The Cat is back!
Eighth Veil
Cat Anderson left the Ellington band after the European Tour ended in March 1963 and was absent during the summer tour that same year, to return only on the 6th of July, when the band played at Freebody Park at Newport. Nobody seems to know what he was doing during that absence. Ellington had a great band also that year, and he was probably very comfortable in returning to the “place of the crime of 1956”. DESS members will find parts of Ellington’s concert in Newport in the Goodies Room.
After the Theme has been played we here an unusual version of Take The A Train, with the bass player Ernie Shepard as the vocalist. Afro-Bossa, which was a new composition by Ellington, was played next, with virtually all the soloists that the band could muster at this occasion.Next is Cat Anderson’s come-back where he performs in Eighth Veil, which was written by Duke and Billy Strayhorn with “the Cat” in mind.
Silk Lace (AKA Caliné) is really a beautiful piece of art written by Duke for Jimmy Hamilton, also, like Afro-Bossa mainly, performed in the 1963-64 season. This is followed by Kinda Dukish & Rockin’ In Rhythm played in the usual fashion.
Our part of the concert ends with Lullaby Of Birdland with Rolf Ericson as the main soloist. Sam Woodyard also has an important role.
For some reason, the order of tunes played seems to be at odds with the NDESOR , in that Silk Lace is played before Kinda Dukish & Rockin’ In Rhythm. Maybe you can detect a possible tampering with the original tape, or could NDESOR possibly be wrong?