Andrew Homzy was one of the speakers on the first day. He was originally scheduled to speak about Anatomy of a Murder but in the last minute, he changed the topic to be about some of his findings of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn manuscripts after 10 weeks of research in the Ellington Archive.
Homzy went through more than 2.500 folders with Ellington and Strayhorn scores in the archive during the visit , which he estimate is about one third to half of material available.
In the presentation, Homzy shows scores, let the audience hear music he thinks is linked to the score and point out “Ellington effects”.
Some are wellknown melodies like En liten röd stuga played in Stockholm in April 1939, Mercer Ellington’s Moon Mist from 1942 or Creole Rhapsody from 1931. Others have just short titles like Beat, Dreamy and Darling, which were changed when they were finalized.
Author: Ulf Lundin