The second ”goodie” in December is program 28 in the Duke Ellington series broadcasted by the Danish Radio in the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. The broadcast is available in the “Goodies” section of the website.
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This program was broadcasted on August 2, 1985 and the presenter is Knud Sörensen.
The first 1/3 of the broadcast let us listen to 16 very short snippets of music Ellington composed for the film Change of Mind, which was released in October 1969. The snippets in the broadcast were recorded on April 25, 1969 but music for the film was also recorded in two sessions in May and one in June 1969.
This part of the broadcast ends with a longer piece – Neo-Creole – played by Ellington on electric piano. It’s a rock adaptation of the main theme from Creole Rhapsody.
Those interested in how the music was used in the film can find part of it on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfIVJ50357I). At 8:53 there is a segment with Ellington’s music. Thank you to Brian Koller for the link.
From “Change of Mind”, the broadcast moves on the May 24, 1962 stockpile session. The selection in the program has Ray Nance in the lead role. We hear him play Flirtibird and Smada. The recording engineer announces Flirtibird as take -3 which means that it is different from the take used for the issues on LP and CD.
Sörensen then brings the listener The Feeling of Jazz recorded on May 25, 1962. It is sung by Milt Grayson accompanied by Ellington at the piano.
Next in the broadcast comes a small jewel, We hear Ellington sitting down alone at the piano in Paris March 10, 1967 playing Meditation, T.G.T.T. and Little Purple Flower. The circumstances surrounding this session is not known to us. Was it recorded in a rehearsal room at Theatre Des Champs Elysée before the concert there started? Anyone knows?
The broadcast ends with an excerpt from the recording session November 23, 1968 in which Harold Ashby in a tribute to Ben Webster plays I Can’t Get Started accompanied only by trio.