I made an essay about Duke in high school 4 a class project and I took time in searching 4 his bandmates' quotes on how he would tease them and manipulate 'em against each other so they would get out there and bring it all, how it didn't matter to him if they neva talked to him if they could still play what he wanted 'em 2 play and how much CONTROL he possessed when it comes to leading them(and mind you, those were pretty TOUGH people to be lead by somebody).

In the midset of all this, it kinda striked me how much influence he impacted on Prince, far as band-leading concerns.

And I also remember Miles Davis commenting on Prince by saying "He could be this age's Duke Ellington if he kept on what he's doing".

So in conclusion, did Prince ever eknowledge Duke's influence on his band-leading(aside from James Brown who's another subject).

Holla!

Harlepolis said:

I know that during the Lovesexy tour, Prince and the band would do some Duke Ellington/Strayhorn songs like "Take The A Train" amongst others. He did the same during the Love 4 One Another tour. He wasn't really specuific about all of his influnces, but you can hear them in his music. Hope this helps!!

p.s. What's new with your girl Chaka ?

I can def hear some Dukish influence in Prince's "One Night Alone" piano CD. But I wonder if he ever eknowledged Duke's band-leading influence on him.

Harlepolis said:

I'm always surprised when Prince gets Specific about musical influences, even when they're obvious. Bac' In Da Day, you would rarely get a peep out of him.As he's gotten older, he's become more talkative, but I'm sure many of us would still like to hear him speak on his musical connections.

Harlepolis said:

Not yet, but he will, I hope. Duke was probably the greatest composer of the twentieth century, not to mention a massively influential band leader. They all copied him - Mingus, Miles, Bird, Trane ... Glad you picked up on that. Very perceptive.

Shapeshifter said:

I picked up on that long ago but I just didn't have anything to back my claim, it was only thought that crossed my mind till recently.

Anyway, there's a hint about Duke in "Avalanch".

Well, "If I Had A Harem (Blues In C)" IS Duke Ellington's "Things Ain't What They Used To Be".
(cept with lyrics of course... but musically it's identical)

BorisFishpaw said:

If I Had A Harem(Bluse In C)? I don't think I'm fimiliar with it.

Is it anything similar to the 2 versions in the Work Pt.2 bootleg(the studio & the acoustic version)?

Harlepolis said:

He did it on the Lovesexy tour.
/peace Manki

Harlepolis said:

On The Work, Volume 2, disk 4, the first version is a version Prince recorded in the studio in 1988. He then introduced the song on the Lovesexy tour, and it is included on the European video release of the Dortmund concert.

However, in concert Prince played the song in a slowed down style (as opposed to the rockabilly tempo of the studio recording) to showcase his guitar playing with Duke Ellington's 'things Ain't What they Used To Be' introduced as accompaniment.

The style/tempo of the live performance was aped in the recording included as the second version of the song on 'The Work, Volume 2'. This is widely regarded as a fake, wrongly included on 'The Work' set.
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There was a shout out on the second Ahdio Show.

As well as Jimi, Sly, Curtis, Mavis, Aretha and the Jackson 5

Right at the beginning

Another reference:

Musician magazine: What are your thoughts about the state of songwriting today?

The Artist: I will always respect people like Duke Ellington -- someone who has their own style and just watches music change around them.

Musician
April, 1997
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Prince is a freak, his influences go all over the place from the corniest white musicals to such obscure gesturing that it's impossible to know where he picked up some of this stuff. That said, watch sign o the times for a little bit of "A train" . Around that time Eric or Alan Leeds and Wendy and Lisa just previously were said to be teaching him about all kinds of different, new(to him) musics from the Beatles to Ellington. Prince has been a great student of history period, Ellington being one of the greats he has studied. I can think of no better eclectic, varied historian who makes great music. As far as him being the new Duke Ellington as Miles Davis said, in some ways I think it's very true but comparisons are almost always useless. I've always felt fortunate to have prince to look up to as a composer, singer, artist. If I had a question of how to do something, he had an answer for me somewhere in his music.

During the ONA tour the live version of Days Of Wild often featured a horn section reprising the main theme of Ellington's "Caravan", which complemented the song to perfection.

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Old school indeed.

Great avatar, Harlepolis!