In late Spring, Storyville Records issued a CD with Ellington’s two concerts in Copenhagen on Nov. 7, 1958 plus recordings from his visit to Denmark in 1950. It is a very welcome release since it makes the picture of Ellington’s tour of mainland Europe in 1958 even more complete and provides unique material from Ellington’s visit to Denmark in 1950. Certainly a CD to have.
Ellington’s 1958 European tour started in Paris on October 28 with a concert at Palais De Chaillot in Paris and one at Alhambra on October 29.
The website published an extensive article on Sep. 30, 2023 about Ellington’s and the band’s visit to Paris to which I refer. It covers the concerts in Paris, recordings of them and what Charles Delaunay’s Jazz Hot wrote about the visit.
The article is available here.
After concerts in Brussels, Den Haag and Amsterdam, Elington and his orchestra arrived in Stockholm for their first concerts in Sweden on November 4, 1958.
They took place at Stockholm Tennis Stadium (“Tennishallen“). Unfortunately, no recordings of them are available.
After Stockholm, Ellington continued to Norway and gave concert(s) at Njordhallen in Oslo on Nov 5, 1958. Whether there was one or two concerts is not clear.
Ellington researcher and discographer, Arne Neegaard, has checked several Oslo newspapers from Oct and Nov 1958 for me but has not found any mentioning of a second concert.
There might exist a recording of Ellington’s concert’s in Oslo on Nov. 5. Anders Asplund has drawn my attention to the Azure CA-21 cassette. It has what Sjef Hoefsmit says is the best sound quality recording of a concert during the 1958 tour. Sjef also writes in the liner notes that “their must certainly have been another concert on the same day in Oslo because the concert on the tape almost fist on a 90 minute cassette”.
However, personally, I think it is the second concert from Gothenburg (see below)
Ellington’s next stop was Gothenburg (Göteborg) on the Swedish west coast where he and the orchestra gave two concerts. Recordings of both of them might exist.
Anders Asplund, wrote about it in a website article on June 17 1917. It can be read here.
It was made also available as a “goodie” to DESS members and is identical to a CD For DESS members only – Gothenburg 6 Nov 58 1st Concert that Anders put together for collectors.
It has 14 tracks: Take the “A” Take (intro) / Medley ( Black and Tan, Creole Love Call, The Mooche) / Newport Up /Sophisticated Lady /Sonnet to Hank Cinq /What Else Can You Do With A Drum / Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me /Jeep’s Blues /El Gato / Hi Fi Fo Fum / Boo-Dah / Medley / Diminuendo In Blue, Wailing Interval, Crescendo In Blue / Jones & close
Another private CD with a concert in Gothenburg on 6 november 1958 appeared in 2018. This CD is said to have the complete second concert as listed in NDESOR. The content is the same as on the Azure cassette but the sound quality is of course much better.
My Funny Valentine, Perdido, You Better Know, On The Sunny Side Of The Street, Things Aint What They Used To Be and Happy Birthday (sung by Ozzie Bailey) has been added for the second concert while Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me and Jeep’s Blues are out compared to the first concert.
Back to the Storyville CD.
Bjarne Busk has put together the CD and has written the very informative liner notes.
Ellington played two evening concerts in Copenhagen and both took place at K.B. Hallen – a sports and concert center in the middle of Copenhagen. Both concerts were recorded and three parts were broadcasted on radio and were recorded by listeners. The resulting tapes has been used for the CD. “It is not known”, says Bjarne, “from which of the two concerts the particular titles come”.
Prelude To A Kiss seems to be the only song in the band’s repertoire that was played in Copenhagen but not in Gothenburg.
The CD also provides bonus material from Ellington’s visit to Denmark in 1950. He played a total of four concerts at K.B.-Hallen – two on May 31st and two on June 1. No recordings of them exist. But three recordings from a a After Hours session at the dance restaurant St. Thomas do.
Duke played I Can’t Get Started a solo number and Don Byas and Jimmy Hamilton joined him in Body and Soul and A little Blues.
After Copenhagen, while Ellington was in Sweden, there were swiftly arranged two concerts by Duke and the band in Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city, on June 6, 1950. 2.500 people attended.
In Aarhus, there he also did an After Hours session, in which Ellington recorded two piano solos for a social charity organisation – Sophisticated Lady and Mood Indigo. The record was pressed in only 10 copies and they were used as prizes in the annual lottery for the organisation.
“Ellington also played and sung I’m Afraid of Loving You Too Much without it being recorded.
The DESS Bulletin 2023-3 has a two page article by DESS member Sven-Erik Baun Christensen about Ellington’s visit to Denmark in 1950. It adds some information to Bjarne’s liner notes.
“Ellington also played and sung I’m Afraid of Loving You Too Much, and impresario Blicher-Hansen sang Kissing One, Kissing Two accompanied by Ellington at the piano. Both numbers were recorded, but never issued.”
Author: Ulf Lundin. Thank you to Anders Asplund and Arne Neegard for help with information.