For those who're intersted anyway,,,I know I am



Review
"KCET Profile on Ellington in a Class by Itself" By Charles Champlin, Times Arts Editor One of his several uniquenesses was that Duke Ellington was a suave, articulate and engaging public personality with an actor's charis¬ma. That alone set him apart from the great majority of big band leaders who found expression only through their instruments and their orchestras and could hardly introduce a number. Jazz fans who can identify Count Basie's piano after two or three beats would be hard put to recognize his voice. But the Duke, who knew that the music spoke for itself, also knew that a little extra couldn't hurt. He made "Love you madly" a kind of verbal trademark. And he also talked thoughtfully and well about the music and about the remarka¬ble men and women he gathered around him to make it... With all else "A Duke Called Ellington" ...is a triumph of film and tape research. There are black-and-white excerpts from the early films, both features and shorts, that the band did in Hollywood, with Ellington at his suavest, an indubitable star in formal dress and no trace of racial stereotyping. In a television interview, appar¬ently from the '50s, the unseen questioner asks Ellington about his music in relation to "his people". The Duke toys with the answer with a kind of amused irony, then says, "the people that's the better word the people rather than my people, because the people are my people." But there is a sequence from "Black, Brown and Beige," which he called "a tone parallel" to the history of blacks in America and which the band played at its first appearance at Carnegie Hall in 1943. The show's researchers found television footage from the BBC and from Danish and Swedish tele¬vision, the latter including one of the sacred pieces from late in his career, this one performed at the Gustav Vasa church in Stockholm, with a fine singer named Alice Babs doing a wordless and soaring obbligato above Ellington's piano. It is in the pro --Los Angeles Times

Product Description
A DUKE NAMED ELLINGTON, the extraordinary, classic two-hour musical biography, makes its debut on DVD in 2007. An ideal tool for jazz research as well as the study of African-American culture, it captures the culturally transcendent genius and charisma of the man and his music, rooted in the Black experience. Widely acclaimed as the best documentary ever created about one of the world s greatest musical artists, A DUKE NAMED ELLINGTON was nominated in 1988 for an Emmy Award as "Outstanding Informational Special", and garnered international awards. A DUKE NAMED ELLINGTON spans half a century, blending previously undiscovered performance footage with recollections of Ellington and his work. Highlights include great solo moments by celebrated virtuosi among the Ellington conglomerate, including saxophonists Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Russell Procope, Harry Carney, and Ben Webster; clarinetist Jimmy Hamilton; and trumpeters Cootie Williams and Cat Anderson. The Ellington phenomenon is poignantly recalled by Herbie Hancock, Charlie Mingus, Ben Webster, Louis Bellson, Clark Terry, Leonard Feather, Herb Jeffries, Jimmy Hamilton, Russell Procope, Teddy Wilson, and others. In rare interviews, the Duke himself recalls his early professional influences and experiences, and reveals his unique method of music-making, his keen sense of humor, and his uncommon philosophy. It becomes evident, in viewing A DUKE NAMED ELLINGTON , that not only was Ellington a protagonist in the historical development of American music, blazing a path for other musical artists to follow, but that he continues to provide inspiration for composers, arrangers and musical performers in shaping the future of modern music. The program demonstrates how Ellington contributed to the elevation of jazz from the level of folklore to the realm of music that lives far beyond its time and place.

March 28, 2007

There....
[Edited 3/18/07 10:17am]

already had mine pre-ordered!!!

Harlepolis said:

Released on my birthday.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

I just realized that its 19 years old film,,,so I stand corrected.

Harlepolis said:

I was wondering, I thought I watched it on BETJ the other day.

I'd love to see this.I remember seeing several documentarys on
TV when it was his 100th birthday.
My favourite clip I've seen of him is on a jazzdocumentary I saw
in early 90's when Duke sits by the piano talking about the
stories behind his hits while playing them alone..
I remember he did "Mood indigo" "Sophisticated lady""Satin doll"& a few more
& it just blew me away.It was sooooo great!
/peace Manki

WOW, thanks Harlepois - I was watching a few Duke Ellington clips on youtube the other day. I may get this!

Love this particular one:

http://www.youtube.com/wa...ohBkHaHap8

onenitealone said:

I his soundies(short movies) esp the ones with all the lindy-hopping dancers.

One of the reasons whyy I love the Duke is becoz he gives a rich sense of history,

Harlepolis said:

I won't pretend to know a great deal about Duke Ellington but he's someone who has fascinated me for a quite a long time - I was going to start a thread about him, in fact. I'm sure you and TheAudience, in particular, would be able to offer a lot of information.

Any good biographies that you'd recommend, Harle? He's almost like the Picasso of 20th century music - the way he turned everything on its' head.

By the way, here's another clip that I really enjoyed; gives a nice insight into the history of record making:

http://www.youtube.com/wa...jKlFFp4-IE



.
[Edited 3/18/07 17:48pm]

And I meant HarlepoLis. Sorry.

Harlepolis said:

you should check out BETJ, harry. they show re-runs of his shows!!



















...

onenitealone said:

His autobiography "Music Is My Mistress" is very enjoyable and retrospective but you sense that he's not being that intimate for an autobio. Cool book never the less.

This book though, is something to behold since you asked my opinion...


Its always nice to dig the Duke's music, but its MUCH better to understand him and know where his music came from

onenitealone said:

Harle is cool

Harlepolis said:

in miles davis biography he calls Prince the Duke Ellington of our time.
Miles also say Prince is like church for the gays.










..

Ribbed4UrPleasure said:

Miles would baptise himself and declare being born Christian again if he saw the state of Prince's music today, he would SO take what he said back

The Duke is one of my main men. Shame the DVD isn't new in a way, but it's new to me, so could be worth getting. Maybe it'll have more first-hand testimony from then-living former band-members etc, which is always fascinating.

I've a DVD of him live in Copenhagen in 1969 Yeeeessss!!! .If you've seen much Duke live footage, you'll know what that means.

I probably rate him higher than Miles Davis, actually, as, in his own time and way, Duke covered just as much musicial ground as Miles, but was a truly great composer, as well as a great bandleader and instrumentalist. Certainly one of the last century's great composers.

And, unlike Miles, Duke got better the older he got, while Miles' music arguably went a bit downhill in the '80s.

Harlepolis said:

Thank you! I'm going to try and get hold of that.

Cheers!

Miles said:

Speaking of Duke's latter effort,,,,I loved how what he said about his "spiritual concert series"....


I knew they were personal the minute I heard them,,,and with him saying that "these concerts are for HIM before its for everybody"(something of that sort ) it confirmed what I already knew

I was in with that bass/baritone singer he featured in these later years.
[Edited 3/19/07 13:24pm]

Miles said:

Sounds like you've been hanging with Wynton and Stanley Grouch.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

Yeah, Wynton and Stanley are my main hangin' buddies. We like to dress up fine and spin our old '78s and cylinder recordings and talk about the good ole days. We don't take no crap from these young upstarts like Jimi Hendrix, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and John McLaughlin. They need to unplug and get back to school.

If I'd been onstage with Miles in the '70s, I'd have taken a hammer to his damn wah-wah pedal. 'It's hard bop, fool, not hip-hop!' I'd tell 'im.

Miles said:

I think if the 3 of you try hard enough, you can actually make time stand still.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431