The 8th Ellington program broadcasted by the Danish Radio in the mid-1980s is the fourth “Goodie” for the month of September. As the others, it is available in the “Goodies of the Month” section of the DESS Lobby (DESS-rummet).
It was broadcasted on January 18, 1985 and Bjarne Busk is the presenter.
A special feature of the broadcast is that segments of an interview with the Jimmy Lunceford arranger and the initiator of the Ben Webster Foundation, Billy Moore, are integrated in the program.
The program includes several stockpile recordings, some of which are not available on LP or CD.
The program starts with a stockpile recording of a rather unknown song – Elysée. Then follows some comments by Billy Moore on Ellington as composer and a snapshot of C Jam Blues with more Moore comments.
Next is an instrumental version of Strange Feeling from August 20, 1963 and the rocky “There’s A Place” recorded on February 17, 1971. I wonder if Wild Bill Davis did not have a hand in “There’s A Place?
After more comments by Billy Moore on Ellington as composer, the program turns to “The River Suite” and let us listen to a take of respectively “The Meander” and “The River” from March 9, 1972. I hope that we will hear more from the “River Suite” in later programs.
Comments by Billy Moore on Ellington as a piano player lead into an excerpt of of “A Blue Mural From Two Perspectives” – the Billy Strayhorn composition from 1965, which apparently Ellington played quite often late in life.
The program ends with first another example of Ellington as pianist – the only recording of the rather unknown Cordon Blue from September 13, 1962 – and then a nice example of Ray Nance’s trumpet playing – “Do Not Disturb” (aka Le Sucrier Velours) recorded on January 3, 1956.
In the Ellington Archive, there are a couple of documents with more information on the Danish Radio Ellington broadcasts, including a discography of the Danish Radio Ellington programs, which so far have been made available to DESS members on the website.