Stockholm, February 6, 1st concert, part 1
The Duke in 1963
The Duke Ellington band in 1963 was one of the outstanding ones. The first European tour that year started in England on January 12 with the last performance being that in Paris on March 1. There were numerous concerts in England and on the continent and bearing in mind that Ellington and his men were coming back in June and embarking on a Middle East tour later in the same year, this must have been one of the busiest years ever for the band. This has resulted in a great many recordings available from this period, especially from performances in Sweden.
Listen to Jimmy Hamilton in Silk Lace
It was now more than three years after Duke’s previous visit to Sweden, and the band personnel had been subject to a number of changes, the most important had taken place in the brass section, with Cootie Willams and Lawrence Brown returning after a long absence, whereas the sax section was 100% intact. On the above date, there were two concerts from the Stockholm Concert Hall. We here present the first of these, but due to the length of it we have to divide in two parts, so here is the first part. You’ll find all this music in the Goodies section.
On this first concert in Stockholm on February 6, 1963, the full personnel was as follows: Cat Anderson, Roy Burrowes, Cootie Williams, Ray Nance on trumpets, Lawrence Brown, Chuck Connors, Buster Cooper on trombones, Jimmy Hamilton, Russell Procope, Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Harry Carney reeds, Ellington, Ernie Shepard, Sam Woodyard in the rhythm section. The trombone section was apparently completely new compared to the situation in 1959.
The opening statement is made by Simon Brehm accompanied by Take The A Train. Ellington himself of course announces the different numbers to be played, and in this first part of the concert you will hear Afro-Bossa, Kinda Dukish & Rockin’ In Rhythm, Silk Lace, Eighth Veil, Pyramid, Asphalt Jungle Theme, Guitar Amore, Cop Out & Cop Out Extension and Jam With Sam.
Happy Listening!