Ellingtonia

A Publication Of The Duke Ellington Society, Inc.

Volume XXIl, Number 6

June 2014 William McFadden, Editor

Copyright © 2014 by The Duke Ellington Society, Inc., P.O. Box 29470, Washington, D.C. 20017, U.S.A. Web Site: depanorama.net/desociety/ E-mail: Ellingtonia@comcast.net

Courtesy Carlyle Productions

One more once—until Autumn . . .

You Make The Call! (a.k.a. Member’s Choice)

The Society’s 2013-2014 season will conclude with a program of music chosen by you. We encourage you to bring at least one Ellington or Strayhorn CD, and be prepared to tell us why you wish to have the tune(s) played. Have to miss the meeting? Send the titles of your favorites requested to Ellingtonia@comcast.net and we’ll be certain they’re heard on-site. No stumping the programmers, please. This cavalcade of members’ choices will take place at Grace Lutheran Church, 16th and Varnum Streets, NW in the Maestro’s home town, the District of Co-lumbia on Saturday, 7 June 2014—7:00 PM. Whether sweet or substantive, pot luck is how we share the edibles, so don’t forget to bring something good. Even if you do forget, come anyway because we do love to see you, madly that is. Management brings beverages and ice.

————————————————

Generous Donation Will Fund Society Memberships For Students

Essential to the mission of our Society are the preser-vation and advancement of Duke Ellington’s musical legacy (and with it, that of Billy Strayhorn). It’s all well and good to dedicate ourselves to those ends, but we must not forget that preaching to our very sophisti-cated choir alone does not accomplish them. In an extraordinary gesture of commitment to future appreciation of both Duke and Billy, Society member Dr. Yvonne Condell of Moorhead, MN has funded 20 Student memberships in The Duke Ellington So-ciety, Inc., available immediately. The memberships are offered in memory of Dr. James F. Condell and Jack Towers, both of whom were original Society members. We encourage you to let any and all young persons know that we would warmly welcome their joining us. Please contact Ellingtonia@comcast.net to apply. Yvonne Condell, we thank you for your gift and for your inspiration. You truly are, “All Heart.”

That handsome poster reproduced above is the em-blem of a splendid four days in Duke and Billy utopia. Here’s the ‘short’ version of our Conference report: You would have loved every minute of it as much as those of us in attendance did! The 22nd International Duke Ellington Study Group Conference in Amsterdam from May 14-18 was all substantive content, with no ephemera or fillers. It was scholarly without being pompous, a relaxed col-legiality in a welcoming atmosphere, a stunning com-bination of musical and historical interpretation. Soon it became apparent and unmistakable—this ( Continued on next page)

Merry-Go-Round . . . by Ye Editor

Ellingtonia

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

June 2014 Page 2

Conference (Continued from front page.)

entire event was a gathering for persons of taste and distinction, driven by the common denominator, love! By comparison, the jewel box setting of the City of Amsterdam with its magical charms and beauty was nearly reduced to mere lagniappe because the deeper one became immersed in the conference, the more gripping the captivation became. Kicking-off the action was a combined conference registration and reception, the latter being a long, lei-surely affair in an atrium floor of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, the academy for music and perfor-mance arts which was the site for all of the sessions. Here, we took maximum advantage of the opportuni-ty to make introductions among the many, known heretofore only from correspondence, the printed page, and reputation. Before long there came an emotional impact from the significance of being present in a place where every-one in it, from near and far, was there because of Ed-ward Kennedy Ellington. Such a realization was both powerful and inspiring, enough to make an often jad-ed individual feel awe-struck and a bit dazzled. Wouldn’t get over it from then on. Didn’t want to. It should be noted that for the first time in many years the Ellington family was in attendance: Guest of Honor, grand-daughter Mercedes Ellington and neph-ew Stephen James (one of Ruth Ellington Boat-wright’s two sons). Both were actively involved, with pertinent comments, throughout each session and par-ticipated in every event, without exception. Charm-ing, affable and gregarious, it was great to spend a little time with each of them. Conference co-chairs Walter van de Leur and Louis Tavecchio convened the proceedings the next morning by dedicating the 22nd International Confer-ence to both Sjef Hoefsmit and Alice Babs. Present to express the Hoefsmit family’s warm regards and grati-tude were Sjef’s daughter, Babette and her sons, Wil-lem and Joost Kempe. This, and all of the sessions would be held in an au-ditorium named the ‘Blue Note,’ an intimate, three-quarter round platform stage with recording studio-quality acoustics and sound system, not to mention a perfectly-tuned Yamaha grand piano. Throughout the duration, it was common to hear conferees delighting in how they never before heard Ellington recordings at that volume with such instrumental clarity. Pre-senter Loren Schoenberg at one point introduced a recorded passage with the observation that, “It’s like being inside Ben Webster’s mouthpiece.” Gazing at the projection screen with the conference logo looming about six feet high, we considered the abstract figure featured in all promotional and related

materials since late 2013: the outline of a man on a bicycle waving with his left hand. What was the significance? Was it symbolic of the friendly, bicycle-dependent citizens of Amsterdam? Hold on—It’s DUKE!? Turns out we could never see the forest for the trees, as it were, when the pho-tograph from the Orchestra’s first vis-it to the Netherlands in April, 1939 was

spotted in the program booklet. There’s the Maestro on a bike with Messrs. Hodges, Stewart and Carney functioning as training wheels. Mystery solved . . . The 3 keynote/16 plenary sessions began with “Duke Ellington in American History” from the au-thor of Duke Ellington’s America (2012), Harvey G. Cohen (US/UK). He deftly compressed that entire, important book into a 45-minute presentation of its major themes borne of his brilliant research. The editor of Blue Light and a seasoned newspaper-man in his own right, Geoff Smith (UK) regaled us over his “Date With Duke,” thus generating what would become the conference’s unofficial motto, “Don’t stop now, Baby.” Duke, of course, coined the phrase as a means of signifying his approbation. Geoff also described organizing the 2012 Conference in Woking, UK along with details on its acclaimed concert performance of A Drum Is A Woman. An update on the progress of the internet Ellington itinerary search engine, “The Duke: Where and When?” was carefully explained by David Palmquist (Canada). The man is an absolute saint. Search the title, log on, and enjoy using this essential research tool. Musicologist, researcher and author Marcello Piras (Italy/Mexico) broke down every tiny element of how Ellington (the trained artist) “painted a portrait” of Florence Mills with 1928’s “Black Beauty.” Carl Woideck (US) is a jazz histor ian, teacher , author and saxophonist who presented a research pa-per on Duke’s “Encounters With Africa, 1957-1974,” asking a fundamental question of whether Ellington wrote music inspired by his experiences within that continent, with African musicians, with honors from among others, Haile Selassie. We viewed a brief clip of the band at Dakar, where the Maestro speaks his customary intro to “Caravan” (’cha-cha-cha’), naming each musician. This revelation, in turn, provided (Continued on next page.)

Ellingtonia June 2014 Page 3

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We Remember . . . HERB JEFFRIES

(September 24, 1913—May 25, 2014)

The very first male vocalist member of Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra (intermittently, 1939-1942), and perhaps the very last male vocal-ist directly influenced by Bing Crosby, actor/singer Herb Jeffries succumbed to stomach and heart ailments on May 25 in a West Hills, CA hospital. Always coy about his age and heritage, it was widely believed that he actually was 100 years old, and that he had been born in Detroit as Umberto Alejandro (or Tomaso) Balentino. He was equally evasive when it came to race, once noting, “I’m a chameleon.” Although he lived life as an African American, the fact that he could have “passed” for white was a topic of constant gossip in the segregated US of the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s. While in his teens, Mr. Jeffries sang in Detroit night clubs and ballrooms, ultimately joining the Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines Orchestra in 1933. He made film history as “The Bronze Buckaroo,” starring in a series of low-budget, all-black singing cowboy movies produced for segregated audiences in the late 1930’s. But it was with the Ellington organization that Mr. Jeffries is best remembered: starring opposite Dorothy Dandridge in Duke’s 1941 theatrical production, “Jump for Joy” and for his vocal turn that same year on the hit recording which became a standard, “Flamingo.” Herb Jeffries’ passing deprives our world of another Ellingtonian, one who will be uniquely remembered along with the following lyrics (by Ellington—P.F. Web-

ster—S. Kuller): When you stomp up to Heaven,

and you meet old Saint Pete, tell that boy to jump for joy!

Step right in. Give Pete some skin, and jump for joy!

———————————————————-

with Yours Truly as a participant was truncated from 60 to perhaps 20 minutes. Along with fellow panelists Loren Schoenberg (US) and Catherine Tackley (UK), we came not to bury Terry Teachout. And then, things got interesting . . . Do have a safe, comfortable and pleasant summer. That’s it for this ride on your Merry-Go-Round!

our conference with another repeated catch phrase, “authentic, synthetic hybrid.” A highly accomplished pianist who also happens to possess a Ph.D. in musical arts, Matt Cooper (US) has written a new book on Ellington and the piano: Duke Ellington as Pianist—A Study of Styles. He gave a re-cital whose repertoire consisted of his transcriptions: the aforementioned “Black Beauty,” “The Clothed Woman,” and several selections from the 1953 LP, Piano Reflections. Think Daniel Barenboim in a recit-al of Mozart piano transcriptions. Sublime. And that was just Day One. The following day’s keynote session was by none other than Matt Cooper who both explained and demonstrated his work with the Ellington/Strayhorn transcriptions forming the basis for his unique tome. Our good colleague Ken Steiner (US) employed the instincts of a Sherlock Holmes in his painstaking ef-forts to successfully discover and document the first filmed appearance of Duke Ellington and the Washing-tonians in 1925. The silent movie was entitled, Head-lines, and Ken’s findings were confirmed in an an-nouncement from the Library of Congress on April 29, 2013. A 30-second clip was analyzed to prove Ken’s research. (At this point we will fast-forward to the end of the report due to the editor’s indulgent word count. Part Two of our conference journal must wait until the October issue. “Oh, we’ve got a lot more . . . got a lot more” coverage of the sessions and the magnificent music which deserve your attention.) Up until Sunday, the final day, things had been un-folding flawlessly. Then, someone let in a certain Mr. Murphy and his dreadful law. The ultra-efficient City of Amsterdam experienced a power failure (an ex-tremely unusual occurrence, we were told). Hurriedly, conference options including cancellation were consid-ered. Postponement for later in the day was not feasi-ble due to the number of us headed to the airport. To our collective relief, the electricity began return-ing approximately 45 minutes past the scheduled start time. The Blue Note would have light, but no ventila-tion for the time being. When the remaining conferees finally gathered, it was decided to abbreviate each of the three remaining plenary sessions in an effort to ad-journ the conference on time. By an informal count, we had lost a good third of the attendance. Some planned to skip Sunday anyway since the crowning, penultimate conference event was the previous evening’s concert featuring “Black, Brown and Beige” by renowned jazz orchestrator and bandleader, David Berger( US) with the Conservatori-um Concert Big Band. The panel session on “Biographies of Ellington,”

Page 4 Ellingtonia June 2014

___________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________

THE DUKE ELLINGTON SOCIETY, INC.

Executive Board President William McFadden Vice President Barbara Anderson Secretary Arthur Luby Treasurer Patricia Braxton

- - - Luvenia George Edward Morris William Hasson Robert Reny Tom Henderson Lawrence Smith

Theodore A. Shell

“Dramatis Felidae” (To Use Our Man’s Term in MIMM)

About Our Members . . .

It’s not like Drs. Ted and Marion Shell to miss any Society meetings. But spring this year has not been gentle in terms of Ted’s well-being. Ted Shell is most likely the last surviving founder of our Society, and his first-hand expertise on all things Duke is unequaled. Please feel better soon Ted! You and Marion are both loved and missed.

Dr. Anthony Brown served as adviser and consult-ant for the International Jazz Day 2014 in Osaka educa-tion programs at the end of April. Although he was scheduled to present "Duke Ellington in the 1950s: Re-naissance Man," from his chapter in the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington in Amster-dam on May 17, Dr. Brown was forced to cancel due to health reasons. He wants you to know that he is on the mend after a back injury which precluded long-distance travel.

Recently, the Duke Ellington Society of Southern California honored past President Charles Stewart (1997-2001) with a certificate proclaiming him Presi-dent-Emeritus. Carl Butts, current DES President, made the presentation in acknowledgement of Charles’ many years of service to the Society. During Charles’ tenure, DES hosted presentations by several former Ellingtonians, such as Bill Berry and Louie Bellson. He was in office during the Society’s planning and hosting of Ellington 2000, Duke Elling-ton in Hollywood, the very successful International Conference held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

May Clarinet Spotlight . . .

The Artistry of Barney Bigard by Art Luby, Secretary

The clarinet remained a central element in the sound of the Ellington Orchestra, even after its overall im-portance to jazz was diminished with the onset of the bebop era. Duke used various clarinet styles as part of his orchestral palette, and clearly relished the tradition-al, woody New Orleans tone. For decades the leading practitioner of this style in both the Orchestra and jazz at large was New Orleans-born Barney Bigard. His virtuoso talent and dignified bearing commanded so much respect throughout his career that he remains one of the few Ducal soloists whose accomplishments outside the Ellington organization rival his achieve-ments within the fold—specifically, Barney’s tenure in Louis Armstrong’s All-Stars. Ed Morris' presentation, excerpts from a develop-ing full-length Bigard program, touched on both phas-es of Barney's career. Starting with his thrilling open-ing solo on "C Jam Blues" played with Armstrong in Boston (1947 recording, Satchmo at Symphony Hall), and moving back through such memorable Ellington performances on "Stompy Jones," "Caravan," and "Clarinet Lament,” each performance illustrated the rich, powerful vibrato and the New Orleans-influenced approach that made his playing both unique and influ-ential. Bigard enjoyed working with Rex Stewart over the years (and in his memoir, Stewart made clear that the respect was mutual). Included were two examples of that collaboration, “Night Wind" and "Monmatre.”

———————————————-

Your Dues Are Due for 2014 To Join or to Renew Membership

Please Send Your Payment to: The Duke Ellington Society, Inc.

PO Box 29470, Washington, DC 20017, USA Our dues remain a bargain:

Member, $30; Couple, $50; Student $5 First-Time-Ever Member, Just $20

We meet on the first Saturday, October—June at 7:00 PM. Guests are always welcomed!

Concert—A Tribute To The Elegant Mr. Ellington—in Annapolis, July 11

“Beautiful, sensual, lush, rhythmic, rich, swinging,” these terms describing the music of Duke Ellington have inspired a new tribute concert from Wings Pro-ductions and The Blount-Tucker Orchestra, “The Elegant Mr. Ellington” on Friday, July 11 at 8:00 PM at Rams Head On Stage—Annapolis, MD. Offered is a “concert which captures the richness and elegance of many of the Duke’s incomparable arrange-ments.” The program will consist of selections repre-sentative of Ellington’s entire career, clearly demon-strating how his music remains as beautiful and as rele-vant as ever. Writer, broadcaster and producer John Tegler will narrate this chronicle of the life of Edward Kennedy Ellington—whom he knew—setting off the musical selections. Reservations: 410-268-4545, or

www.ramsheadonstage.com