THE INTERNATIONAL DEMS BULLETIN DUKE ELLINGTON MUSIC SOCIETY 05/3 December 2005 - March 2006 Our 27th Year of Publication. FOUNDER: BENNY AASLAND HONORARY MEMBER: FATHER JOHN GARCIA GENSEL EDITOR: SJEF HOEFSMIT ASSISTED BY: ROGER BOYES

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Email: dems@skynet.be

DETS double CDs

DEMS 05/3-22

See DEMS 05/2-27 & 28

A couple of things re the Treasury Shows.
1. After the discussions concerning the unfortunate sound quality of Vol 10, you expressed your reluctance to publish criticism of that volume. I don't think reluctance is necessary — I think you do both the reader, and the record company, a favor by publicizing the flaw. In my case although I am tolerant of scratches, surface noise and other background disturbances, I found the pumping sound that others referred to as almost unlistenable for me. I made a note that this would be my last volume (since rescinded as I now have Volume 11 on order). My point is that from the record company's point of view, one bad experience can risk several future sales.
2. I haven't received Volume 11 yet, but I notice that it contains more of the October 7, 1945 broadcasts from the New Zanzibar. That would mean that portions of October 7 broadcasts are spread over four volumes (nos. 2, 7, 11, and I think I saw that Emancipation Celebration and Let the Zoomers Drool from volume 5 have been assigned to this date as well).
3. Dick Zander's notes to Volume 5 refer to an outstanding solo by Oscar Pettiford on Emancipation Celebration, and Volume 2 lists Sid Catlett on drums for this date, but neither are listed for this date in the other volumes. Has this all been resolved?
4. Incidentally, since you inevitably pick up corrections in the notes to the various volumes, why don't the authors just send you a draft before they are published?
Don Francis

4. To start with the last point: that would be a good idea.
1. I did indeed express my reluctance, but I also published all the remarks that were sent in, like yours this time. I have explained why I am reluctant to criticise the producers of this series. I think they deserve first of all praise for re-releasing the whole set of Treasury broadcasts. I hope that when we will have again another more sophisticated medium for listening to music after the 78 rpms, the LPs and the CDs, there will be again a group of courageous people who will make this series available to the Ellington community of that next generation. It takes some guts to bring out the whole set after the series had been released on LPs in the 1980s. Many potential customers for the CDs already have the LPs in their collections, bought by themselves or acquired from the collections of deceased collectors. I think that those who can afford to should buy these CDs to support the undertaking even if they have the LPs. By the way. I am listening to Volume 12 just now. It sounds great!
2. The 7oct45 broadcast Magic Carpet # 131 was only on two sets. Volume 2 and Volume 11. On Volume 5 was the 18Sep45 broadcast One Night Stand #800, which was processed on 18Nov45 and can be found in all discographies under that (later) date. See DEMS 02/1-19/2 and 02/2-6/2. (In DEMS 02/1-19/2 there was an error. The title of the article refers to Vol. 2 and this should be corrected to Vol. 5. Peter MacHare has corrected the web-edition of DEMS 02/1 but readers should correct the paper edition too as was asked on page 28 of the paper edition of 02/2.)
On Volume 7 was the 11oct45 broadcast together with the 7oct45 broadcast One Night Stand #764, which was processed on 24oct45 and has been documented in all discographies on that (later) date. See DEMS 02/2-6/2 and 03/2-23/1.
Emancipation Celebration and Let the Zoomers Drool were recorded (according to Jerry Valburn in DEMS 02/1-19/2 and 02/1-26) on 7oct45 and belong to the ONS broadcast # 764. Actually both selections belong also to the ONS broadcast # 800 as was remarked by Hans-Joachim Schmidt in DEMS 02/3-18/4. The question remains when they were recorded, with ONS # 764 on 7oct45 or with ONS # 800 on 18Sep45. I prefer to accept the old dates in the discographies for documenting and finding back these recordings. That means that I list ONS # 764 including Emancipation Celebration and Let the Zoomers Drool on 24oct45 and ONS # 800 without Emancipation Celebration and Let the Zoomers Drool on 18Nov45.
3. Dick Zander has Emancipation Celebration apparently on 18Nov45. That would mean that Oscar Pettiford was on bass. I believe however that Junior Raglin was on bass, and that is one more reason for rejecting the date of 18Nov45 for this selection.
On the actual recordings of 7oct45, released on DETS Vol 2 and Vol 11, Sonny Greer and not Sid Catlett is on drums. There has been some discussion about Sid Catlett's stay in the band, which was published in earlier DEMS Bulletins. I think this is a good time to publish these articles again. So here they are.

This appeared in DEMS 99/3-19/3:

"Big" Sid Catlett on DETS # 26

Last week I received Eddie Lambert’s book. It is everything I expected and more. It is well bound and beautifully set out. The book has the delightful capacity to get you to listen again to those records, which have been sitting on the shelf for some time past. I was listening to the DETS series when his book arrived, and sure enough, I found an item, which may need some clarification.
On pages 124, 125 and 128 Eddie discusses the fact that "Big" Sidney Catlett appears in place of Sonny Greer on DETS # 26, recorded 13oct45. However, it is to be noted that Timner 4^th edition on page 82 and page 575 says that Greer was back in the orchestra by that date and Catlett was out.
Stratemann on page 264 agrees with Timner that Catlett had left on October 10^th. So does Nielsen (page 60).
Yet when I listen to the LP, I am inclined to agree with Eddie that there is a difference in the drumming from preceding DETS LPs on which Greer is definitely present also that, from my knowledge of Catlett’s big band drumming with Benny Goodman for example, it does indeed sound like "Big Sid".
I have not been able to find any discussion about this matter.
Bill Morton

You are right. Thank you so very much for this correction to the existing discographies. I even doubt if the New DESOR has found this error in the earlier edition.
I have compared 6 selections from DETS # 26 with recordings made between 9Jun45 and 22Sep45 on which it is certain that the drummer was Sonny Greer. There is no doubt. These are two distinctly different drummers. I am not an expert on Sid Catlett, but I am convinced that Sonny Greer was not the drummer on 13oct45.
I have also checked my poor quality recordings of 10 and 11oct45. I have the strong impression that in these broadcasts too I hear Sid Catlett on drums. The old Desor also identifies Sid as the drummer on the broadcast of 10oct45.
Sjef Hoefsmit

Surprisingly the New DESOR has only the 8oct session with Sid Catlett, but no longer the 10oct session. The 13oct session is still with Greer. The 11oct session was not mentioned in the old Desor as it was not yet discovered. In the New DESOR it too has Greer on drums.
DEMS

And in DEMS 99/4-14/1 appeared:

Catlett

See DEMS 99/3-19/3.

Because we had no room for it in 99/3 we now print Loren Schoenberg’s message of 18Jan99 to the Duke-lym group. It confirms the "discovery" by Bill Morton. Loren refers to DETS # 26 and the broadcast of 13oct45.
DEMS

Do not forget the marvellous broadcast from late 45 (I am not home and cannot find the date) which features an hour of Catlett with the band, playing Sonny's drumset. It was issued as one volume of Jerry Valburn's set years ago. There is a great Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea with Catlett and Rex Stewart, and to hear Catlett playing all those incredible arrangements is a revelation — it also reinforces Greer's primacy as the ultimate Ellington drummer, because so much of that music was conceived for his "pongs" as Duke put it.
Loren Schoenberg

In DEMS 2000/1-12/4 appeared:

"Big" Sid Catlett in October 1945

See DEMS 99/3-19/3.

You are possibly right about Sid Catlett being in the band on 10, 11 and 13oct45, but we are not absolutely sure.
Giovanni Volonté and Luciano Massagli

This ends my answers to Don Francis' questions in 05/3-22.
Sjef Hoefsmit

Paris, 1Mar63, Kenny Clarke or Peter Giger

DEMS 05/3-23

28Jul05
We are conducting our annual jazz workshop in Darmstadt at the moment, and one of this year's teachers is drummer / percussionist Peter Giger from Switzerland. He just visited the Institut and we talked a lot about different things, his stints with the Tremble Kids band, his Frankfurt time with Albert Mangelsdorff (who died earlier this week and whose funeral we will attend next Monday) and other things.
Looking through the archive, Peter asked me whether we had an Ellington discography. He asked to have a look at the Ellington date with Alice Babs from 1Mar63. He told me that Kenny Clarke was named as drummer for that session, but in reality Kenny never played that gig but Peter Giger did. 28Feb63: Christian Garros, 1Mar63: Peter Giger for some of the tracks, Garros for some of the others.
Giger at that time played with Claude Bolling's band, and Claude provided Duke with some of the musicians on that date.
Perhaps one should at least put a question mark next to that session and Clarke's involvement with it.
Peter Giger was born 12Apr39, Zürich/Switzerland. He started his career in the traditional band Tremble Kids (1958). In 1960 he moved to Paris where he mostly worked with Claude Bolling, also recording with Duke Ellington and Alice Babs (I made that note in my entry for New Grove, but did not realize the discrepancies with the discographies). In 1969 he returned to Switzerland to participate in the band Four for Jazz. Giger was founding member of the Swiss Jazz School in Bern (1969). In 1972 he moved to Frankfurt, working with Albert Mangelsdorff as well as with his own percussion ensemble Family of Percussion (since 1977). With the latter he toured the world, at the same time realizing projects with musicians such as Wolfgang Dauner, Michal Urbaniak, Sam Rivers, Max Roach and others.
Peter is a very good drummer who is at home in a variety of styles. Our students are learning a lot from him during this week, and he is full of stories from his various experiences.
Wolfram Knauer

Toronto, 22Jun72

DEMS 05/3-24

On Wednesday 6Jul05, during the first day of the four day IAJRC Convention in Copenhagen, Bjarne Busk made a presentation about Duke Ellington's Stockpile, which was quite similar to his presentation about the same subject at the Ellington Conference in Stockholm on 13May04. After Bjarne's presentation Ted O'Reilly mentioned that an error was made with the titling of the selections on the Laserlight CD 15782, containing four numbers of the 22Jun72 Toronto session for which Ron Collier had provided arrangements and originals. As Ron told us in his presentation on 22Jun96 in Toronto at the Ellington Conference, the selection titled Vancouver Lights was actually his composition Relaxin'. Vancouver Lights was not released. (It appeared on the DEMS Cassette CA-22 at the end of 1997. See also DEMS Bulletin 96/1-4) Ted O'Reilly also mentioned that Mercer did not play. He had no chops that day. The trumpet player Arnie Chycoski was brought in by Ron Collier. Arnie played in most of the selections. There were only two trombones but there were six reeds in that session.
I contacted Ted O'Reilly and asked him for more specific information.

I remember the session very well. Mercer was playing, but had no chops that day, and after one or two takes, asked Ron Collier to get another player. Collier called Arnie Chycoski, a great British Columbia-born trumpeter, long a Toronto fixture (lead trumpet with Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass) to come in. I don't remember what was recorded with whom, but I know there were two Collier compositions and I'm pretty sure Arnie is on both of them, at least.
I recall also that at the end of the session Mercer called Arnie over, and tried to lay a couple of hundred dollars on him, and Arnie was aghast, saying it was his privilege to do a session with Duke, and wouldn't take the money... Ron Collier has died, but Arnold Chycoski is still with us, living in BC again, and I could get contact information for him if you wish.
I think that Tyree Glenn is the trombonist who wasn't there, and Norris Turney played those trombone parts on tenor sax. Someone who may have better evidence of the session is Bill Smith, photographer and co-editor with John Norris of CODA magazine at the time. Now, I recall that Ellington saw Bill's camera, and said something like "Sorry, no photographs — Duke doesn't feel pretty today...". Bill said "of course", but may very well have taken shots of the orchestra.
I hope this helps — for certain, Arnie was on the session, and Turney played trombone parts.
Thank you for looking into this...it may be 'small potatoes' in the whole scheme of things, but I believe we should try to get it right. I think Arnie's proud that he was able to record with Duke.
Ted O'Reilly.

In a later message, Ted supplied me with more information. He gave specifics about Ron Collier and I think Ron should be included in the list of musicians in The New DESOR even though he did not play his instrument on any of the Ellington recording sessions. However, he conducted the orchestra in which Duke played the piano when the recordings were made for the album "North of the Border" on 24Jul67 in Toronto. The following details were provided by Ted O'Reilly:
"Just for background — Collier, Ron (Ronald William). Composer, arranger, conductor, trombonist, teacher, born Coleman, near Lethbridge, Alberta, 3 Jul 1930, died Toronto 22 Oct 2003." (See also DEMS Bulletin 03/3-3, which gives the date as 23oct03)
Ted continued: "I have just been on the phone with John Norris (founder/editor/publisher of CODA for years — I'm sure you know him) and he, too remembers Arnie Chycoski coming in to replace Mercer."
"By the way, in "Ellingtonia" 4th edition, WE Timner incorrectly has "FSt" as being on the 22Jun72 session. "FSt" means Freddie Stone (not Frank, as Timner has it). Freddie (born Toronto 9Sep35, died Toronto 10Dec86) was the son of Archie Stone, who was the leader of the house band at the Casino, a Toronto location where the Ellington band used to play. Clark Terry remembers giving young Freddie some lessons backstage at the Casino. Actual Ellington band membership for Stone was for several months in 1970. Duke wrote Aristocracy a la Jean Lafitte in the New Orleans Suite for Fred. He appeared in the band and as soloist on the July 24 & 25, 1967 Toronto recordings with Duke and the Ron Collier Orchestra."
"I am pretty sure that Harold Ashby was featured [on 22Jun72] on a version of Chinoiserie, and that may be the 'unidentified track' referred to by WE Timner in "Ellingtonia". But then again, he makes no reference at all to a second Collier original, and I remember quite specifically them doing two of Ron's originals at that session."
I asked Ted why they needed a replacement for Mercer. They had Cootie Williams, John Coles and Money Johnson available.
Ted replied: "The arrangement was written for 4 trumpets, and Mercer did not play once Arnie got there."
I asked for specifics for including Arnie Chycoski in the Musicians chapter of the New DESOR.
"Arnie Chycoski is still with us, living in British Columbia again. I called Arnie, and he remembers the session very well. He was born in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada on 7May36."
Since I had found a reference to an "Original, featuring Tyree Glenn" in the listing that accompanied the Mercer donation to the Danish Radio, I asked again for confirmation of Tyree Glenn's absence. It should be noted however that this "Original" has not been found in any of the tapes. Ted replied: "John Norris agrees with me that Glenn was not there: 'I knew Tyree, and don't remember him at that session'. Timner doesn't have him there either, but does have him on the band the next night, when they did a concert at O'Keefe Centre, Toronto."
Apparently Timner took the personnel listing in the liner-notes of Laserlight 15782 for granted and consequently also left Paul Gonsalves out of the 22Jun72 session.
After I mentioned the date of 23oct03 at being the date of Ron Collier's death, according to the November Newsletter of the Toronto Chapter of the Duke Ellington Society, Ted did send me a great number of web-site addresses, all confirming the date of 22oct03 being the correct one. He also added the message that Ron Collier was enrolled in the Order of Canada as an officer. We proudly quote the following (Ron was a paying DEMS member!):

"Ron Collier, O.C. — Toronto, Ont. — Officer of the Order of Canada.
In the recording studio, on stage or in the classroom, Ron Collier has consistently striven for excellence and inspired others to do the same. A trombonist, composer and arranger, in the 1950s he helped to introduce to Canada the third-stream movement, successfully overlapping styles to create a fusion of classical music with improvisational jazz. A founder of the Music Program at Humber College, where he shared his gift for composition and orchestration with students, he also led several stage bands to victory at national competitions."

Sjef Hoefsmit

Vittorio Gassman

DEMS 05/3-25

A perspicacious reader of Coda magazine has written to suggest that the actor identified as "Victor Grassman," who recited Hamlet's soliloquy ("Essere non essere...") while Ellington played arpeggios in his dressing room in Munich in 1966, is probably Vittorio Gassman (1922-2000), the celebrated Italian actor who, among many other accomplishments, produced and starred in the first Italian performance of Hamlet in 1952. I bet he is right. What do you think?
Jack Chambers

This reader is right. It was Vittorio Gassman who recited Hamlet's Monologue while Duke played Such Sweet Thunder on the piano. This happened on 30Jan66 in the daytime on the empty stage of the Theatro Lirico in Milano in the presence of a group of young fans, guided by Vittorio Gassman. It was telecast by the RAI and the programme went as follows:
Intro with Duke playing in the background Such Sweet Thunder (just described) as background for Hamlet's Monologue (this was on DEMS Azure cassette CA-6)
Interview with Ella Fitzgerald
Ella doing: I'm Just a Lucky So and So.
Sjef Hoefsmit

12Apr34 — Tizol or Nanton?

DEMS 05/3-26

On this date, Timner and Eddie Lambert have Juan Tizol missing from the trombones. New DESOR has Tizol present and Joe Nanton missing. In your corrections to the personnel on the CD Hep1069 (Ivie - 1) in DEMS 00/4 p20, you agree with New DESOR and have Nanton missing. Has this been cleared up since? (I apologize if I've overlooked a later clarification).
Roger Boyes

No. I have made my comment in Bulletin 98/3 on page 6 of my comments on Timner. I based my comment on the findings of the New DESOR. On the recording report only two trombones are mentioned, but without their names. One of them must have been Lawrence Brown (he can be heard in several of the recordings). Luciano and Giovanni have listened to the recordings and decided that Juan Tizol was present and Joe Nanton was not. I think we should make up our minds after having listened to the recordings. I have not found any other evidence for either choice. Maybe the publication of your question and my answer in this Bulletin will initiate some reactions from the readers.
Sjef Hoefsmit

Herb Jeffries

DEMS 05/3-27

There was recently some discussion on the Duke-LYM list about Herb's original name. The latest message (28Sep05) was by Ben Pubols who quoted the oral history, conducted by Patricia Willard in Sep89. The conclusion was that Herb's original name was Umberto Allesandro Valentino.
His name and date of birth have been discussed several times in DEMS Bulletin: 00/1-11/3; 00/2-19p1472 (quote from same oral history); 00/3-6/2 (showing Herb's own hand-written signature: Umberto Alexandro Balentino); 03/2-29p1472; 03/3-20 (testimony by Steven Lasker who asked Herb: Balentino!).
I believe that Herb, who also gave several different dates for his birth (24Sep11; Nov11; 24Sep13; 24Sep16) couldn't resist giving us different names as well. The most important thing however is that we know who we are talking about and I quote one of his daughters who wrote to DEMS (00/1-11/3):
"Throughout his long and illustrious career, my Dad has had a few acceptable variations to his name, most especially in his earlier years. However, as long as I've known him….. and that would be 52 years….. "Herb Jeffries" has been his name.
# 1 Daughter, Ferne"
Sjef Hoefsmit

Jimmy Woode

DEMS 05/3-28

See DEMS 05/2-2

To the question about Jimmy Woode's date of birth the family suggests 23Sep27. Or you can mention the Swedish tax department date from 1926. That is official anyway.
Göran Wallén

Freddie Jenkins

DEMS 05/3-29

See DEMS 05/2-24

You mentioned in this article "Interviewed by Roger Ringo (Storyville 46, Apr-May37, pages 124-33), Jenkins explained why he left Ellington:". This should read of course: Storyville 46, Apr-May73, pages 124-33). The article is titled "Reminiscing in tempo with Freddie Jenkins", and no writer is credited. Editor Laurie Wright writes in his editorial: "We still do not know who submitted it or how it even got to be here...". The writer's name might have been revealed in a later issue of Storyville.
Carl Hällström

John or Johnny

DEMS 05/3-30

Today I bought some autographs from 1939 in Stockholm from a friend. One was by Duke, one by Lawrence Brown, one by Harry Carney, the next one by Sonny Greer and at last one was by Johnny Hodges.
The reason for this mail is that Johnny Hodges wrote "John Hodges".
I remember that band-members using different spellings for their names has been a topic some time ago. Why did he write "John" and not "Johnny"? Any idea?
Göran Wallén

According to a signed photograph in the possession of Harry Owen, Johnny signed his name in Liverpool (26Jun-1Jul33) as "Johnny".
DEMS**

More Whetseliana

DEMS 05/3-31

See "A Cotton Club Miscellany," pages 21-22, also DEMS 02/2 p5 & 04/2-55 paragraph four.

From the 1933 Duke Ellington press book produced by Mills Artists: "Arthur Whetsel, trumpet. Punta Gorda, Florida. Educated at public schools in California and Washington, D.C., and Howard University, Washington D.C. Studied music under his father and under Max Schosberg. One of Duke Ellington's original band, and formerly with Elmer Snowden, Claude Hopkins, the Al Jolson group in 'Big Boy,' the New York Clef Club and Bobby Lee."

Three items are provided by Lawrence Gushee, whose 2005 book "Pioneers of Jazz: The Story of the Creole Band" (which in 1914-18 introduced New Orleans jazz to much of America) sets a new standard of excellence in jazz scholarship and is a great read besides (highly recommended):
The Pullman Porter's Review (vol. 3, no. 5), Oct15p43, contains an account datelined Los Angeles, Aug 29 1915, of a party given by Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Landry for the 18th birthday of their sister, Miss Alferetta De-Roussell. The orchestra is listed as comprising Alla M. Lawrence, Amanda Burton, Arthur P. Whetsel, Prospare [sic] W. Landry. In the guest list is an M. Whetsel.
According to the California Eagle (24Jun16, p1): "L.G. Eggleston and his Juvenile Orchestra Demonstrate Preparedness[.] Last Tuesday Mr. Eggleston, director of the Juvenile orchestra and a company of young boys, who have been under his training for the past few months, appeared at Washington and Central hall in their initial concert and highly pleased a large and attentive audience. Those who compose the company and are so fortunate as to have the excellent training that Mr. Egglleston is capable of giving" include "A. Whetsel" and 17 others who are named in the article. "Since this was the initial concert even greater results may be expected."
Gushee also reports that the 1920 census lists Whetsel as a 15 year-old mulatto, born in Florida of a Maryland-born father and a Florida-born mother. No occupation is listed. (Whetsel was enumerated as one of three boarders living with the Boyd Family in a house on U Street. Carroll Boyd, the son, is mentioned on page 69 of Tucker's "Duke Ellington: The Early Years"; in 1926, Boyd played piano behind Alberta Jones on a Gennett record date.)

According to violinist Ellsworth Reynolds (Jazz Monthly, Feb67p6)."We were able to open at the Cotton Club on December 7th [recte 4Dec27] but two months later, feeling the need of another trumpeter and not being able to enlarge the payroll, Duke replaced me with his original 1st solo trumpeter Arthur Sheef Whetsol [sic]." In an unpublished letter to Frank Driggs [n.d.], Reynolds wrote: "After two months [at the Cotton Club], Arthur 'Sheef' Wetsel [sic]--Duke's original 1st sol [sic] trumpet of the (6 Washingtonians)--replaced me + Duke decided to conduct." To Peter Carr, Reynolds wrote: "In early Jan '28 I left the band and before I left Barney Bigard tenor entered. I think he took Rudy Jackson's place. Rudy was my roommate while travelling." In a taped interview with Carter Harman (n.d.), Ellington recalled: "When I cut out the fiddle, that's when I got the other trumpet." According to a profile of Whetsel by Chester Nerges (1Aug31 Chicago Defender city edition; reprinted in "A Cotton Club Miscellany"), Whetsel rejoined in January 1928. (A probably unanswerable question occurs: If Whetsel was a regular member of the band from January or February 1928, why then is he absent from the ca. 8Mar28 Pathé/Cameo session? Apart from the rejected Victor trial date of 26Jul23 by "Snowden's Nov. Orch.," Whetsel's first record date with the band was held for Brunswick on 21Mar28. Reynolds never recorded with the band.)

Writing in the Melody Maker (12Aug33p11), Dick De Pauw noted: "Artie Whetsel, who has so often charmed our ears by his solo in Mood Indigo, is a keen amateur yachtsman. He is a very level-headed person, who takes his job very seriously. His delightful personality has made him a host of friends wherever he visits. He started to learn trumpet in the old-fashioned way, and it was later in life that he took up the non-pressure method of blowing. Consequently, he explained, with a twinkle of a smile, 'I sometimes get guessing how to hit a top note.' But all those who have heard him strike his first note in Black and Tan Fantasy will agree with me that he hides his guesswork very well."

I had hoped to contact "Babe," to whom Whetsel was briefly married in the 1920s, but her condition, according to Ray Butler, suffered a decline in 2002 to the point where he didn't think an interview was possible.

Per the Pittsburgh Courier, 11May40p21: ARTHUR WHETSOL [sic] BURIED.

NEW YORK, May 9--Arthur Whetsol [sic], former Duke Ellington trumpet player, was buried here Saturday at Woodlawn Cemetary. He was ill for more than two years, which caused his retirement from the profession he loved. Whetsol [sic] died Wednesday, May 1st, the victim of a brain tumor.

Duke Ellington Enigma Solved

DEMS 05/3-33

This discussion started when I offered to make audio copies for Maurice Peress of recordings he was looking for. He answered: what I need are recordings of Non-Violent Integration.
I answered: I have only one single recording of Non-Violent Integration. That's the one released on Reprise and recorded on 14Feb63. This composition was first performed as Grand Slam Jam. This alternate title has been discussed on the Duke-LYM list. I give you the relevant messages:

The score for Grand Slam Jam (copyright 1975, Schirmer) indicates that Duke performed it with Shorty Baker, Tyree Glenn (on vibes), and Jimmy Hamilton, all with jazz rhythm section (doesn't mention the name of the bassist and drummer) and symphony orchestra. It doesn't say whether the Duke Ellington Orchestra was involved, although the score indicates the inclusion of a "dance band" with Duke's standard late '50's instrumentation. Is this recorded?
Chuck Dotas (dotascj@jmu.edu)

Non-Violent Integration was first titled Grand Slam Jam. Non-Violent Integration has been recorded only once on 14Feb63 by the Duke Ellington and Hamburg Symphony Orchestras, and released on the album "The Symphonic Ellington." In this Shorty Baker and Tyree Glenn did not participate in this session. The copyright date for Non-Violent Integration is 1964 (Music Is My Mistress page 516). Non-Violent Integration was written for the band and the Philadelphia Orchestra as far back as 1949. (See Eddie Lambert page 246). Shorty Baker and Tyree Glenn were in the band together from 9Jul46 untilMar50.
Sjef Hoefsmit

I heard Grand Slam Jam a couple of weeks ago at the Ottawa Jazz Festival. The piece was orchestrated by Maurice Peress and David Amram conducted a symphony orchestra with a jazz quintet. They were on the same stage but light years apart. Maybe it's better than it sounds, but it seemed to be all technique without musicality (reminded me of that expression "aircraft carrier swing"). Oscar Peterson has written better stuff in his off days (-:
Keith Richardson

I had previously looked at the Symphonic Ellington LP for Grand Slam Jam and couldn't find it; now it makes sense. Or does it? If it was written as Grand Slam Jam in 1949 and recorded in 1963 as Non-Violent Integration why is the score copyrighted as Grand Slam Jam in 1973? Surely the score would be based on the 1963 recording and hence logically be titled Non-Violent Integration? The performance I heard recently was titled Grand Slam Jam. If it is the same piece why hasn't the title Non-Violent Integration stuck? Was Grand Slam Jam ever copyrighted?
Keith Richardson

I just listened to Non-Violent Integration and to my non-musician ears it sounds like an entirely different piece to the performance of Grand Slam Jam I heard. Some of the musicologists on the list should have access to Maurice Peress' score for Grand Slam Jam and can express a better opinion whether it is indeed Non-Violent Integration.
Keith Richardson

Message 10Mar2000: We performed Grand Slam Jam last fall here at James Madison University. It's not a substantial piece by any means (at the request of the orchestra director, I scored two other pieces, Come Sunday and Caravan, that segued out of Grand Slam Jam in order to make this feel like the centrepiece of the concert). It could be programmed as a stand-alone piece if the open solo section is extended substantially (the program notes included with the score indicate precisely what Ellington did on the premiere to open up this section); the written orchestra/big band parts are really just two choruses of the 32 bar head and a very short coda (4 bars) to the requisite big last chord. One run-through would be plenty for a group the calibre of the Minnesota Orchestra. Grand Slam Jam is definitely pops-concert fare; personally I found it much less interesting than other available Ellington pieces for orchestra like "3 Black Kings" or "Night Creature". Feel free to contact me off-list if you'd like further info.
Chuck Dotas, Director, James Madison University Jazz Ensemble

Grand Slam Jam is another title for Non-Violent Integration. From the liner notes by Stanley Dance to the Reprise LP "The Symphonic Ellington" I quote: "In 1949, thrilled at the prospect of performing with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Robin Hood Dell, Duke Ellington wrote what he called a 'little thing,' which he hoped might interest the great musicians of that magnificent orchestra. They obviously found it interesting, because they played it with a warm enthusiasm which delighted him. His first experience with that particular type of 'tonal hybrid,' gave inspiration for the present-day title: Non Violent Integration."
Sjef Hoefsmit

I posted this earlier but it didn't get through. It might interest some. Jim received it though and replied that G. Schirmer had no documentation on this title or the arrangement. Jim, could you mail or fax to me a few pages of the conductor score? Maybe I could provide a bit more info to Schirmer. Thanks Sjef for getting us on the right track.
Annie Kuebler

Hi Sjef & Jim,
While not personally familiar with a recording of Grand Slam Jam, I am familiar with the original manuscripts. Did you purchase this score from Schirmer, Jim? Or have other list members? The reason I ask is that Grand Slam Jam and Non-Violent Integration are very different pieces on paper although they are both orchestrated for a symphony orchestra with jazz band. Briefly and amateurishly stated, Non-Violent Integration is notier and flowing while Grand Slam Jam is to be played at a medium fast tempo and is more punctuated and staccato. Luther Henderson orchestrated Grand Slam Jam; copyist Joe Benjamin's stamp dates this at 1949. Calvin Jackson orchestrated Non-Violent Integration on an undetermined date. I'm guessing Schirmer is selling Henderson's orchestration. Henderson orchestrated many Ellington comps from this time period including Harlem and New World a-Comin'. Henderson also contributed a few titles — some uncredited — to the band book. For those who don't know, Henderson also collaborated with Billy Strayhorn on "Rose-Colored Glasses" and frequently worked with Mercer. (They grew up in the same neighborhood.) Simply put, he was an integral part of the Ellington Organization for many years. I place Jackson's involvement with the Ellington Orchestra later — in the 1960s. Jackson wrote up the copyright sheet for Non-Violent Integration which was not copyrighted until 1964. He contributed many arrangements to the Orchestra at that time and his comps were published by Tempo Music.
Annie Kuebler

Thank you for your information about Grand Slam Jam being different from Non-Violent Integration. I do not have a recording of Grand Slam Jam (it seems that none exists) and so couldn't compare them. Now I have read again Stanley Dance's liner notes, I must admit that he didn't say in so many words that both compositions were the same.
Sjef Hoefsmit

Our orchestra director at James Madison University rented the score and parts to Grand Slam Jam from Schirmer last September, and I conducted it. There was no mention of Non-Violent Integration anywhere in the program notes; I seem to remember that this was credited to Luther Henderson (Calvin Jackson's name definitely did not appear on the score or in the notes). It is very accurate to describe the parts for Grand Slam Jam as punctuated and staccato rather than flowing or notey.
Chuck Dotas, Director, James Madison University Jazz Ensemble

Looking for something else in Stuart Nicholson's book "A Portrait of Duke Ellington - Reminiscing In Tempo" I found on page 277 a highly interesting statement: Duke mentions the Robin Hood Dell concert when he did Non Violent Integration. If this is the concert of 25Jul49, which is suggested by the note by Stuart on the next page, this could be a confirmation that Grand Slam Jam is indeed the same as Non-Violent Integration. We have to keep in mind that even Duke was wrong occasionally. His statement dates from Feb67. The concert was mentioned in Down Beat of 29Jul49 (see Klaus Stratemann, "Duke Ellington Day by Day and Film by Film", page 304). Is it possible to check that review and see if anything about Grand Slam Jam was mentioned?
Sjef Hoefsmit

Thanks for the additional info Sjef. I could ask a friend of mine at the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University to check that review for me. When I get back to work tomorrow, I'll check our newspaper clippings also. Plus I need to compare the scores closely. I only had time to glance at it before; they could share a melody but be orchestrated in such different ways that the similarities don't jump out at me.
Annie Kuebler

What an interesting chase this has been. Thanks to those members who provided information to set me off in the right direction. On the manuscripts, I can now see the connection between Grand Slam Jam and Non-Violent Integration. At the least they share the repeating riff notated on the copyright sheet as D# (1/4 note), EGA (triplet), B flat, G and played in various permutations. But the opening melody line which Ellington states on piano in Non-Violent Integration is not apparent in Grand Slam Jam. Before Grand Slam Jam was performed at Robin Hood Dell, it was known as Boogie Bop Blue aka Basso Mo Thundo. I have a recording of this from 1947 with just the band and like Grand Slam Jam it shares the same riff. However, the original Ellington score of Boogie Bop Blue was composed as an orchestral piece with woodwinds, strings, &c. and, in fact, was also orchestrated for symphony by him — an uncommon occurrence. In the original Boogie Bop Blue manuscripts, the melody line prominent in Non-Violent Integration is written for the woodwinds. The parts were extracted on National Broadcasting Corporation paper. A trombone part for Francis Williams narrows the date of the original comp. I don't know how to make the explanation any clearer in text. [As far as we know, Francis Williams played the trumpet].
Two other titbits from offline. Calvin Jackson was involved with Ellington in the late 1940s and claimed to have worked on an orchestration for Boogie Bop Blue to be performed at Robin Hood Dell. Could be, his score doesn't have instrumentalists' names noted so I can't date it. And the original title Boogie Bop Blue was cut out and Non-Violent Integration taped over it. Without a recording, we will most likely never know whether Luther Henderson's or Jackson's orchestration was used in Philly. I spoke to Luther and he remembers Grand Slam Jam but not the title Boogie Bop Blue. He didn't attend the concert and is going to look over the manuscript for me. I'll let you know if he can provide additional insight. My interest level is directed at getting proper documentation to G. Schirmer for future requests. Hopefully, G. Schirmer or someone will send me a few pages of the score currently offered as Grand Slam Jam, so I can tell them whose arrangement they have.
Another interesting note from the program for the July 25, 1949 concert at Robin Hood Dell. The movements for "Symphomaniac" were titled Part I, Symphonic Or Bust-1925 and Part II, A Sound Thumping-1949. In my own defence, I consider myself easy-going but when it comes to identification of manuscripts I tend to be what some may call "anal-retentive." So Sjef, maybe this posting will also help you understand that definition. Perhaps, we are the only ones who give a hoot about nailing this down. But gee it's fun!
Annie Kuebler

Stanley Dance's liner notes for The Symphonic Ellington (Discovery CD 71003) say that "in 1949, thrilled at the prospect of performing with Philadelphia Orchestra in Robin Hood Dell, Duke Ellington wrote what he called 'a little thing' which he hoped might interest the great musicians of that magnificent orchestra". A letter to me from Jo Ann E. Barry, archivist of Philadephia Orchestra, enclosed with a copy of the concert program, apparently identifies the original title of that 'little thing' as Grand Slam Jam. Dance calls it Duke's 'first experience' with the 'tonal hybrid' of symphony and Ellington orchestras. Grand Slam Jam was performed by the Ellington band with the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra under Russ Case. Ms Barry carefully notes that although the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra was made up principally of Philadelphia Orchestra members, it was not technically Philadelphia Orchestra and so it would be 'incorrect then to state that Ellington appeared with Philadelphia Orchestra at the Dell in 1949'. However, as is well known by classical record collectors, Philadelphia Orchestra was under contract to Columbia Masterworks but did make records for RCA Victor. And, for what it's worth, Russ Case was an RCA Victor recording artist. We often don't see the historical significance of events until a lot of time passes. So it was that night in July 1949. Played just ahead of Grand Slam Jam after intermission was New World a-Comin' with Duke at the piano with the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra conducted by Case. This was, as far as 1 have been able to discover, the first performance by a symphony orchestra of any Ellington extended work; it was originally written for the band in 1945.
Luther Henderson told me he did the orchestrations for both Grand Slam Jam and New World a-Comin'. To borrow baseball language, Henderson — Luther, not Ricky — hit two home runs in the same innings in Ellington 'firsts' on the night of 25 July 1949.
Stanley Slome

Back to my [Sjef] message to you [Maurice]:
I can make you a copy of the recording of Boogie Bop Blue as it was made on 6oct47 for Columbia. Another title for Boogie Bop Blue is Basso Profundo. It was recorded under that title at Carnegie Hall on 26 and 27Dec47.
That's all I know about Non-Violent Integration.
Sjef Hoefsmit

Thank you for the Non-Violent Integration/Grand Slam Jam material. I think I can piece together the sequence of events from the various reports you provided me.
Duke had a jamming tune in the book, Boogie Bop Blue, [copyrighted in 1947] really a riff or head followed by as many choruses played by members of the band as "felt good" for the moment, what we call "opening up" the arrangement to allow for solos. He gets an invite to appear at a Robin Hood Dell concert [Jul49], the summer home of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. So Luther Henderson prepares a symphonic version of Duke's recent (1943) piano concerto, New World a-Comin', for the occasion… something I never knew when Mercer asked me to transcribe the 1943 Carnegie Hall original for the Ellington Band and which I later orchestrated for symphony! [Released on Musical Heritage Society CD #168303 and on MusicMasters MMD 60176L as "Four Symphonic Works by Duke Ellington" by the American Composers Orchestra under Maurice Peress, recorded 27Jun88.] But Ellington wanted to do more than a solo turn; he wanted to "integrate" his band with the symphony orchestra. So he recycles one of his tunes... a common practice of every great composer since Bach ... he changes the name of Boogie Bop Blue accordingly, to Non-Violent Integration (a sly metaphor, the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra being entirely white at the time!) and he and Calvin Jackson scored up the head, the riff, for the woodwinds (and strings) so that members of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra could swing along between the solos; meanwhileunderpinned by the Ellington rhythm section. This, or an equivalent, was recorded by the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and the Ellington band on 14Feb63.
At some later date ... possible in 1975 when Mercer "registered" the copyright ... Luther re-scored (recycled yet again) the work as Grand Slam Jam with "choruses" for the Symphony Orchestra as well as the jazz soloists (Note: Joe Benjamin's Union Stamp, like mine, was dated from when he became an official Union copyist! not when he did the copying). This last version was what Mercer gave me to bring to G. Schirmer. I simply edited it to make it useable by any combination of jazz soloists. Yes Non-Violent Integration or Grand Slam Jam is a "little thing" but in the hands of an improvising genius like the Duke, who can dice and chop on the spot, featuring the symphony winds or brass or what have you in "solo choruses" one-by-one or together in various combinations, it can be made into just what it says, a Grand Slam Jam and with a big chord at the end!
Maurice Peress

Simultaneous Listening

DEMS 05/3-34

You mention in DEMS 01/1-14/4 last paragraph on page 15 that you compare two tracks by running them simultaneously through a pair of headphones. While I assume I know how to alter the headphones, could you explain to me how you synchronise two tape decks?
Lance Travis

Indeed. The connection between your two players and your pair of headphones is straightforward. What you need to make for yourself is a lead that has two inlets (male) and one outlet (female). Your inlets go in the phone connections on both players. Your outlet should be used to plug in your stereo head-phones. Since single wire leads are hard to find, you can join up the right and left channels of a double wired lead. The result must be two wires, one from each inlet. These two wires have to be combined in one single outlet as if they were two different stereo channels. If you plug in your head-phones to that outlet you have one player feeding your left ear and one player feeding your right ear. Simple. I learned this from my dear friend, the late Klaus Stratemann.
I have an open reel player and a cassette player, both of which give me the option of slightly changing the speed. It can happen that I have to make a copy (of a CD) first in order to be able to run it through my cassette player. It can also happen that I have to make a copy in between in which one player runs at maximum (or minimum) speed and the other records at the opposite speed in order to overcome a too significant speed difference between the two sources.
If you listen in sync you can always tell with certainty when two recordings are different (if they are) and you can almost always tell with certainty when they are identical. If two recordings seem to be identical, it still may happen that the speed of one source has to be controlled in order to keep track with the other source. By doing so, the pitch of one may slightly differ from the pitch of the other. That's enough to say that they are different.
Hodges, Hamilton and Ellington almost always play differently every time. If you concentrate on their solos you will find it easy to reach a conclusion.
Sjef Hoefsmit

Palau de la Música de Barcelona, 14Nov71

DEMS 05/3-35

See DEMS 05/2-14

J'aimerais faire quelques remarques sur l'émission par TVE des concerts au Palau de la Musica Catalana du 14 novembre de 1971. Et oui j'ai bien dit concerts, car ce sont deux concerts donnés ce jour-là par Duke et son Orchestre. Le premier a eu lieu à 18h30 et le deuxième à 22h30. Jusqu'à ce moment je croyais que la musique avait sorti d'un des deux concerts, mais après la vision du vidéo (en quatre parties) je peux faire la composition partielle de chacun, ce qui casse l'opinion que ce concert est complet. Je suis sûr de ce que je vous indique à continuation car j'étais présent au concert de 18h30 et Duke n'a pas changé de veste, alors c'est facile de comprendre que des quatre parties offertes, deux sont du concert de 18h30 et les deux autres de celui de 22h30. Tout cela en voyant les vidéos, pendant le premier concert Duke a une veste blanche avec des rayures et pendant le deuxième il est habillé d'une veste obscure. Voici ce qu'on a émis des deux concerts:

Translation: I would like to make some remarks about the telecast through TVE (Spanish Television) of the concerts of 14Nov71 at Palau de la Música Catelana. And yes, I said concerts, because Duke and his Orchestra gave two concerts that day. The first concert started at 18:30 and the second at 22:30. Until now I believed that the music came from one of the two concerts, but after watching the video (which is divided into four parts) I can reconstruct in part each concert, which gives the lie to the view that everything came from one complete concert.
I am quite sure about what I describe to you because I was present at the 18:30 concert and Duke did not change his jacket during it. This makes it easy to understand that of the four parts of the video, two are from the first and the other two are from the second concert. Watching the videos makes it clear that Duke had a white striped jacket in the first concert and a dark jacket in the second.
Here is what was telecast from the two concerts:

18:30 Concert (46 min.):
Perdido
Satin Doll (with Raymond Fol at the piano)
Things Ain't What They Used To Be
In Triplicate
La Plus Belle Africaine
Come Off the Veldt
Medley.

22:30 Concert (50 min.):
C-Jam Blues
Goof
Kinda Dukish & Rockin' in Rhythm
Happy Reunion
Cotton Tail
Take the "A" Train
Fife
Chinoiserie
All Too Soon
Harlem%

Jordi Navas Ferrer

Thank you, Jordi Navas Ferrer for your highly interesting observations.
I have no problem in accepting that Duke played two concerts that day. And it is also obvious that the four parts of the telecast were not shown in the correct sequence. I am also willing to believe that two parts (with Duke in his casual striped jacket) belong together to the first concert, and that the two other segments with Duke in tuxedo both belong to the second concert; but that is as far as I can go. If you are right about the fact that Duke did not change his jacket during the first concert, I am inclined to believe that the whole first concert was performed in his tuxedo and the second concert completely in his casual jacket. I am convinced that Duke started the evening (or the concert) in tuxedo and changed his jacket during the intermission or between the two concerts. That makes me conclude that even if the recordings were made during two different concerts, the sequence is still correct as I pointed it out in DEMS 05/2-14. In other words, if you witnessed the first concert at 18:30 and Duke had not changed his jacket, you must have seen him during the whole of that concert in tuxedo. Am I right?
Sjef Hoefsmit

J'aimerais vous dire que le concert de 18h30 n'a pas eu d'intermission, il a été fait d'un seul trait. Je ne peux pas dire le même pour celui de 22h30, car je n'y étais pas. Mais je vous assure que dans celui de 18h30 il n'a pas changé de veste, alors par déduction, le concert avec la veste foncée est le concert de 22h30.
J'aimerais aussi vous dire que Cootie Williams est venu avec l'Orchestre mais il a dû rester a l'hôtel (Ritz Hôtel) victime d'une affection intestinale. Ce qui nous a déçu en grande manière, car Cootie c'est beaucoup Cootie! Mais le solo de Take the A Train de Money Johnson est d'une belle qualité.

Translation: I would like to tell you that the 18:30 concert did not have an intermission, it was played in one set. I cannot say the same thing about the 22:30 concert, because I wasn't there. But I assure you that in the one of 18:30 there was no change of jacket, which leads to the conclusion that the one with the tuxedo was the 22:30 concert.
I would also like to point out that Cootie Williams came with the band, but that he had to stay in the hotel (Ritz Hotel) because of stomach problems. That was for us quite a disappointment, because there is only one Cootie! But the solo in Take the "A" Train by Money Johnson was really nice.
Jordi Navas Ferrer**

Thanks again Jordi for your very specific information. I suggest that we should make a note under the listing of the titles of 14Nov71 (correction-sheet 1072) indicating that the recordings 7180xa - 7180d (C-Jam Blues - Harlem) were made during the 22:30 concert and that the recordings 7180e - 7180k (Perdido - Medley) were made at the 18:30 concert.
Sjef Hoefsmit**

Éditions Nocturne, Duke Ellington joue Billy Strayhorn

DEMS 05/3-36

see DEMS 05/2-31

A propos des 2 CDs "Ellington plays Strayhorn" I made for Nocturne with drawings by Jean-Claude Götting:
I agree with you that for CD1 track 9 and CD2 track 10 it could be Duke on piano, in spite of Andrew Homzy's liner-notes for Storyville 8346 [see DEMS 03/3-21/2]. But in Orson (CD2 track16) I hear Strayhorn (typical ascending runs at 0.49 and at 2.42. And in All Day Long there is no piano at all (CD2 track 19).
Claude Carrière

Dusk on the Desert

DEMS 05/3-37

See DEMS 05/2-25

I no longer have a copy of Duke's score for Dusk in the Desert, but I have no recollection of Jamming and Jiving. I do seem to recall the title on the first page saying Dusk in the Desert. Perhaps Michael Kilpatrick [in DEMS 04/3-13, in two contributions] was referring to a slightly earlier small group arrangement.
David Berger

I would like to add to the discussion about the brass soloist on the first chorus of Dusk on The Desert (20Sept37 [M-651-2]) presented in DEMS Bulletin 05/2-25.
I support the conclusions of Steven Lasker and Kurt Dietrich that the instrument is a trumpet, not a trombone.
The perfect pitch control, the full control of the instrument in all registers, the highly controlled attack coming in "dead center" on the pitch for each note, the sense of weighty power on open horn, and the pattern of slight vibrato that comes in on held notes are all characteristics of Cootie Williams on open trumpet and none of the other Ellington trumpet players in the 1930s. Compare the attack, smooth gliding note production, perfect pitch control in all registers and pattern of vibrato for Cootie Williams' performance of Black Beauty of 22Jun39 (WM-1045-A). This is the only other brass solo I know of in all of Ellington's music that resembles the feel and sound of the soloist on Dusk On The Desert and, since Williams was the only brass instrumentalist on the 22Jun39 session it is certain he played the Black Beauty solo. For comparative purposes closer in time to the recording of Dusk on the Desert, many aspects of Williams' note production are also similar, although the musical approach and use of mutes are appropriately very different, on Watchin' and I Can't Give You Anything but Love both recorded 26oct37, only five weeks after Dusk on the Desert. We should not forget how versatile a trumpet player Cootie Williams was. As far as the other possibilities are concerned: Rex Stewart's attack is always entirely different than the soloist on Dusk on the Desert. This is clear from all his solos on his record session of 7Jul37 (for comparison close to the date of Dusk on the Desert). Also, Rex Stewart seldom kept his pitch "dead center" from start to finish of each and every note as the soloist does on Dusk on the Desert. Arthur Whetsel had a beautiful tone, but he had a delicate sweetness, not the thicker rich sound heard on Dusk on the Desert. Freddie Jenkins was only intermittently used on studio recordings during his 1937-38 return to the Ellington band. It would have been odd for him to be featured on an exotic speciality such as Dusk on the Desert, especially since Ellington had not featured him on exotica during the six years he was a regular band member between late 1928 and late 1934. Jenkins was generally featured on "flashy" or "peppy" pieces (such as Happy as the Day Is Long as mentioned by Luciano Massagli). Jenkins' tone was bright and clean and not as rich and full-bodied as the soloist on Dusk on the Desert.

Sjef, you suggested in one of your comments in the discussion that Williams should be considered as well as the other trumpet players of the 1930s. I think Williams was the soloist in question. I hope these observations are helpful.
Richard Bambach

It is definitely a trumpet or a cornet . I would say Rex (or Cootie. My friend Jean Portier tells me to compare it with Cootie's recording of Black Beauty.)
Claude Carrière

Would you please listen to Black Beauty from 22jun39 and then compare Cootie's playing with Dusk on the Desert ?
Please let me know.
Klaus Götting

I would never say that Black Beauty could have been played by a trombone, but for Dusk on the Desert I am not so sure that it isn't one.
Sjef Hoefsmit

I am still convinced it is Lawrence Brown taking that solo! Listen to one of his greatest admirers: Tommy Dorsey and his muted trombone in the upper register on Song Of India.
A classic!
Arne Neegaard**

I happen to agree with you. Listen to Lawrence's album "Slide Trombone" LP CLEF Records MG C-602, later reissued (with two bonus tracks) on CD Verve 314 599 930 (DEMS 00/1-20/1).
Have you been able to do have some results with your sound-spectogram?
Sjef Hoefsmit**

"The Magic of Ella Fitzgerald"

DEMS 05/3-38

I have just received a DVD of the "Ella Fitzgerald Show" [recorded April 8-11, 1968]. My copy has Lush Life [6818f] before Oh! Lady Be Good [6818e].
DESOR has them as Oh! Lady Be Good, then Lush Life. The remainder of the tunes are as on page 496.
Is my copy a composite collection do you think?
Lance Travis

No. Your copy is correct. I have the same sequence as you have on my video and audio tapes. In order to group together the selections which had the same personnel is probably the reason that the New DESOR has changed the correct sequence. Have you noticed that Duke did not actually play the piano in Lush Life ?
Sjef Hoefsmit

DE plays indeed in Lush Life, since, in the video, we can see him seated at the piano as accompanist of Ella Fitzgerald.
Luciano Massagli**

This subject has been discussed in DEMS 98/2-23/1; 00/3-6/1; 00/4-14/3 and 01/1-14/3. My contribution in 00/3-6/1 contains all my arguments for saying that Duke indeed (as he claimed many times) never played Lush Life.

"I do not have the answer to the question, why Ellington did playback his performance of Lush Life other than that he did not play it in the first place. I have another question though. We can agree I hope that almost the whole show was played back. It is obvious in Things Ain't What They Used To Be and it is proven by the presence of a tape in the Danish collection. The tape-box is marked "Ella Fitzgerald Show", "Playback for Ella Fitzgerald?" and on the tape is the music without vocal of the songs Sweet Georgia Brown, Lover Man and Mack The Knife.
There are two selections in the show where I have doubts. These are Don't Get Around Much Anymore and Oh! Lady Be Good, sandwiching Lush Life, which is the subject of this discussion. I believe that Duke played these 2 selections during the shooting of the film. This part of the programme is the only part where there are mikes in front of the bassist and the drummer. (There is constantly a mike on the white piano.) This is my question: if Duke played back all three numbers, why did he do such a poor job with Lush Life while showing himself to be an expert in miming his own playing on Don't Get Around Much Anymore and Oh! Lady Be Good? If, as I believe, he played both numbers (one and three) during the shooting, why would he have played back his rendition of Lush Life? I believe that Jimmy Jones played Lush Life. If it was recorded during filming, Jimmy could have used the black piano we saw earlier in the show. [Not once can one see Duke's hands touching the keys of his piano during Lush Life in contrast to the filming of his piano playing during the first selection: Don't Get Around Much Anymore.]
I am very reluctant to use arguments based on taste instead on facts. I also like the piano part of Lush Life very much, but Jimmy Jones was a heck of a piano-player himself. It does not sound like Duke to me.
After I saw the picture again, I wondered why the New DESOR accepted only those selections where Duke is visible on screen. The whole show is played by the Ellington orchestra, sometimes with and sometimes without a group of 6 violins, a harpist and a second percussionist.
I also hear sometimes an invisible guitar.
Sjef Hoefsmit"

In DEMS 00/4-14/3:
"The Lush Life we hear in the Ella Fitzgerald show (8-11Apr68) is not played by Duke Ellington. I believe it is Jimmy Jones.
Claude Carrière"

Another question about Ella Fitzgerald

DEMS 05/3-39

I also got a DVD of 6616 (8Feb66 pre-recording at the Circus in Stockholm for later telecast). Why do you think that our Italian friends not mentioned that between 6616e and 6616f, and between 6616l and 6616 m, Ella sang four respectively five songs with the Ellington orchestra and her trio. They have mentioned often that this happened in the second part of a concert.
Lance Travis

Circus in Stockholm (8 Feb 66): we have not at our disposal this complete session but only the Ellington portion and some titles of Ella. For this reason we were not able to put in the note the actual sequence of the pieces.
Luciano Massagli**

Another one from the "HUH?!" department:

DEMS 05/3-40

At first glance, this looks like any copy of Brunswick (US) 6527...Duke's Drop Me Off in Harlem [17Feb33].
However, when turned over you see the same label. "Fine," you say, "Label errors aren't unknown!" But, when you look closer, you note that the same matrix number and take (B13081A) are stamped in the run-out of both sides as well! I assume (haven't checked yet) that both sides play the same song. The only difference in the two sides is a tiny number stamped in the 3:00 position...which is "7" on one side and "8" on the other (which makes sense if this is a stamper number!)
So...why would Brunswick press records, apparently intentionally, with the same song on both sides...in 1933?! Radio wasn't playing much in the way of records, and jukeboxes had barely begun to appear...so the two most likely reasons seem not to exist! Anybody have any thoughts?
Steven Barr

Arab Dance

DEMS 05/3-41

I am relatively new to DEMS although it has been long enough that I received a few paper editions before the switch to electronics. However I don't have the history of what has been discussed over the years.
In any case, I was listening to some of my favorite arrangements that Gil Evans did for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra in the 1940s. As you may know they were a major step along the way to the Birth of the Coolsessions led by Miles Davis. One I had always skipped was the Arab Dance since I have never been fond of using classical music in jazz arrangements. Having ignored it for decades I listened to it recently and was startled to hear about 25 seconds of Duke's Ko-Ko transcribed into it — complete with orchestral arrangement of one of Blanton's riffs. I am not sure when the arrangement itself was written, but Thornhill was playing it in 1947,8. It would be interesting to know how Evans even thought to insert it. In the 1947 version in particular it certainly adds intensity before it drops back to a sort of pop Tchaikovsky. Is this something that has ever been discussed in DEMS?
And isn't it interesting that two records often mentioned as candidates for the best all time jazz record have the same name (Charlie Parker's KoKo, without the hyphen, is the other one), but are otherwise dissimilar.
Don Francis

The Thornhill recording has never been discussed in DEMS. I would like to publish your remark if you can explain the date 1947,8. Does that mean 1947/1948? I checked it out and I found the recording date for Arab Dance on 17Jul46 (Co 36526). Is that correct? If so I would prefer to mention that date.
Sjef Hoefsmit

I have two versions of the Arab Dance. One is from a transcription dated Apr48. I don't know the date of the other, but it has the same soloists I believe (Folus and Polo). It is a bit more robust and could be either 1946 or 1947 I suppose. The band still played it in 1949 but the personnel had changed by then. Both versions are a bit over 4:20 which probably rules out the Columbia (which I don't know) due to length. The Ko-Ko insertion is at approximately 3:35 in both and lasts a little over 20 seconds. The band seems to enjoy it in what I think is the earlier one. In the Apr48 version Thornhill himself inserts a lot of arpeggios and embroidery against the Ko-Ko transcription which indicates to me that he probably did not recognize where it came from (who would knowingly embroider Duke?).
Don Francis

I checked my discography (Jepsen) and found that neither Mickey Folus nor Danny Polo were involved in the Columbia recording. As releases of this recording of 17Jul46 Columbia 55041 and Harmony HL7088 are mentioned.
Sjef Hoefsmit

By coincidence I bought this summer a CBS CD, 466960 2, which collects 16 Claude Thornhill recordings including a 4:21 Arab Dance. The inlay booklet includes a most interesting background essay on Thornhill by Will Friedwald, but unfortunately it has no recording dates or personnel details (I’m glad I didn’t pay much money for the CD). However, the essay does say that Thornhill reorganized in April 1946, and as Friedwald also calls Arab Dance Evans' 'first post-war masterpiece', it seems reasonable to infer a 1946 recording date for this track. My CD is produced by Michael Brooks and was made in Austria. The composer credit for Arab Dance is said to be ‘Pending’. Eat your heart out, Tchaikovsky!
A rather touching Ellington quote prefaces the essay. Duke says, of Thornhill: 'I wonder if the world will ever know how much it had in this beautiful man.' Thornhill died in 1965, nine years before Ellington did, so it may be that Duke said this at that time.
It seems to me that the echoes of Ko-Ko are there from the start in the insistent drumbeat which recurs from time to time throughout the score, and which recalls Sonny’s tomtom figure. An arranger with Gil Evans' ears would have picked up this at once.
After saying that Arab Dance illustrates Evans' penchant for the exotic as well as Thornhill's penchant for jazzing the classics, Friedwald throws in a most curious (to my mind) comment on the Ellington recasting of Arab Dance (which is the work of Billy, we gather, though he’s not mentioned). [It is indeed Billy's work, see Walter van de Leur, p276.] Friedwald says that Evans' arrangement is so effective that 'even Ellington made his own Arab Dance the only throwaway in his later full-length treatment of the Nutcracker Suite.' I suppose he means that Arabesque Cookie is a casual effort because Gil Evans' arrangement of Arab Dance was so good. What a strange thing to say! Why should excellence provoke carelessness? Eddie Lambert writes, of the Ellington-Strayhorn approach to Nutcracker, that 'the scoring is among the most detailed and precise they ever wrote for the band' (DE – A Listener's Guide, p218). I agree, and can find no reason to exclude Arabesque Cookie from that assessment. Indeed, the idea of approaching it casually goes against what Billy said to Stanley Dance about pop songs, and tackling every piece with equal care: 'I put the same effort into whatever I do. I try to do the best I can.' (The World of Duke Ellington, Macmillan, 1971, p27). What do other DEMS members think?
Roger Boyes

Trianon Ballroom, Southgate, 7May42

DEMS 05/3-42

Can we be sure that New Desor 4205 from Trianon Ballroom at Southgate 7May42 survived and really exist? These last years we had questions/discoveries/infos on various Southgate recordings; never anything from 7May42.
Klaus Götting and Jean Portier

No we cannot be sure. The source for this information seems to be Benny Aasland's 1978 WaxWorks, where the session is documented under number 42-4. It seems to me that Benny's mention of the soloist is a bit speculative. It seems very likely that it was indeed Ben Webster who soloed in The Strollers, since he also did so on 15Jul42. It is possible that Benny took the information that Ivie did I Don't Want To Walk Without You, Baby from a review of the broadcast and it is not difficult to predict that it must have been Ray Nance who soloed in Just Fiddling Around. For I Don't Mind only Ivie is credited. In the previous recording of 26Feb42 Ray Nance, Harry Carney and Lawrence Brown were also credited. For John Hardy's Wife no soloists have been mentioned. I have no idea how Benny knew that Johnny Hodges, Ray Nance and Lawrence Brown soloed in Blue Again and that Ben Webster played in Body and Soul. All in all, I am not convinced that Benny was ever able to listen to the recording. I certainly have not and I do not know anybody else who has. I believe that Luciano and Giovanni decided to include this session, convinced as they were that it would pop up some day (as many sessions claimed by Benny later did).
Sjef Hoefsmit

National Urban League broadcast — 30Mar41

DEMS 05/3-43

See DEMS 02/1-2 (NEW FINDS)

Further to Steven Lasker’s posting, a colleague has now listened to the complete program at Library of Congress. Ellington also performs Take the "A" Train, broadcast from Hollywood.
Take the "A" Train is on disc Part 4 on its own and Flamingo is the second item on disc Part 5 (there is a comedy sketch between).
Anthony Barnett

Gems from "Blackbirds of 1928"

DEMS 05/3-44

I apologise in advance for not having done a thorough job of researching the subject matter of this message but feel compelled to ask the questions presented. The subject is the recording date of 20Dec28 by Warren Mills and His Blue Serenaders. The two takes of St. Louis Blues are both shown in Timner 4th Edition as issued, and both are on Masters of Jazz, Volume 5, tracks 19 and 20, among other recordings. The three takes of Gems from "Blackbirds of 1928" from that same session are listed as "unissued" in all of the sources I can find EXCEPT Benny's WaxWorks (1954) which correctly lists (without giving a take number) issuance on 12" Victor 35962 with a recording date of 1Feb29 for both St. Louis Blues and Blackbirds.Timner lists 20Dec28 for both. Klaus Stratemann uses the 20Dec28 date on page 1 of "Day by Day and Film by Film." Given the presence of the Hall Johnson Choir on both tracks, it would seem logical that both recordings were made on the same date; to assume otherwise would infer that the entire cast (choir; white orchestra, DEO) was reassembled at a later date, which does not make sense. In any event, I am in a position to acquire a nice copy of Victor 35962. What is the real story about it?
Charles Waters**

This is one of the very few errors in Benny Aasland's WaxWorks. Benny has combined under the date of 1Feb29 the recording of St. Louis Blues, made on 20Dec28 with the recording of Blackbirds made on 1Feb29. He heard the same large orchestra directed by Matty Malneck, but that has not been confirmed.
On 20Dec28 the recordings were made by the complete Ellington band (11 men) plus Matty Malneck conducting a white orchestra bringing the total number of instrumentalists on 25. Also the Hall Johnson Choir of 10 voices and Adelaide Hall were participating. From this Dec28 session three takes of St. Louis Blues were released. (The third one on the RCA 24 CD box.) Three takes of Blackbirds were not issued. The medley contained I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Doin' the New Lowdown and I Must Have That Man. The New DESOR states that the white orchestra was the Mills Hotsy Totsy Gang. We believe that the correct name of the group was Warren Mills and his Blue Serenaders. See also Klaus Stratemann page 1. It is another phoney name, invented by Irving Mills. Warren was his son and in 1928 three years old.
On 1Feb29 matters were different. The Duke Ellington Orchestra was not present. In spite of Benny Aasland's claim that he heard the band and more specifically Barney Bigard, the musicians were MattyMalneck, Tommy Dorsey, Eddie Lang and an unknown group of 14 pieces (a total of 17). Also the choir was unknown but contained 9 singers plus Adelaide Hall. St. Louis Blues was not recorded. Blackbirds contained this time I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Diga Diga Doo, I Must Have That Man, Magnolia's Wedding Day and I Can't Give You Anything but Love. This time two takes of Blackbirds were recorded, both have been issued. On the LPs Raretone 23000 and on Jazz Archives-21 respectively. Timner is wrong in assigning the five titles of the Feb29 Blackbirds to the unissued recording of Dec28.
Sjef Hoefsmit**

In doing further research, I reviewed the entry for 1Feb29 in my copy of Tommy Dorsey on the Side by Robert L. Stockdale, published as Studies in Jazz No. 19 by the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University, surely the definitive discography of Tommy Dorsey. The entry for that date has a headnote which confirms your explanation above and the entry in Timner for 20Dec28. The headnote is as follows: "A December 20, 1928 medley of the show's [Blackbirds of 1928] hits directed by Matty Malneck with Duke Ellington's band was rejected after three takes. It was remade without Ellington on February 1st with a major TD solo on 'Diga Diga Doo,' mislabeled 'Dig A Dig A Do' by Victor."
The orchestration listed in Stockdale for the 1Feb29 date is: Matty Malneck (vn,dir), Mannie Klein, Leo McConville, unknown (tp), Tommy Dorsey (tb), 2 unknown (as), unknown (ts), 4 unknown (vn), unknown (p), Eddie Lang (g), 2 unknown (bb), unknown (d), Adelaide Hall and six male chorus (vcl).
So, the results as I understand them are: (1) the medley of Gems from Blackbirds of 1928 as issued on Victor 35962 and the LPs cited is not an Ellington recording; and (2) the three rejected takes of Gems from Blackbirds of 1928 in which DE participated are lost, at least for the present.
Charles Waters**

You did your homework after all. Thanks. I made good note of your additional data.
Sjef Hoefsmit**