After the break, Andrew Homzy Jazz Orchestra was back at the stage – this time for strong swinging session.
“For the second set, Homzy’s orchestra dug up some unusual material: “Royal Garden Blues, ADDI, Rock Skipping at the Blue Note and Battle Royale”, says Susan Markle in her report from the conference to the Chicago Chapter of Duke Ellington Society.
Royal Garden Blues is of course not a song associated with Ellington repertoire but he recorded this Spencer Wiiliams song with the full orchestra for RCA-Victor in 1946 and for Capitol Transcriptions in 1947. It also appeared on the Back to Back album with Johnny Hodges in 1959.
ADDI is part of the Togo Brava Suite and was performed quite frequently in Ellington concerts in 1971-1973. Billy Strayhorn’s Rock Skippin’ At The Blue Note made its debut on the Masterpieces album in 1951 but lived a quite obscure life after that until it was revived in the And His Mother Called Him Bill album. Battle Royal was a joint feature for the Ellington and Basie bands on First Time album.
The arrangements of Andrew Homzy bring them to life with a personal twist at the concert.