At the annual meeting of in June 1984, the New York Chapter of Duke Ellington Society (TDES) had decided to organise Ellington ’96 (the 4th Ellington Study Group Conference) in New York.
It was the idea of TDES’ president Morris Hodera
Ellington ’84 had just taken place in Chicago 16-19 May and the planning of Ellington ’85 in Oldham in England in full swing.
The idea developed quickly to have one set of events in New York from 8-10 June 1986 and the rest in Newark, New Jersey.
The actual Study Group Conference was at Paul Robeson Center Newark, Rutgers University Campus, Newark, New Jersey 12-14 June, 1986 but there was a getting together with music at radio station WB-FM JAZZ.
But what happened before the two-tier conference started?
Thanks to Sjef Hoefsmit and his new video camera there exists some videos, which tell us about this.
His and his wife’s first stop was Oklahoma, Nebraska to meet with Kenton Bales and his wife. Bales was a professor of music at University Nebraska Omaha (UNO) specializing in music theory and composition. I guess that he also was part of the Ellington community since Sjef went to see him.
Sjef and his wife arrived at the Oklahoma train station and was then taken by car to Bales’ house in Oklahoma.
Then followed a couple of intense days there, and then Sjef and his wife went to Washington D.C. to visit Jack Towers there and do some sightseeing.
Author and video editor: Ulf Lundin