The first issue of the DESS Bulletin for 2004 was sent to DESS members a couple of days ago.
A good part of it is about Duke Ellington’s upcoming 125th birthday.
It has of course everything about how DESS will celebrate Ellington’s 125th birthday on Monday 29 April 2004.
The celebration will start in the morning as it did in 1939 when Ellington turned 40 but this year it will not be coffee and music at bedside but a full day Ellington mini conference followed by an evening concert.
Six leading international Ellington experts will travel to Stockholm to make presentations about different aspects of Duke Ellington from 9 o’clock in the morning to 5 o’clock in the afternoon.
The speakers and their topics are:
Bjarne Busk: The Stockpile – After 40 years in Denmark
John E. Hasse: Duke Ellington at 125
Michael Kilpatrick: The Magic of the Early 1930s
Marilyn Lester: Duke Ellington’s Broadway
Jean Francois Pitet Duke Ellington and Duke Ellington & Cab Colloway – Musical Connection
Samantha Wright – Duke Ellington and the Clarinet
The conference is free of charge.
There will be a Get-Together-Party for the speakers. the DESS Board and visitors to previous Ellington conferences in Stockholm atWallingatan 34 next to Scalateatern
The evening concert is provided by Stockholm Swing All Stars.
It is the leading Swedish swing orchestra with a repertoire including Ellington music. It tours frequently and has issued two Ellington CDs so far. Tickets to the concert can be bought at Scalateatern.
The articles in the newBulletin are of course very much about Duke Ellington – the man and his music. Bo Haufman writes How does a genius develop and DESS-member Bo Lindström contributes an article called Duke’s place, which maps where Ellington lived in Washington D.C. and New York City.
Sven-Erik Baun Christensen continues his impressive and well-researched series about Oscar Pettiford. I am very reluctant to try to summarize the article. It is very detailed and should be read and digested in full. However, I will try to give some snapshots.
Sven-Erik starts his article in late 1945 and is sure that Pettiford was “definitely present at the Treasury Broadcast on November 17th 1945 and stayed with the band until March 11, 1948.”
With Pettiford in the band, Ellington resumed using two-bass teams. Junior Raglinwas brought in to play alongside Pettiford at important concerts such as the 1947 Carnegie Hall concert and the 1948 Chicago Civic Opera House concert. Another example is that “Al Lucas joined the (Ellington) band to play besides Pettiford for the January 1946 Carnegie Hall Concert and stayed on also for the Chicago Civic Opera House concert on January 20th.”
When Pettiford left Ellington in February 1948, he formed all-star bop groups, which played in clubs in NYC. In 1949, he worked with Woody Herman’s band and in May 1950, Pettiford “joined a group led by Charlie Shavers, Louis Bellson and Terry Gibbs.”
In 1950 and 1951, he did two recording sessions for Mercer Reconds on which he played cello. From 1950 to September 1958, Pettiford played occasionally with Ellington in different contexts and participated in more than 120 studio recording session.
On September 1958, Pettiford arrived in Europe as part of a Jazz From Carnegie Hall package tour. After the tour collapsed, he stayed in Germany etc to play in clubs and make records.
From Autumn 1959 Pettiford was based in Denmark and brought his family there. He played ofter at Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen and formed for a while a quartet with Stan Getz, Jan Johansson and Joe Harris.
Pettiford continued to tour and started to write a bass school. It was not finished when he fell ill after a concert in Copenhagen on September 4, 1960 and died four days later.
Sven-Erik Baun Christensen has also provided a report from last year’s Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party in the new Bulletin and it has also has a short excerpt from George Wein’s autobiography.
Author: Ulf Lundin