to

Chicago where he made records with Oliver,

Armstrong, and Jelly Roll Morton and captured

the spirit of the jazz age. His most famous

composition from that period, "Muskrat Ramble,"

is a jazz standard. Retired from music during the

Depression, he returned in the 1940s and enjoyed

a reignited career.

Drawing on oral history and Ory's unpublished

autobiography, Creole Trombone is a story that is

told in large measure by Ory himself. The author

reveals Ory's personality to the reader and shares

remarkable stories of incredible innovations of the

jazz pioneer. The book also features unpublished

Ory compositions, photographs, and a selected

discography of his most significant recordings.


January 8, 2013 – Bruce Barton – Video

presentation

February 12 Jack Chambers – Harlem, The

World’s Most Glamorous Atmosphere.

March 12 Stephen Cohen - Ellington Vocal Pot

Pourri

April 27 – Annual Fund Raising Concert. We

have arranged for John MacLeod and the Rex

Hotel Orchestra to play the music of Ellington and

Strayhorn. It will be held at the usual venue,

Walter Hall, in the University of Toronto, starting

at 8:00 p.m. This concert always sells out so

please speak to Alan Shiels as soon as you can to

reserve your tickets

May 14 – It has been suggested that at this

meeting members will reminisce about their first

introduction to jazz, their first record purchase

and first exposure to the music of Duke Ellington.

More details to follow.


Upcoming Events

Toronto Jazz Festival:

In 2013 the Toronto Jazz Festival will be held

from June 22 to June 29.

Almost entirely due to the efforts of Judy Shiels,

we are sponsoring Martin Loomer’s Orange

Devils to play on June 23 at Nathan Phillip’s

Square, a concert of Ellington and Strayhorn

music, one set lasting approximately an hour. The

band will start at 12:30 p.m. This will be part of a

Big Band Series to run over the two days, June

23rd and 24th, we understand. Since the event is

such a long way into the future, adjustments may

occur. If there are any changes I will let you

know and flesh out the details as we are informed.

As we requested for the 2012 Toronto Jazz

Festival where we partially sponsored Brian

Barlow’s Orchestra playing Ellington music in the

same location, we need volunteers to help in

distributing information about our society to the

audience. Please let Judy Shiels know if you can

help.

Liz Strathdee tells us that St. Philips Church at 25

St. Phillip’s Road, Etobicoke has a number of jazz

concerts coming up. Concerts are held at 4:00

p.m. on Sundays. Donations are expected.

Dec.16 2012 – Christmas Jazz Vespers with the

Beverly Taft Quartet,

Jan.13,2013 - Laura Fernandez Quartet.

More details can be found at their web site -

http://www.stphilips.net/Jazz%20Vespers.html

http://www.stphilips.net/Jazz%20Vespers.html

4

Last Post.

It is with great regret that we noticed that Dave

Brubeck passed away one day before his 92nd

birthday on December 5th of 2012. Obituaries

abound.

Gary Vivian has pointed out an interesting web

aspect of the Toronto Public Library’s web site.

An interesting site with more than77, 000 CD’s

and more than 1.1 million tracks. Its big feature is

that you can select your listening by CD and

track. A premium service that has a subscriber fee

but if you are a Toronto Public Library cardholder

it is FREE! Of course, if one lives in the 905 then

one has to pay an exorbitant user fee in spite of

the fact that 25% of ones municipal taxes are

diverted, by Provincial fiat, to the City of

Toronto. Sorry, I inadvertently let my uneditorial

feelings show a little there.

The service is operated by the Naxos label people

but not restricted to their CD's.

www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/naxos

Just sign in with your member number and do a

search on Naxos music

library, or go via their Research & More button.

Last Call for Membership Renewal

There remain a few people who have not yet

renewed their memberships for the 2012 – 2013

Season. Please renew promptly. Dues are $35 for a

single membership and $50 for a family

membership for payments made on or before

October 9th 2012. Payments made after that date are

subject to a $5.00 surcharge to offset bank penalties

for late deposits. Regrettably, further issues of the

Newsletter will be sent to only those members in

good standing as of the meeting date in January

2013.

If you have not already made your payment,

cheques may be mailed to:

Chris McEvilly,

Treasurer, The Duke Ellington Society,

10 Edgemore Drive,

Toronto, ON.,

M8Y 2M8

Be sure to include your name, address, home phone

number and email address.


Ellington Society are held on the 2nd Tuesday of

each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W



http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/naxos

Vol 54 No.4 January 2013





Minutes of the January 8th 2013 General

Meeting:

President Martin Loomer opened the evening’s

meeting of 24 members. Alan Shiels announced

that there were only 100 tickets remaining for the Spring Fundraising Concert. He exhorted us all

to continue our efforts to sell tickets and widen

the audience. He will be going with several other

members on January 28th to the Rex Hotel to

listen to John MacLeod and The Rex Hotel

Orchestra. All are invited to join him. Jim

Northover announced that he is due for hip

surgery on February 11th and consequently the

newsletter may be irregular for the next few months. Volunteers were requested to take notes

at the meeting and to create the newsletter which

would help Jim a great deal. Martin thanked Bob

Hitchcock and Gary Vivian for providing the

refreshments for today’s meeting.

The evening’s presentation was by Bruce Barton

– a video of Duke Ellington in Copenhagen ’65.

I have taken the liberty of copying the review of this excellent video from the All Music web site:

Duke Ellington’s career was at a high point in

early 1965, when he was constantly creating new

works (often in collaboration with Billy

Strayhorn) and had retained many of his most

valuable soloists (including the entire sax

section, intact since Johnny Hodges return in

1956), plus trumpeters Cootie Williams, Cat Anderson, and Ray Nance. This nearly two-hour

long DVD, originally videotaped for Danish TV,

preserves almost the entire concert as performed.

The band was fresh and relaxed after coming to

Europe to tour a few days earlier, so all of the

soloists are in great form and the ensembles are

potent as well. There are numerous highlights. A

dazzling treatment of the fairly new composition

"Ad Lib on Nippon" (which had not yet then appeared on record), features Ellington with

bassist John Lamb and Jimmy Hamilton’s

thrilling clarinet. Tenor player Paul Gonzalves

shines in the ballad "Chelsea Bridge" and in his

turbulent reprise of his famous Newport Jazz

Festival solo in "Blow by Blow," though he is

inexplicably passed out with his sax in his mouth

during the rousing "Perdido." Cat Anderson

shares his high note theatrics in "Meow," while veteran trumpeter Cootie Williams gutbucket

mute work is on display in "Tootie for Cootie."

Johnny Hodges, considered by Ellington as one

of his most important soloists, has a trio of

features, punctuated by "Jeep's Blues."

Trumpeter Ray Nance, returning for his final

hurrah with the band, adds several brief solos and

sings in the jive vocal number "He Huffed 'n' He

Puffed." Also not to be missed is composer Billy Strayhorn’s turn at the piano on the complete

version of his "Take the 'A' Train." This video

was well photographed and with excellent sound.

Martin Loomer thanked Bruce Barton for

making the video presentation.

On Tuesday February 12, Jack Chambers made

another of his much anticipated presentations to

The Toronto Duke Ellington Society. His topic

2

was Ellington’s Harlem, The world’s most

glamorous atmosphere. Due to previously

noted health problems, the Editor was unable,

sadly, to attend. It is difficult enough to do

justice to Jack’s presentations in this newsletter when one is present. When one is not, it becomes

almost impossible. I was fortunate to get a copy

of Jack’s presentation notes which I will use to

make this short report.

Jack opened with Strayhorn’s June 1957

recording of Take the A Train with a vocal by

Ray Nance –

“Hurry hurry hurry, take the A train,

You’ll find it’s the quickest way to get to

Harlem”

Duke Ellington in Music is My Mistress said “It

was New York that filled our imagination. We

were awed by the never–ending roll of great

talents there… Harlem, to our minds, did indeed

have the world’s most glamorous atmosphere.

We had to go there.”

Jack played Harlem River Quiver from 19

December 1927. Duke Ellington played at the

Cotton Club from April 1927 until 1932

attracting the class people of Park Avenue and

Riverside Drive. Harlem Twist (19 January

1928) and Harlem Flat Blues (1 March 1929)

followed. Spike Hughes, speaking of Duke

Ellington, the Aristocrat of Harlem – nowhere in

Harlem did I see the sullen, depression conscious

faces that haunt Broadway” – London Daily Herald 1933. Jack then played Drop me off in

Harlem (17 Feb 1933), and the same number

recorded in April 1961 with Louis Armstrong.

This was followed by Two Concertos for Cootie,

The Boys from Harlem (Dec 1938) and Echoes of

Harlem (15 May 1938).

Jack Chambers referred to James P Johnson

whom Ellington admired and played two of his numbers, Harlem Strut (1921 piano roll) and the

first movement of Harlem Symphony – Subway

Journey played by the Concordia Orchestra and

recorded Feb 1992. Herman Hasse described

this piece as “Kaleidoscopic, marvelously

descriptive tour of Harlem.” Of course,

Ellington wrote a Tone Parallel to Harlem which was then played, from the 7 December 1951

recording from The Ellington Uptown Album.

Duke Ellington in The Duke Steps Out was

quoted as saying in 1931 “In Harlem, we have

what is practically our own city; we have our

own newspapers and social services, and

although not segregated, we have almost

achieved our own civilization.” The audience

then heard two version of Harmony in Harlem

recorded September 1937 and January 1965.

To conclude Jack played Harlem Air Shaft

recorded 22 July 1940. Duke Ellington said that

“So much goes on in a Harlem Airshaft. You get

the full essence of Harlem in an air shaft. You

hear fights, you smell dinner, you hear people

making love. You hear intimate gossip floating down. You hear the radio. An Air shaft is one

great big loudspeaker. You see your neighbour’s

laundry. You hear the janitor’s dogs. The man

upstairs’ aerial falls down and breaks your

window. You smell coffee. A wonderful smell,

that smell. The airshaft has got every contrast.

One guy is cooking dried fish and rice and

another guy’s got a great big turkey. … You hear

people praying, fighting snoring,. Jitterbugs are

jumping up and down always all over you. That’s the funny thing about jitterbugs. They’re

always all over you. I tried to put all that in

“Harlem Airshaft”


April 27 – Annual Fund Raising Concert. We

have arranged for John MacLeod and the Rex Hotel Orchestra to play the music of Ellington

and Strayhorn. It will be held at the usual venue,

3

Walter Hall, in the University of Toronto,

starting at 8:00 p.m. This concert always sells

out so please speak to Alan Shiels as soon as you

can to reserve your tickets. At the time of

printing Alan tells me that essentially all of the tickets for the concert are sold. Contact Alan

Shiels if you want to put your name on the

waiting list since tickets do come free from time

to time.

May 14 – It has been suggested that at this

meeting members will reminisce about their first

introduction to jazz, their first record purchase

and first exposure to the music of Duke

Ellington. More details to follow.


December 3 2013 - Yes, the Holiday Party has

been scheduled and it will again be at the Arts &

Letters Club. As yet, we have not selected the

musicians for the event. If you have suggestions,

please contact Judy Shiels.

Upcoming Events


In 2013 the Toronto Jazz Festival will be held

from June 22 to June 29.

As you know, we are sponsoring Martin

Loomer’s Orange Devils to play on June 23 at

Nathan Phillip’s Square, a concert of Ellington

and Strayhorn music, one set lasting approximately an hour. The band will start at

12:30 p.m. This will be part of a Big Band Series

to run over the two days, June 23rd and 24th, we

understand. Since the event is such a long way

in the future, adjustments may occur. If there are

any changes I will let you know and flesh out the

details as we are informed. As we requested for

the 2012 Toronto Jazz Festival where we

partially sponsored Brian Barlow’s Orchestra playing Ellington music in the same location, we

need volunteers to help in distributing

information about our society to the audience.

Please let Judy Shiels know if you can help.

Jazz Vespers at Christ Church Deer Park:

On June 23 also Brian Barlow will playing At Jazz Vespers at Christ Church Deer Park. Brian

has asked that if anyone is interested in

volunteering to hand out bulletins on June

23. This will be a special Jazz Vespers as part of

the Toronto Jazz Festival and Brian Barlow’s big

band will be playing selected pieces from

Ellington's Sacred Concerts. (Sunday, June 23,

4:30 pm)

Brian thought since some of the members of the

Chapter attend these events there might be a few

who wouldn't mind showing up a little early and

assisting for 1/2 an hour or so.

If anyone is interested in helping please contact

Brian at [email protected] or

415-452-6447.

Brian said that aside from the issue of volunteering we'll be playing some wonderful

music and look forward to seeing as many of the

gang as possible.

Life Long Learning.

As part of the Mississauga Life Long Learning

Series, Mike Daley will be presenting a series of

eight lectures on the history of jazz. The course

description is: From humble beginnings in turn-of-the-century New Orleans, jazz has become a

respected form of art music, prompting more

than one writer to call it “America’s Classical

Music.” This course charts the course of jazz

from down-and- dirty to high- faluting. The

instructor uses vintage films and recordings

along with live musical demonstrations to show

how jazz grew over its century of history. He

cost for the eight lectures is $40.00. For more details contact: call 647-300-4878 or email

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:%[email protected]

4

New & Interesting

Terry Teachout, the author of Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong has finished his first draft of his

Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington, which will be

published by Gotham Books in the fall of 2013.

Apparently it is a “hefty biography” according to

the Jazz Wax blog. Keep your eyes open for it.

As I hear of further news, I will pass it on.

Nicholas Christopher, the American novelist has

written a new book with a jazz theme – Tiger

Rag. A review of this book appeared in the

Toronto Daily Star for Sunday January 27 2013. The novel is a fictionalized account of cornet

player, Buddy Bolden’s life and putative

recordings. This is the second such book on

Buddy Bolden. Michael Ondaatje’s Coming

through Slaughter, his first novel, covers

similar ground but in a different style.

Congratulations are in Order!

Jim Galloway and Anne Page are to get married

on April 22 2013 in Vienna, Austria. All

members of the Toronto Duke Ellington Society

wish them every happiness in the years to come.


Ellington Society are held on the 2nd Tuesday

of each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W



Vol 54 No.5 March &May 2013





Minutes of the March 12th

2013 General Meeting:

Stephen Cohen entitled his presentation “Vocal Ellington and Strayhorn” to cover the many vocalists

who had recorded numbers from the Ellington and

Strayhorn oeuvre. Regrettably, the editor of the

newsletter was unable to attend this meeting. The numbers Stephen played to illustrate his talk were:

Take the A-Train - (Strayhorn 1939, Lyrics-Joya Sherrill-1944).Betty Roche joined the Ellington Band

in 1943, during the era of the recording ban, when they

were playing at The Hurricane Club, NYC. Her phrasing is always unique and original.-This version

from 1956 is with a Quintet, after she left Ellington in

1953, with Conte Condoli (tr), Eddie Costa (vb), Don

Trenner (p), Whitey Mitchell (b) and Danny Williams (dr)

Prelude To A Kiss (Ellington 1938, Lyrics-Irving

Gordon). In 1953 the Johnny Hodges /Mary McHugh version rose to #3 in the Charts. Nancy Wilson (born

1937) started recording in 1957, moved to NYC in

1959 & became a success almost immediately. This 1969 version by Nancy is backed by Hank Jones (p),

Ron Carter (b), Grady Tate (dr) & Gene Bertoncini (g).

Perdido. (Juan Tizol 1941) Carmen McCrea married

drummer Kenny Clarke and recorded her first 2 albums in 1946. This is from a Live 1965 engagement at the

Village Gate backed by Norman Simmons (p), Ray

Beckenstein (fl), Joe Puma (g), Paul Breslin (b), & Frank Severino (dr).

A Flower is A Lovesome Thing (Strayhorn 1949)

Carol Sloane started her career in 1961 at the Newport

Jazz Festival but then was a Secretary for a decade in South Carolina singing locally, and her career really

restarted in the 1980’s. Now living in Stoneham, MA,

with many recordings on the Concord Label. This 1991 recording with Mike Renzi (p). Don Vincent (dr) &

Bono-Don Johnson (b)

Love Scene (Ellington 1963) Composed for the musical “My People” which opened in 1963 and lasted only 14

performances.

Reviews praised the singing of Joya Sherrill and the

dancing, but negative reaction to its socio-political aspects killed it. This Tony Bennett recording from

1965 has the Ralph Sharon (p, arr.) Trio with Al Cohn

(ts).

Just Squeeze Me (Ellington-1946, Lyrics- Lee Gaines) Chris Connor (1927-2009) was born in Kansas City as

Mary Loutenshizer, went to U of Missouri & sang in a

band led by Bob Brookmeyer before going to NYC. She worked with Claud Thornhill & Jerry Wald. June

Christie heard her in early 1953 and recommended her

to Stan Kenton. This 1958 recording has an All -Star Cast-Oscar Pettiford (b).Eddie Costa (vb), Joe Wilder

(tr), Al Cohn & Lucky Thompson (ts)

I Ain’t Got Nothing but the Blues (Ellington-1944,

Lyrics-Don George) Al Hibbler (1915-2001) joined Ellington when he

walked into the Hurricane Club, NYC to hear the band

in 1943 & Shorty Baker persuaded him to sing for Duke. Promptly hired and stayed until 1953.

Personnel- Shelton Hemphill, Taft Jordan , Cat

Anderson , Ray Nance (tr), Sam Nanton, Claude Jones, Lawrence Brown (tro) ,Jimmy Hamilton, Johnny

Hodges, Otto Hardwick, Al Sears, and Harry Carney

(reeds).Fred Guy (g), Alvin Raglin(b), Hillard Brown

(dr) and Duke ( p).- Dec 1,1944.NYC. Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me. (Ellington 1943-

Lyrics Bob Russell). Duke composed this for Al

Hibbler. Susannah McCorkle (1946-2001) started singing professionally in the late 1960’s.In 1970’s she

came to New York and got rave reviews.

On this 1988 date she is backed by Ken Peplowski

(cl,ts),Terry Clarke (dr), Jack Goldsby (b), Don Friskey (p) & Emily Rembert(g).

Caravan (Juan Tizol-1937)

Here performed by Ella FitzGerald live at The Crescendo Club in Hollywood in 1961, backed by Lou

Levy (p),Herb Ellis (g),Wilfred Middlebrook (b) and

Gus Johnson (dr). Don’t Get around Much Anymore (Ellington 1942,

Lyrics- Bob Russell) Singers Unlimited were a Vocal

2

Quartet of Bonnie Herman, Dan Shelton, Len Dressler

and Gene Puerling, who did all the vocal arrangements. Gene had worked previously as part of the Hi-Lo’s. The

17 piece band has Tom Scott (reeds), Dave Grusin (p),

Tuba, 3 French Horns, 4 Trumpet, 4 Trombones,

Guitar, Bass, Drums & Percussion. Mood Indigo (Ellington/Bigard) 1931. Nina Simone

(1933-2003) was born the 6th Child of a Preacher in

North Carolina and aspired to be a Concert pianist but could not get into the musical college in Philadelphia.

She started playing in the clubs which required her to

sing too. This was her first recording on which she plays piano as well.

I’m Gonna Go Fishin’ (Ellington 1959-Lyrics Peggy

Lee). Carol Welsmen (p,v) with Tom Scott (sax),Ken

Peplowski (cl) &Pat Kelly (g).Carol came from a musical Family. Her grandfather was the founder and

first Conductor of the Toronto Symphony and her

brother is also a composer. She made her first Album in 1995. Has won 5 Grammy Awards. The album from

which this selection is taken “I like Men” won the 2010

Juno Grammy award for Best Jazz Album. Solitude (Ellington 1934, Lyrics-Eddie de Lange)

This wonderful version by Billie Holliday is from 1941.

Backed by Roy Eldridge (tr), Eddie Haywood (p), Ernie

&Jimmy Powell, Lester Boone (saxes), Grachan Moncur (b), Paul Chapman (g), and Herbert Cowens

(dr).

In A Sentimental Mood (Ellington 1935, Lyrics-Manny Kurtz). Born 1941 in NYC, Ranee Lee lives in

Montreal and toured America in the 70’s playing drums

& tenor sax. She landed the starring role playing Lady

Day & won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for her performance. Recorded her First Album in 1989.

Member of the Order Of Canada in 2006 and won the

Juno Award for best Jazz Album in 2010.This recording is a duet with Richard Ring (g,arr)

Sophisticated Lady (Ellington1933-Lyrics-Mitchell

Parish). This recording by Sarah Vaughan with Mundell Lowe (g), and George Duvivier (b) is from July 1961.

Jump for Joy (Ellington 1941, Lyrics-Paul Webster).

Jump for Joy was a musical based on the themes of

African-American identity which debuted in LA. It ran for 122 performances but its socio-political outlook

provoked such a negative reaction so that the show did

not make it to Broadway. This version is by Peggy Lee with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra.

Lush Life Billy Strayhorn composed this in his teens

as “Life is Lonely” with the Lyrics. This is a wonderful

version by John Hartman and John Coltrane, with

McCoy Tyner (p), Jimmy Garrison (b), Elvin Jones (dr) Come Sunday (Ellington-1945). From the Black,

Brown & Beige Suite, the longest Ellington

composition. “Come Sunday” and “The Blues” were

part of the 1963 Musical “My People” which was presented in Chicago as part of the Century of Negro

Progress Exposition. When Stephen lived in the New

York area, he was fortunate to hear Roberta Gambarini. Here she is accompanied by Hank Jones.

Love You Madly (Ellington). This version by Cleo

Laine and Mel Torme is taken from a 1991 Concord Recording in NYC. Arrangement is by her late husband

John Dankworth (reeds), with John Colliani (p), John

Leightam (b), Ray Loechle (reeds) & Larry

Koonse (g). Cotton Tail (Ellington 1940) Lambert, Hendricks &

Ross. The Lyrics here are by Jon Hendricks. With Gilda

Mahones (p), Ike Isaacs (b) & Jimmy Wormsworth (dr).

Take the A-Train (Billy Strayhorn 1939). Last but not

least we have Anita O’ Day’s version of “A-train”. Anita Belle Colton changed her surname to O’ Day, pig

Latin For Dough (Money) She started with the Krupa

Band in 1941 and left for Woody Herman in 1943 and

then with Stan Kenton for a year before going solo. This is with the Marty Paich Orchestra, which includes Sam

Noto (tr), Bud Shank (as), Richie Kamuca & Bill

Perkins (ts), Mel Lewis (dr) . Recorded in LA, April 1958

Minutes of the April 9th

General Meeting. Martin Loomer opened the meeting to 35 members and

guests. There were several items from the floor.

Elizabeth Strathdee noted the Jazz Vespers at St. Philip’s Anglican Church. Space allows me only to

mention the event featuring the Mike Murley Trio on

Sunday April 21 at 4:00 p.m. There are concerts scheduled for May 12, 19 and 26 also.

Alan Shiels requested suggestions from the

membership regarding potential quartets that may be

hired for the Christmas event to be held at the Arts & Letters Cub on December 3rd. Alan also mentioned that

we were working with the City of Toronto to provide a

suitable memorial in the Jeff Healey Park in Etobicoke. Martin Loomer announced that the GTA Swing Band

in which he plays a significant role will be playing on

the fourth Monday of each month at Seven44 (previously known as The Chick n’ Deli or The

3

People’s Chicken) at 744 Mount Pleasant just south of

Eglinton Ave. Every Monday is Big Band Night.

Martin then introduced the speakers for the evening,

Tim Elliott, counsellor, mentor, coach, pianist and man

of the cloth and Brian Barlow, musician, arranger, drummer, band leader and resident of Prince Edward

County. Their topic for the evening was My People –

The Sacred Music of Duke Ellington. As an introduction we heard David Danced before the

Lord… with the vocal by Jimmy McPhail and tap

dancing by Bunny Briggs taken from the first Sacred Concert of September 1965 performed at Grace

Cathedral, San Francisco.

Tim explained that he started Jazz Vespers at his then

church Christ Church, Deer Park with Brian Barlow in 1999 and it is still going strong. See below in Upcoming

Events. Ellington composed three Sacred Concerts.

The Second was performed at St. John the Divine in NYC in 1968. In fact, the second concert was

performed by Ellington at St. Paul’s Church Bloor

Street in October 1971. Finally, the third Sacred Concert was originally performed in 1973 at

Westminster Abbey.

Tim asked, rhetorically, why did Ellington compose

these pieces? He was always looking for new ways to present his music and connect with his audience in new

ways. It gave him an opportunity to present a more

private view of life. Edward Hasse, quoted in his biography of Ellington, Beyond Category said that the

Sacred Concerts provided Ellington with larger musical

statement of his spirituality and the ability to break

down barriers. The program of each performance of the Sacred

Concerts varied according to the personnel available

and the nature of the venue. Critical acclaim of his sacred works, as with other major works of Ellington

was mixed. They were not a mass, not a “classical”

piece, they just did not fit into any category which was probably Ellington’s point. One selection Tim Elliott

most frequently listened to was, he told us, The

Shepherd who Watches over the Flock from the

second concert. He played it for us featuring Cootie Williams’s astonishing trumpet contribution.

Coincidentally, Brian Barlow said that he will be

performing this piece at his Jazz Vespers on June 23 (See Below) Dave Dunlop will be featured on trumpet

he said.

Brian Barlow then took over the presentation. He said

that two years before the first Sacred Concert Ellington wrote the music for a short lived show, “My People”,

which contained a strong spiritual element. The show

was presented in Chicago as part of the Century of

Negro Progress Exposition in 1963. Brian played

Heritage or My Father/My Mother from this work

and then a narration of the title piece by an unusually emotional Ellington followed by The Blues Ain’t sung

by Joya Sherrill. The whole show was well rehearsed

and well recorded as opposed to the three sacred

concerts which suffered in their performance by lack of adequate rehearsal. We then heard Come Sunday,

originally from the Black, Brown and Beige Suite sung

by Jimmy McPhail and accompanied by the Irving Bunton Singers. Billy Strayhorn played celeste on this

piece. Also from “My People” Brian played Ain’t But

the One which was subsequently used in the Sacred concerts.

At this point we took a short break. Refreshments were

generously provided by Elizabeth Strathdee and, once

again, by Jean Griffiths.

On resuming, Brian Barlow then added a further

dimension to his explanation of the Sacred concerts by playing pieces recorded by Ellington’s band and

comparing them to the same pieces recorded by the

Seattle Repertory Orchestra (SRO). He first played Will You Be There/99% from “My People” The

narration lacked emotion and the choir was passionless.

By comparison the SRO version was much more

animated, swinging and enjoyable. The SRO did have access to the original scores in order to make these

recording. From the First Sacred concert Brian played

Tell Me it’s the Truth, a gospel tinged piece in ¾ time

with the vocal by Ester Marrow. Clearly a scrappy

performance. The SRO version with the vocal by Dee

Daniels had a little slower tempo but a much sharper performance. Brian illustrated another comparison by

playing Ellington’s original Lord’s Prayer and the

SRO recording. These comparisons illustrated the results of inadequate rehearsal of Ellington’s band but

played with élan and the SRO versions played well but

not with the fire of the original. To conclude his part of

the presentation Brian Barlow played Ellington’s piano solo Meditation from the Second concert and from the

first concert, a piece that was recorded but was not

originally released on the first recording, Don't Get

Down On Your Knees To Pray Until You Have

Forgiven Everyone" played by the SRO.

4

Bill Wilson offered to Brian and Tim enthusiastic thanks for providing an outstanding evening’s music.

Upcoming TDES 40 Meetings April 27 – Annual Fund Raising Concert. We have

arranged for John MacLeod and the Rex Hotel Orchestra to play the music of Ellington and Strayhorn.

It will be held at the usual venue, Walter Hall, in the

University of Toronto, starting at 8:00 p.m. At the time of printing Alan tells me that essentially all of the

tickets for the concert are sold. Contact Alan Shiels if

you if you will have any tickets that will not be used. There is a waiting list.

May 14 – Ellington on Film – presented by Vivien

Meuhling.

June 11 – Member’s Choice December 3 2013 - Yes, the Holiday Party has been

scheduled and it will again be at the Arts & Letters

Club. As yet, we have not selected the musicians for the event.

Upcoming Events


In 2013 the Toronto Jazz Festival will be held from June

22 to June 29.

As you know, we are sponsoring Martin Loomer’s Orange Devils to play on June 23 at Nathan Phillip’s

Square, a concert of Ellington and Strayhorn music, one

set lasting approximately an hour. The band will start at 12:30 p.m. This will be part of a Big Band Series to run

over the two days, June 23rd and 24th, we understand.

Since the event is such a long way in the future,

adjustments may occur. If there are any changes I will let you know and flesh out the details as we are

informed. As we requested for the 2012 Toronto Jazz

Festival where we partially sponsored Brian Barlow’s Orchestra playing Ellington music in the same location,

we need volunteers to help in distributing information

about our society to the audience. Please let Judy Shiels know if you can help.


On June 23 also Brian Barlow will playing At Jazz Vespers at Christ Church, Deer Park. Brian has asked

that if anyone is interested in volunteering to hand out

bulletins on June 23. This will be a special Jazz Vespers as part of the Toronto Jazz Festival and Brian

Barlow’s big band will be playing selected pieces from

Ellington's Sacred Concerts. (Sunday, June 23, 4:30 pm)

Brian thought since some of the members of the Chapter attend these events there might be a few who

wouldn't mind showing up a little early and assisting for

1/2 an hour or so.

If anyone is interested in helping please contact Brian at [email protected] or 415-452-6447.

Brian said that aside from the issue of volunteering we'll be playing some wonderful music and look forward to

seeing as many of the gang as possible.

New Release.

This new release presents Duke Ellington’s complete

original 1962 LP All American in Jazz (Columbia

CS8590), which features Duke playing jazz versions of the music from the Broadway hit All American. It

appears here for the first time ever on CD though I

think Colin Brown may disagree. Also included is the long out of print album Midnight in Paris (Columbia

CS8077). Recorded that same year, it consists of a

variety of songs related to France, which were

composed or arranged by Duke and Billy Strayhorn. Alternate versions of two of the songs from the album

have been added as a bonus. This CD is available from

Jazz Messengers in Spain.


Ellington Society are held on the 2nd

Tuesday of each

month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W




Vol 54 No.5 April & May 2013





Minutes of the March 12th

2013 General Meeting:

Stephen Cohen entitled his presentation “Vocal Ellington and Strayhorn” to cover the many vocalists

who had recorded numbers from the Ellington and

Strayhorn oeuvre. Regrettably, the editor of the

newsletter was unable to attend this meeting. The numbers Stephen played to illustrate his talk were:

Take the A-Train - (Strayhorn 1939, Lyrics-Joya Sherrill-1944).Betty Roche joined the Ellington Band

in 1943, during the era of the recording ban, when they

were playing at The Hurricane Club, NYC. Her phrasing is always unique and original.-This version

from 1956 is with a Quintet, after she left Ellington in

1953, with Conte Condoli (tr), Eddie Costa (vb), Don

Trenner (p), Whitey Mitchell (b) and Danny Williams (dr)

Prelude To A Kiss (Ellington 1938, Lyrics-Irving

Gordon). In 1953 the Johnny Hodges /Mary McHugh version rose to #3 in the Charts. Nancy Wilson (born

1937) started recording in 1957, moved to NYC in

1959 & became a success almost immediately. This 1969 version by Nancy is backed by Hank Jones (p),

Ron Carter (b), Grady Tate (dr) & Gene Bertoncini (g).

Perdido. (Juan Tizol 1941) Carmen McCrea married

drummer Kenny Clarke and recorded her first 2 albums in 1946. This is from a Live 1965 engagement at the

Village Gate backed by Norman Simmons (p),Ray

Beckenstein (fl), Joe Puma (g), Paul Breslin (b),& Frank Severino (dr).

A Flower is A Lovesome Thing (Strayhorn 1949)

Carol Sloane started her career in 1961 at the Newport

Jazz Festival but then was a Secretary for a decade in South Carolina singing locally, and her career really

restarted in the 1980’s. Now living in Stoneham, MA,

with many recordings on the Concord Label. This 1991 recording with Mike Renzi (p). Don Vincent (dr) &

Bono-Don Johnson (b)

Love Scene (Ellington 1963) Composed for the musical “My People” which opened in 1963 and lasted only 14

performances.

Reviews praised the singing of Joya Sherrill and the

dancing, but negative reaction to its socio-political aspects killed it. This Tony Bennett recording from

1965 has the Ralph Sharon (p, arr.) Trio with Al Cohn

(ts).

Just Squeeze Me (Ellington-1946, Lyrics- Lee Gaines) Chris Connor (1927-2009) was born in Kansas City as

Mary Loutenshizer, went to U of Missouri & sang in a

band led by Bob Brookmeyer before going to NYC. She worked with Claud Thornhill & Jerry Wald. June

Christie heard her in early 1953 and recommended her

to Stan Kenton. This 1958 recording has an All -Star Cast-Oscar Pettiford (b).Eddie Costa (vb), Joe Wilder

(tr), Al Cohn & Lucky Thompson (ts)

I Ain’t Got Nothing but the Blues (Ellington-1944,

Lyrics-Don George) Al Hibbler (1915-2001) joined Ellington when he

walked into the Hurricane Club, NYC to hear the band

in 1943 & Shorty Baker persuaded him to sing for Duke. Promptly hired and stayed until 1953.

Personnel- Shelton Hemphill, Taft Jordan , Cat

Anderson , Ray Nance (tr), Sam Nanton, Claude Jones, Lawrence Brown (tro) ,Jimmy Hamilton, Johnny

Hodges, Otto Hardwick, Al Sears, and Harry Carney

(reeds).Fred Guy (g), Alvin Raglin(b), Hillard Brown

(dr) and Duke ( p).- Dec 1,1944.NYC. Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me. (Ellington 1943-

Lyrics Bob Russell). Duke composed this for Al

Hibbler. Susannah McCorkle (1946-2001) started singing professionally in the late 1960’s.In 1970’s she

came to New York and got rave reviews.

On this 1988 date she is backed by Ken Peplowski

(cl,ts),Terry Clarke (dr), Jack Goldsby (b), Don Friskey (p) & Emily Rembert(g).

Caravan (Juan Tizol-1937)

Here performed by Ella FitzGerald live at The Crescendo Club in Hollywood in 1961, backed by Lou

Levy (p),Herb Ellis (g),Wilfred Middlebrook (b) and

Gus Johnson (dr). Don’t Get around Much Anymore (Ellington 1942,

Lyrics- Bob Russell) Singers Unlimited were a Vocal

2

Quartet of Bonnie Herman, Dan Shelton, Len Dressler

and Gene Puerling, who did all the vocal arrangements. Gene had worked previously as part of the Hi-Lo’s. The

17 piece band has Tom Scott (reeds), Dave Grusin (p),

1Tuba, 3French Horns, 4Trumpet, 4Trombones,

Guitar, Bass, Drums & Percussion. Mood Indigo (Ellington/Bigard) 1931. Nina Simone

(1933-2003) was born the 6th Child of a Preacher in

North Carolina and aspired to be a Concert pianist but could not get into the musical college in Philadelphia.

She started playing in the clubs which required her to

sing too. This was her first recording on she plays piano as well.

I’m Gonna Go Fishin’ (Ellington 1959-Lyrics Peggy

Lee). Carol Welsmen (p,v) with Tom Scott (sax),Ken

Peplowski (cl) &Pat Kelly (g).Carol came from a musical Family. Her grandfather was the founder and

first Conductor of the Toronto Symphony and her

brother is also a composer. She made her first Album in 1995. Has won 5 Grammy Awards. The album from

which this selection is taken “I like Men” won the 2010

Juno Grammy award for Best Jazz Album. Solitude (Ellington 1934, Lyrics-Eddie de Lange)

This wonderful version by Billie Holliday is from 1941.

Backed by Roy Eldridge (tr), Eddie Haywood (p), Ernie

&Jimmy Powell, Lester Boone (saxes), Grachan Moncur (b), Paul Chapman(g), and Herbert Cowens

(dr).

In A Sentimental Mood (Ellington 1935, Lyrics-Manny Kurtz). Born 1941 in NYC, Ranee Lee lives in

Montreal and toured America in the 70’s playing drums

& tenor sax. She landed the starring role playing Lady

Day & won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for her performance. Recorded her First Album in 1989.

Member of the Order Of Canada in 2006 and won the

Juno Award for best Jazz Album in 2010.This recording is a duet with Richard Ring (g,arr)

Sophisticated Lady (Ellington1933-Lyrics-Mitchell

Parish). This recording by Sarah Vaughan with Mundell Lowe (g), and George Duvivier (b) is from July 1961.

Jump for Joy (Ellington 1941, Lyrics-Paul Webster).

Jump for Joy was a musical based on the themes of

African-American identity which debuted in LA. It ran for 122 performances but its socio-political outlook

provoked such a negative reaction so that the show did

not make it to Broadway. This version is by Peggy Lee with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra.

Lush Life Billy Strayhorn composed this in his teens

as “Life is Lonely” with the Lyrics. This is a wonderful

version by John Hartman and John Coltrane, with

McCoy Tyner (p), Jimmy Garrison (b), Elvin Jones (dr) Come Sunday (Ellington-1945). From the Black,

Brown & Beige Suite, the longest Ellington

composition. “Come Sunday” and “The Blues” were

part of the 1963 Musical “My People” which was presented in Chicago as part of the Century of Negro

Progress Exposition. When Stephen lived in the New

York area, he was fortunate to hear Roberta Gambarini. Here she is accompanied by Hank Jones.

Love You Madly (Ellington). This version by Cleo

Laine and Mel Torme is taken from a 1991 Concord Recording in NYC. Arrangement is by her late husband

John Dankworth (reeds), with John Colliani (p), John

Leightam (b), Ray Loechle (reeds) & Larry

Koonse (g). Cotton Tail (Ellington 1940) Lambert, Hendricks &

Ross. The Lyrics here are by Jon Hendricks. With Gilda

Mahones (p), Ike Isaacs (b) & Jimmy Wormsworth (dr).

Take the A-Train (Billy Strayhorn 1939). Last but not

least we have Anita O’ Day’s version of “A-train”. Anita Belle Colton changed her surname to O’ Day, pig

Latin For Dough (Money) She started with the Krupa

Band in 1941 and left for Woody Herman in 1943 and

then with Stan Kenton for a year before going solo. This is with the Marty Paich Orchestra, which includes Sam

Noto (tr), Bud Shank (as), Richie Kamuca & Bill

Perkins (ts), Mel Lewis (dr) . Recorded in LA, April 1958

Minutes of the April 9th

General Meeting. Martin Loomer opened the meeting to 35 members and

guests. There were several items from the floor.

Elizabeth Strathdee noted the Jazz Vespers at St. Philip’s Anglican Church. Space allows me only to

mention the event featuring the Mike Murley Trio on

Sunday April 21 at 4:00 p.m. There are concerts scheduled for May 12, 19 and 26 also.

Alan Shiels requested suggestions from the

membership regarding potential quartets that may be

hired for the Christmas event to be held at the Arts & Letters Cub on December 3rd. Alan also mentioned that

we were working with the City of Toronto to provide a

suitable memorial in the Jeff Healey Park in Etobicoke. Martin Loomer announced that the GTA Swing Band

in which he plays a significant role will be playing on

the fourth Monday of each month at Seven44 (previously known as The Chick n’ Deli or The

3

People’s Chicken) at 744 Mount Pleasant just south of

Eglinton Ave. Every Monday is Big Band Night.

Martin then introduced the speakers for the evening,

Tim Elliott, counsellor, mentor, coach, pianist and man

of the cloth and Brian Barlow, musician, arranger, drummer, band leader and resident of Prince Edward

County. Their topic for the evening was My People –

The Sacred Music of Duke Ellington. As an introduction we heard David Danced before the

Lord… with the vocal by Jimmy McPhail and tap

dancing by Bunny Briggs taken from the first Sacred Concert of September 1965 performed at Grace

Cathedral, San Francisco.

Tim explained that he started Jazz Vespers at his then

church Christ Church, Deer Park with Brian Barlow in 1999 and it is still going strong. See below in Upcoming

Events. Ellington composed three Sacred Concerts.

The Second was performed at St. John the Divine in NYC in 1968. In fact, the second concert was

performed at St. Paul’s Church Bloor Street in October

1971. Finally, the third Sacred Concert was originally performed in 1973 at Westminster Abbey.

Tim asked, rhetorically, why did Ellington compose

these pieces? He was always looking for new ways to

present his music and connect with his audience in new ways. It gave him an opportunity to present a more

private view of life. Edward Hasse, quoted in his

biography of Ellington, Beyond Category said that the Sacred Concerts provided Ellington with larger musical

statement of his spirituality and the ability to break

down barriers.

The program of each performance of the Sacred Concerts varied according to the personnel available

and the nature of the venue. Critical acclaim of his

sacred works, as with other works of Ellington was mixed. They were not a mass, not a “classical” piece,

they just did not fit into any category which was

probably Ellington’s point. One selection Tim Elliott most frequently listened to was, he told us, The

Shepherd who Watches over the Flock from the

second concert. He played it for us featuring Cootie

Williams’s astonishing trumpet work. Coincidentally, Brian Barlow said that he will be performing this piece

at his Jazz Vespers on June 23 (See Below) Dave

Dunlop will be featured on trumpet he said.

Brian Barlow then took over the presentation. He said

that two years before the first Sacred Concert Ellington wrote the music for a short lived show, My People,

which contained a strong spiritual element. The show

was presented in Chicago as part of the Century of

Negro Progress Exposition in 1963. Brian played

Heritage or My Father/My Mother from this work

and then a narration of the title piece by an unusually emotional Ellington followed by The Blues Ain’t sung

by Joya Sherrill. The whole show was well rehearsed

and well recorded as opposed to the three sacred concerts which suffered in their performance by lack of

adequate rehearsal. We then heard Come Sunday,

originally from the Black, Brown and Beige Suite sung

by Jimmy McPhail and accompanied by the Irving Bunton Singers. Billy Strayhorn played celeste on this

piece. Also from “My People” Brian played Ain’t But

the One which was subsequently used in the Sacred concerts.

At this point we took a short break. Refreshments were

generously provided by Elizabeth Strathdee and, once again by Jean Griffiths.

On resuming, Brian Barlow then added a further

dimension to his explanation of the Sacred concerts by playing pieces recorded by Ellington’s band and

comparing them to the same pieces recorded by the

Seattle Repertory Orchestra (SRO). He first played Will You Be There/99% from “My People” The

narration was emotionless and the choir passionless.

By comparison the SRO version was much more animated, swinging and enjoyable. The SRO did have

access to the original scores in order to make this

recording. From the First Sacred concert Brian played

Tell Me it’s the Truth, a gospel tinged piece in ¾ time

with the vocal by Ester Marrow. Clearly a scrappy

performance. The SRO version with the vocal by Dee

Daniels had a little slower tempo but a much sharper performance. Brian illustrated another comparison by

plying Ellington’s original Lord’s Prayer and the SRO

recording. These comparisons illustrated the results of inadequate rehearsal of Ellington’s band but played

with élan and the SRO versions played well but not with

the fire of the original. To conclude his part of the presentation Brian Barlow played Ellington’s piano

solo Meditation from the Second concert and from the

first concert, a piece that was recorded but was not

originally released on the first recording, Don't Get

Down On Your Knees To Pray Until You Have

Forgiven Everyone" played by the SRO.

Bill Wilson offered to Brian and Tim enthusiastic

thanks for providing an outstanding evening’s music.

4

Upcoming TDES 40 Meetings April 27 – Annual Fund Raising Concert. We have arranged for John MacLeod and the Rex Hotel

Orchestra to play the music of Ellington and Strayhorn.

It will be held at the usual venue, Walter Hall, in the

University of Toronto, starting at 8:00 p.m. At the time of printing Alan tells me that essentially all of the

tickets for the concert are sold. Contact Alan Shiels if

you want to put your name on the waiting list since tickets do become available from time to time.

May 14 – Ellington on Film – presented by Vivien

Meuhling. June 11 – Member’s Choice

December 3 2013 - Yes, the Holiday Party has been


Club. As yet, we have not selected the musicians for the event.

Upcoming Events


In 2013 the Toronto Jazz Festival will be held from June 22 to June 29.

As you know, we are sponsoring Martin Loomer’s

Orange Devils to play on June 23 at Nathan Phillip’s

Square, a concert of Ellington and Strayhorn music, one set lasting approximately an hour. The band will start at

12:30 p.m. This will be part of a Big Band Series to run

over the two days, June 23rd and 24th, we understand. Since the event is such a long way in the future,

adjustments may occur. If there are any changes I will

let you know and flesh out the details as we are

informed. As we requested for the 2012 Toronto Jazz Festival where we partially sponsored Brian Barlow’s

Orchestra playing Ellington music in the same location,

we need volunteers to help in distributing information about our society to the audience. Please let Judy Shiels

know if you can help.


On June 23 also Brian Barlow will playing At Jazz

Vespers at Christ Church, Deer Park. Brian has asked

that if anyone is interested in volunteering to hand out bulletins on June 23. This will be a special Jazz

Vespers as part of the Toronto Jazz Festival and Brian

Barlow’s big band will be playing selected pieces from Ellington's Sacred Concerts. (Sunday, June 23, 4:30

pm)

Brian thought since some of the members of the

Chapter attend these events there might be a few who wouldn't mind showing up a little early and assisting for

1/2 an hour or so.

If anyone is interested in helping please contact Brian

at [email protected] or 415-452-6447.

Brian said that aside from the issue of volunteering we'll

be playing some wonderful music and look forward to seeing as many of the gang as possible.

New Release.

This new release presents Duke Ellington’s complete original 1962 LP All American in Jazz (Columbia

CS8590), which features Duke playing jazz versions of

the music from the Broadway hit All American. It appears here for the first time ever on CD though I

think Colin Brown may disagree. Also included is the

long out of print album Midnight in Paris (Columbia CS8077). Recorded that same year, it consists of a

variety of songs related to France, which were

composed or arranged by Duke and Billy Strayhorn.

Alternate versions of two of the songs from the album have been added as a bonus. This CD is available from

Jazz Messengers in Spain.



Tuesday of each

month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W




Vol 54 No.7 May & June 2013





2013 Scholarship Concert.

On April 27 2013 we celebrated Duke Ellington’s birth

with our sixteenth Annual Scholarship Fundraising

Concert. This year we engaged the 2011 Juno Award

winning band, (for best traditional jazz album) John MacLeod’s Rex Hotel Orchestra. The band is well

known in the city of Toronto and plays every fourth

Monday at the Rex Hotel. Once again Walter Hall was sold out with five hundred patrons packing the venue.

The proceedings were put underway by our President, Martin Loomer who thanked those who had helped put

this exciting event together. Special thanks were due to

Alan and Judy Shiels who had, once again almost

singlehandedly arranged the concert. Past President, Bruce Barton and his wife Irene made a brief

presentation, congratulating the Shiels for their devoted

work to the cause of fundraising for the scholarships that the Toronto Duke Ellington Society provides to

The University of Toronto, Humber College and York

University. Irene Barton read a letter of congratulation from Donna Caulfield, the MPP for Etobicoke Centre.

In recognition of their many years of service, the society

has made Alan and Judy Shiels Lifetime Honorary

members of the Toronto Duke Ellington Society.

The picture shows Alan & Judy Shiels with TDES

President Martin Loomer.

The concert was then handed over to John MacLeod

who led the band in their first number, a latin version of Ellington’s 1938 number, Prelude to a Kiss. John

remarked that this concert was unusual for this band s

they generally played their own music, not someone else’s, even Ellington’s. Next the band played Just

Squeeze Me, a transcription of the Ed Bickert

arrangement from the Paul Desmond album that they made in 1974. O’Pato Takes a Train followed, a latin

arrangement of Take the A Train with Mike Murley and

David Braid soloing. The highlight of the evening for

me at least was the next number, Concerto for Cootie, featuring the solo trumpet of John MacLeod. This

arrangement was transcribed for the band by Nick

Anderson Fry, a student at Humber College and a previous TDES 40 Scholarship winner. Lydia Persaud,

a current student at Humber College sang Do Nothing

‘til You Hear from Me. Nick Anderson Fry also arranged Is God a Three Letter Word for Love?

which Lydia Persaud sang very effectively. Alistair

Kay soloed on the trombone. To close the first set John

MacLeod’s Rex Hotel Orchestra played Perdido with Mike Murley and Alex Dean soloing.

2

Showing Lydia Persaud and John MacLeod. Many

thanks to Bruce Barton for supplying these images.

After a brief intermission the band opened the second

set with a Strayhorn piece, Snibor, arranged by another

TDES 40 Scholarship winner, Joshua Hung with John

Johnson offering a robust tenor solo. Ellington’s In a

Sentimental Mood followed, a modern styling

arranged by Andy Ballantyne. Lydia Persaud made her

second appearance on stage and sang Just You Just

Me, a nice feature for her, arranged by John MacLeod

showing a strong hint of Monk’s Evidence. Nick

Anderson Fry again arranged one of Ellington pieces for a Sacred Concert, Heaven, which, once again Lydia

Persaud sang strongly. I doubt many of our current

professional vocalists could have sung both such

difficult material and up beat numbers with such style and strength. Well done Lydia! As a tribute to Lydia,

John MacLeod treated us to an extemporaneous version

of Groucho Marx’s Lydia the Tattooed Lady, from the movie, At the Circus and which became Groucho’s

signature song. Terry Promane’s arrangement of

Ellington’s 1930 piece, Mood Indigo featuring Alistair Kay followed. To close the concert the band played It

Don’t Mean a Thing… The audience showed its

appreciation for a fabulous concert with such

enthusiasm that the band was forced to play an encore – Tulip or Turnip sang by John MacLeod who

acknowledged that he had made the arrangement for

Rob Collier when John was his student, for a 1977 concert in Holy Trinity Church.

Very many thanks to John MacLeod’s Rex Hotel

Orchestra for a great concert and to John who led the band with such professionalism, good humour and wit.

John MacLeod’s Rex Hotel Jazz Orchestra.

The band members are: John MacLeod: Leader (trumpet and Flugelhorn)

Alex Kundakcioglu, Steve Crowe, Brian O'Kane, Mike

Malone (trumpets)

Andy Ballantyne, Alex Dean, John Johnson, Mike Murley,

Bob Leonard (saxophones)

Alastair Kay, Kelsey Grant, Rob Somerville, Colin Murray (trombones)

James Macdonald, Janet Anderson (French horns)

Joey Goldstein (guitar)

David Braid (piano)

Duncan Hopkins (bass)

Ted Warren (drums)

Minutes of the May 14 General Meeting.

We were honored this evening as Vivienne Mühling

graced our society to talk about Ellington on Film. Irene Barton introduced Vivienne who was making her

second presentation to us. I have included Vivienne’s

entire introduction that Irene made. Vivienne Mühling

began the first of her several careers as a teenage actress in the UK. When she came to Canada in the 1950's she

first acted on CBC and stage managed for Dora Mavor

Moore’s New Play Society and for Jupiter Theatre. By the mid-fifties, she was a leading impresario, the only

one presenting major folk and jazz artistes at Massey

Hall with performers such as The Kingston Trio, Pete

Seeger, Josh White, Duke Ellington and also Bette Davis at the Royal Alex. She was manager for the Ron

Collier group when it backed Billie Holiday at the

Stratford Festival, and she created a “Jazz and Folk” weekend event in the early days of the Festival.

Marriage took her to New York in 1961 where she ran a children’s theatre in the Village and eventually

became director of the National Roosevelt Day and

executive director of the International Rheinhold

Neibuhr Award. During her 11 years in New York, she was in close, touch with Duke Ellington’s family,

especially his sister Ruth to whom she is related by

marriage.

Soon after returning to Toronto in 1973 on a contract

with the Art Gallery of Ontario, she produced several musicals, one of which was honored to give a command

performance for the Governor General in Rideau Hall,

and another, Indigo, a history of the blues starring

Salome Bey, won Canada’s first Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding production of a musical.

She is an active member of The Performing Arts Lodge

where she now lives, and at 86 is actually performing again as she did in her early days. She is “Granny

3

Gladys”, the ongoing spokesperson for the World

Wildlife Fund’s “National Sweater Day”. Vivienne started her presentation referring to her earlier

presentation – She said that the last time that she was

with us she told us about Ellington as a human being

and his relationship to his family. Tonight her topic was Duke & his work for and on the stage, in movies, and

on TV. Duke first demonstrated his ability to compose

for the theatre in 1924 when he co-wrote a successful all-black musical revue called Chocolate Kiddies which

starred the legendary actress Josephine Baker. In the

first part of her presentation Vivienne said she was going to concentrate mainly on Duke’s early filmic

exploits then, after the break, she will explore how he

later flourished in stage and TV productions.

In 1929 a short film was made about the Harlem

Renaissance Movement. It was called Black and Tan

Fantasy and as Duke was a major player in the Harlem scene it was a perfect venue for his first big-screen

appearance, His music plays throughout the film. It is a

two reeler staring Fredi Washington and Arthur Whetsol. We viewed 18 minutes of this movie taken

from the indispensable Duke Ellington in Hollywood

DVD. In fact most of the movies viewed in the first part

of the presentation were taken from this DVD. Ellington became popular in Hollywood and appeared

in several more shorts. In 1930, Ellington and his

orchestra were engaged for an entirely different kind of film Check and Double Check, which starred the

black-face comedians Amos and Andy. The film

director did not want to give audiences the impression

that Ellington's band was racially integrated, and was worried that two of the band members looked too light

skinned. So trombonist Juan Tizol, who was Puerto

Rican, and clarinetist Barney Bigard, a Creole were made up to look as dark as Amos and Andy. We

viewed Three Little Words/ Old Man Blues from this

movie. Several movies featured Ellington music, even when

Duke and the orchestra play but do not actually appear

on screen, there was Bundle of Blues in 1933 featuring

Rockin’ in Rhythm and Stormy Weather with vocals by the fabulous Ellington vocalist Ivie Anderson which we

saw. Anderson is also featured in the movie Hit Parade

of 1937, with the number, I've Got to Be a Rug Cutter. Another movie, made in 1934 was Belle of the

Nineties, featuring Ellington’s music though his band

does not appear on screen was with the least likely performer you could expect to be teamed with

Ellington, Mae West. We viewed her singing Memphis

Blues. We then viewed a segment from a film shot

again in 1934 but this time featuring a very young Billie

Holiday, Symphony in Black. We saw her featured in

A Triangle: Dance, Jealousy, Blues. To conclude the first half of the evening’s entertainment Vivienne

moved on to Cabin in the Sky. Finally for the Forties,

we come to this landmark film because it was the first

to feature an all-black cast Duke appears only briefly in this movie but it was a wonderful vehicle for that

consummate performer Ethel Waters. We heard Things

ain’t What they Used to be and Shine. We then broke up for a short social break with refreshments kindly

provided by Jean Griffiths and Mel Manley.

After the intermission Vivienne brought us back with

another ground breaking Ellington effort, An Anatomy

of a Murder. Not just because it actually depicted

James Stewart and Duke Ellington sitting side by side at the piano, and the manner it used the background

music Duke had composed, but also for its (for the

time) daring attitude towards the depiction of sexual evidence. First we were to look at the trailer which was

sadly unavailable.

(If you would like to view it, it is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54muV-xIhIU )

After the opening credits we saw the scene where Duke,

as Pie Eye, plays the piano with Jimmy Stewart.

Vivienne said that A Drum Is a Woman was Duke’s

flirtation with Opera, which aired on the T.V. show, U.S. Steel Hour on Wednesday May 11 1956 and that it

is one of his most complicated fantasies. It is an

allegory paralleling the history of jazz featuring

Madame Zajj as the jazz personification. It was the instrument with which Ellington conquered the medium

of television. Duke’s compelling creativity urged him

to explore the gamut of musical expression and we listened to some of the sound track from A Drum Is A

Woman with the title track featuring Margaret Tynes,

vocal.

In 1961 Duke’s music became the heart and soul of a

movie called Paris Blues. It starred Paul Newman,

Joanne Woodward, Sidney Poitier, Diahann Carroll and Louis Armstrong. Duke found it eminently satisfying to

create for a film that involved both the exploration of

new jazz sounds and the theme of the America’s black-white struggle. We viewed the trailer of the film

featuring Newman and Poitier as musicians playing The

A Train followed by a short clip of Newman playing Mood Indigo. The playing for Newman on the

soundtrack was done by Murray McEachern and Sidney

Poitier’s tenor sax playing was done by Paul Gonsalves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54muV-xIhIU

4

Ellington also gave Canada a special gift of himself.

The Stratford Festival commissioned him to write a

special Stratford Festival tribute. This he did with gusto, titled Such Sweet Thunder, it is a long work with

many sections all of which have typical Ellington

tongue in cheek titles, each of which signifies one of

Shakespeare’s leading characters. We heard from the CD Sonnet for Sister Kate.

What format has Ellington not yet tackled? What artistic expression has he yet to explore before he gets

to the finale of his Sacred Music compositions? Ballet.

And who enters Duke’s fertile mind when he considers ballet? The brilliant black choreographer Alvin Aileyof

course, founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance

Theatre. Don George in his book titled Sweet Man,

poignantly outlines the arduous but exciting development of The River, which was Duke’s concept

for ballet that he and Alvin Ailey then created together,

depicting the life cycle of a young man through phases of water to maturity. The sections have delightfully

descriptive titles such as The Vortex and Giggling

Rapids. We looked at an excerpt from The American Ballet Company’s 1976 version.

Vivienne concluded her fascinating presentation with a

selection from a disc of a musical that opened on Broadway on May 20th, 1976, two years after Duke

died. The story is an updated version of Shakespeare’s

Twelfth Night and was titled Play On. In this musical version, the location is changed from Shakespeare’s

llyria to Ellington’s Harlem. It features 19 of

Ellington’s much loved songs, including Love You

Madly, which we will now play as a fitting way to say farewell. Or in Shakespearian lingo Fare Thee Well.

Since the Editor was unfamiliar with this piece, he

looked for it in Amazon. Copies are available there for those interested

A fitting thanks was offered to Vivienne by Stephen

Cohen who also thanked Bruce Barton and Jim

Northover for their audio visual efforts. The Editor wishes to thank Vivienne for the use of her notes in

making this report.

Minutes of June 11th

2013 General Meeting President Martin Loomer opened the meeting of 25

members for the annual Member’s Choice. Bruce

Barton was the “sound man” Irene Barton supplied the refreshments for the evening. Many thanks to both. We

were delighted to welcome Vivienne Mühling, last

month’s presenter and longtime member Verna Privitera to the meeting.

Bruce opened the proceedings with Prima Bara Dubla

displaying the talent s of both Harry Carney and Gerry

Mulligan on Baritone Saxes from the Live in Newport 1958 album. Barry Tisdall selected the 1939 recording

of Country Gal which he played from the Mosaic set –

The Complete 1932 – 1940 Brunswick, Columbia and Master Recordings of Duke Ellington. Mel manley

played a lovely Bill Evans solo version of Ellington’s

Reflections in D from Evan’s New Conversations: Monologue Dialogue Trialogue C.D. Verna Priviter

delighted us with a personal anecdote of her meeting

with Clark Terry in 1964 when he played a gig at the

now defunct Town Tavern in Toronto. She ended up making a meal, pork chops for many of her friends that

she met that evening together with Clark Terry. Verna

wryly admitted that of the people she entertained for dinner that evening only she and Clark Terry remained.

In honour of Clark Terry she selected from the Live at

the 1956 Stratford Festival album, Hark, The Duke’s

Trumpet and Harlem Air Shaft. From the Ellington Hodges Back to Back album, which was the first

Ellington recording David Stimpson ever purchased, he

gave us Royal Garden Blues. Allan Jones found an new and obscure album issued by Jazz Haus Big

Bands: Duke Ellington Orchestra Recorded in Stuttgart

(March, 1967), from which he selected A Chromatic

Love Affair. To close the first half of the evening’s

entertainment, Colin Brown played for us Imagine My

Frustration from the Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald

The Stockholm Concert 1966 recording.

To start the second half, Jim Northover played two numbers. Ellington’s original recording of Creole

Love Call and King Oliver’s Camp Meeting Blues. Ellington first recorded Creole Love Call in in 1927 and

was issued a copyright for it as composer the following

year. However the main melody appears earlier in the

King Oliver composition "Camp Meeting Blues" which

5

Oliver recorded with his Creole Jazz Band in 1923.

Apparently Ellington reedman Rudy Jackson had

presented the melody to Ellington claiming it was his own composition. After Ellington's recording came

out, Joe Oliver attempted to sue for payment of royalties

and composer credit. The lawsuit failed due to problems

with Oliver's original paperwork resulting in Oliver not holding a valid copyright. Ellington fired Jackson over

the incident, bringing in Barney Bigard as his

replacement.

Irene Mottadelli played a Tony Bennett vocal of In A

sentimental Mood and Mel Torme singing Take the A

Train. Harold Schwartz then played Just a Sittin’ and

a Rockin’ from a John Dankworth and Cleo Laine compendium album, Three Early LP’s and More. Bill

Wilson, drew from his extensive travels in jazz a

selection from the Thank You Uncle Edward album of

the Duke Ellington Legacy Band led by Virginia Mayhew, Day Dream. Martin Loomer, as President

claimed the last selection and he played the Benny

Goodman concert closer, Goodbye taken from the Recollections of the Big Band Era album with a

wonderful solo by Johnny Hodges.

We then dispersed to enjoy a summer of our local Jazz Festivals and as much live jazz as we can fit in.


The first meeting of the 2013 – 2014 season will be held at Montgomery’s Inn on September 10th. In the

meantime see the information below on the upcoming

jazz festival season to tide us over into our new season.

December 3rd 2013 - Yes, the Holiday Party has been


Club. The band will be a quartet led by Brian Barlow with Alex Dean, Scott Alexander and Robi Botos.

Upcoming Events


In 2013 the Toronto Jazz Festival will be held from June

22 to June 29. As you know, we are sponsoring Martin Loomer’s

Orange Devils to play on June 23 at Nathan Phillip’s

Square, a concert of largely Ellington and Strayhorn music, one set lasting approximately an hour. The band

will start at 12:30 p.m. This will be part of a Big Band

Series to run from June 22 to Friday June occur. As we

requested for the 2012 Toronto Jazz Festival where we

partially sponsored Brian Barlow’s Orchestra playing

Ellington music in the same location, we need

volunteers to help in distributing information about our society to the audience. Please let Judy Shiels know if

you can help.

Jazz Vespers at Christ Church Deer Park: On June 23 also Brian Barlow will playing At Jazz

Vespers at Christ Church, Deer Park. Brian has asked

that if anyone is interested in volunteering to hand out bulletins on June 23. This will be a special Jazz

Vespers as part of the Toronto Jazz Festival and Brian

Barlow’s big band will be playing selected pieces from Ellington's Sacred Concerts. (Sunday, June 23, 4:30

pm)

Brian thought since some of the members of the Chapter attend these events there might be a few who

wouldn't mind showing up a little early and assisting for

1/2 an hour or so. If anyone is interested in helping please contact Brian

at [email protected] or 415-452-6447.

Brian said that aside from the issue of volunteering they

will be playing some wonderful music and look forward

to seeing as many of the gang as possible.

John MacLeod’s Rex Hotel Orchestra who played such

a great concert for us on April 27th is also participating

in this series, performing on Monday, June 24 again at 12:30 p.m.

Jim Galloway’s Wee Big Band is also performing in the

same series on Tuesday, June 25th starting at 12:30 p.m.

Jazz Festivals:

At the time of writing there have been limited

announcements as to the line ups. I suggest you refer

to the individual web sites for detailed information as

to who is playing.

Ottawa – June 20 – July 1

Montreal – June 28 – July 7

Toronto Beaches July 19 - 28

Oakville – August 9 - 11

Prince Edward County – Aug 13 - 18

Markham – August 15 - 18


6

News

'Ellington 2014: Duke Ellington in Amsterdam'

will be organized next year from Wednesday 14

May ‘til Sunday 18 May. It will be the 22nd edition

of the Ellington Study Group Conference.

Welcome New Members

John Morris and Ursel Nyga have joined our society–

Welcome.

Newsletter

Please let me have your comments on this newsletter. Is there anything you’d like me to include?

If any member has recently acquired an email address

please let me know so that I can put you on the e distribution list. There are several other news items that

can be distributed more timely by email that by the

mailed newsletter.

Many thanks once again to my wife Sheila who has doggedly read the newsletter to look for typos and

errors. Any that remain are mine of course.

New Release.

There is a new and interesting three CD release from Acrobat Music, the U.K. record label. Duke Ellington

and his Orchestra - Rare Live Recordings, 1952 -

1953.

The recordings in this collection come from the

Ackerman tapes, an archive held in Stanford University in California comprising ‘live’ jazz recordings, many

previously unreleased. The recordings come from four

separate ‘live’ performances by the Duke Ellington

Orchestra, with three from Jan.-Apr. 1952, including a concert at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House,

which is previously unreleased in any form, apart from

one track. The other two 1952 performances are from

an unknown venue in the US North-west, along with one from The Armory, Yakima, Washington State on

the Duke’s birthday 29th April. Several tracks from

these 1952 performances have never been released, while the remainder have only ever been on vinyl. The

1953 recordings are from a dance date at McElroy’s

Ballroom in Portland Oregon, a favourite gig of Ellington’s during his regular tours of the north-west

around his birthday. In all, of the 45 tracks, 20 are

previously unreleased, 15 have only appeared on vinyl,

while the other 10 have been on various CDs, now generally unavailable. Some of the recordings include

Ellington’s characteristic and entertaining links and

introductions which add a unique flavour and atmosphere to the collection. It is a snapshot of a great

orchestra under an iconic leader during a period when

the big band market had been hit by post-war austerity and the emergence of bebop and R&B small groups,

and one-night stands like these were its bread-and-

butter work. We are sure that it will provide a welcome

addition to the collections of Duke Ellington and big band enthusiasts.

It looks as though the CD is readily available on

Amazon.com. I have taken these notes from the description in the Acrobat web site:

www.acrobatmusic.net

Have a Safe and Happy Summer. Please get out

and listen to lots of live jazz and we look forward

to seeing you all again in September.



Tuesday of each

month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W



http://www.acrobatmusic.net/

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