Links

Another Blue Light should be on its way to our members, if it hasn’t arrived already. Hopefully you’ve also received an email with our latest news. Just in case, here are some of the links and news items included.

• DESS ran a fantastic online conference - if you missed it you can catch up on the videos on their website: https://ellington.se/
• DESS also ran an interesting feature “Ellington At Chateau Goutelas 1966” https://ellington.se/2021/02/25/ellington-at-chateau-goutelas-1966/
• Pianist Junior Mance passed away in January. There’s an interesting interview with him here https://www.jazzwax.com/2021/01/junior-mance-1928-2021.html. Mance collaborated on an album of Ellington tunes in 1997 with Joe Temperly: The Music Of Duke Ellington (Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6SmCMnoYBHiN6wGAkiSJU6?si=8dXqBy35RZyvKtsPJMF1Ag)
• Earl Oakin appeared on Uptown Lockdown recently. He runs his own podcast of classic recordings Earl Okin’s Amazing Gramophone Show: https://earlokin.blogspot.com/
• More Pitter Panter Chatter: https://www.mattheyman.com/pitter-panter-chatter#h.vzwj3pkajmmn

The latest Blue Light should hopefully be on its way to you by now. In the meantime, here are a few links from across the wider world of Ellingtonia:

• Money Jungle: A Masterpiece of Disharmony: Matt Levin discusses the infamous 1962 summit with Charles Mingus and Max Roach.
• DESS recently published a short article on Juan Tizol featuring a Kurt Dietrich presentation from Ellington '93.
• The 14th of December marks Clark Terry's centenary. Ellington Live has unearthed a rare video with Bud Powell. There are a number of other interesting blog posts in the last few months worth checking out, including a new DVD of Ellington’s Sacred Concert at Coventry Cathedral and a preview of two forthcoming albums Duke’s Ladies.
• Pianist and jazz educator Ron Drotos has again visited Ellington in his blog series covering the Real Book. Entering the Pianistic World of Duke Ellington discusses his pianistic style through the vehicle of In A Mellow Tone.
• A Sapphire of Tonal Brilliance: John Edward Hasse writes for the WSJ on Mood Indigo.
• Ehsan Khoshbakht’s Duke Ellington's Solo Piano at WWDC, 1946 features a rare late night recording.
• Finally, it would be remiss of us not to point out Dave Brubeck’s centenary on the 6th of December. There’s a website dedicated to it here: https://www.davebrubeck.com/centennial. Due to the pandemic, many of the celebratory events have been pushed into 2021. For now, there’s always his 1958 album of Ellington compositions live from Newport.

Matthias Heyman has launched a new site devoted to seminal bassist and Ellingtonian Jimmie Blanton at https://www.mattheyman.com/pitter-panter-chatter featuring

… regular posts with tidbits, little-known facts, and deep dives on jazz bassist Jimmie Blanton (1918– 1942), best known for his tenure with composer and big band leader Duke Ellington between 1939 and 1941.

While we’re here, don’t forget to listen in to our Paul Gonsalves 100th Anniversary special Uptown Lockdown at https://www.pscp.tv/AP64740207/1YqKDpOWYXAKV.

Running out of Ellington (or Jazz in general) to listen to? Here are a few suggestions from around the web:

• First and foremost, catch up with our Uptown Lockdown broadcasts at https://www.pscp.tv/AP64740207/ - not to be missed!
• Jazz Times: 10 Very late Ellington Albums
• Terry Teachout’s two lists of Ellingtonia: the first a sort of greatest hits, the second less well known tracks that deserve a bit more listening.
• Duke appearing on What’s My Line in 1953
• A rather haunting version of Lush Life with Ella Fitzgerald
• A Soundie of It Don’t Mean A Thing
• Good Queen Bess (largely because it’s stuck in your webmaster’s head)
• The Jazz Centre UK has been publishing general interest Jazz playlists, one per decade from the 20s onwards, as well as their own Ellington playlist here.
• Ellington Live has collated the videos of Art Baron in conversation on Ellington. Ellington Live is well worth a general browse for all sorts of gems.

Got any more suggetions? Post them in our Discord chatroom at https://discord.gg/efQNUMa

Spotted over at Ron Drotos’ wesbsite: The Beginner’s Guide To Duke Ellington. A nice introductory article with some good selections. One to share with Ellington newcomers.

Ron told us:

I got on board the Ellington train in the early 1980s, when I was 17-18 years old. My piano teacher Billy Taylor had known Ellington and Strayhorn and used to make me cassettes of out-of-print albums of theirs.

There are a few more Ellington-related blog posts on the site, including the surprising similarity between Duke Ellington, Keith Jarrett, and Elton John, as well as guides to playing some of the songs. We look forward to more!