Jerry Valburn was the first speaker on the second day of the 1997 Ellington Study Group Conference in Leeds and he gave the audiens a very good and pedagogical presentation.
He had chosen to dissect two Ellington songs. The first one was Café au Lait recorded on 6th December 1956 and the second is listed as A Flat Minor recorded on 7 Aug 1956 in the conference program.
Café au Lait was recorded at the 30th Street Columbia Studio in New York City in a long session with takes for A Drum Is A Woman, Such Sweet Thunder and Café au Lait. All the takes of Café au Lait was issued by Valburn on his Up-To-Date label and I guess that that is the reason why everything recorded of the Café au Lait is heard in Valburn’s presentation.
In the beginning of his presentation, Valburn corrects the recording year for A Flat Minor 1957. “The printer must have made a mistake”, he says.
I tried to find an A Flat Minor in NDESOR but despite after quite some browsing I found the Piano Improvisations from 20th March 1957 and I am quite sure that Valburn had meant to finish his presentation with at least the two takes of of Piano Improvisation 1 issued on his Up-To-Date label.
I don’t mind that he did it this way. It was a whisper in my ear to say: “Friend, is it not time to put what you bought from me in New York in the 80’s on your Orbe this weekend to keep the relay going on?
There will be more from Ellington ’97 next week.
Author and recording editor: Ulf Lundin
The second song is Allah-Bye instead of A Flat Minor, on March 20, 1957