BULLETIN NR 2, APRIL 2016, ÅRGÅNG 24

”The Frog” In this issue we present a portrait of Ben Webster written in a personal way by Steve Wallace. 2-2016 Vårnyheter!

I vårt förra nummer av Bulleti­ bidragit med insiktsfulla artiklar av utprovningen är avklarad och alla nen hade vi glädjande nog två nya diskografisk natur. Vi hoppas och tror beslut har fattats läggs webbplats­ medlemmar att hälsa välkomna och att vi framdeles kan konsultera Björn en upp och ellington.se får ett nytt i detta nummer kan vi meddela att när diskografiska problem uppstår. utseende. Det kan komma att ske vi åter har fått två nya medlemmar. I förra numret rapporterade jag före nästa medlemsmöte. Ulf Lun­ Men tyvärr minskar medlemskad­ om de tankar som finns på att ge din har varit föreningen synner­ ern undan för undan och det är klubben närvaro på Facebook i syfte ligen behjälplig i utformandet av mycket tråkigt att konstatera. att ge klubben ett ansikte där och den nya webbplatsen och kommer Fjärde måndagen i februari hade stimulera kontakten och utbyten framdeles att ha en central roll i vi årsmöte. I år avgick Key Jiger­ mellan medlemmarna och mellan hanteringen av densamma. ström som ledamot av styrelsen. medlemmar och andra Ellington- Som vi nämnde i förra bulletinen Han har varit medlem sedan DESS intresserade. Det arbetet har gått kommer vi i år åter att ge ut en ny startade sin verksamhet 1994. Som vidare och olika lösningar för en CD till Er. Den kommer att in­ ledamot av styrelsen invaldes han Facebook-grupp har studerats. De nehålla inspelningar från ett spe­ 2004. Key var bland annat den som testas för närvarande och om allt ciellt välkänt place..., som jag inte engagerade orkestrar under åren då fungerar väl bör det finnas en DESS- vill avslöja nu. Det förblir en hem­ vi höll till på f.d. Gyllene Cirkeln grupp på Facebook inom kort. lighet tills Ni får CDn fram emot och som mötte stor uppskattning. jul. Men vi tror att den kommer att Styrelsen har också gett klarteck­ Medlemsantalet ökade under de bli uppskattad, inte minst tack vare en för att klubben skall arbeta fram åren, men verksamheten kunde det utmärkta ljudet som uppnåtts en ny hemsida. Key Jigerström, som inte fortsätta på grund av för stora på denna skiva. Gå därför inte i många år gjort ett uppoffrande ar­ kostnader. Under senare år har han miste om denna gåva, för Du har bete för att hålla hemsidan igång, varit ansvarig för vår websida. Ett väl inte glömt att betala in årets har avsagt sig den uppgiften. Men stort tack Key för Din insats för medlemsavgift, 250:-, på vårt när vi nu tackar Key för vad han DESS under en lång följd av år. bankgirokonto 211-3207 som gjort är det naturligt att vi också ersätter vårt tidigare plusgiro- Till ersättare för Key valdes en funderar över innehållet, utseendet konto. Har Du inte betalat in gammal bekant, nämligen Göran och funktionen med en hemsida. din medlemsavgift den 1 juni, Wallén. Han behöver väl ingen Ett förslag till hemsida eller snara­ stryks Du ur medlemslistan presentation. Göran var vår ord­ re webbplats håller nu på att testas. och det blir ingen CD. Det vore förande de första 10 åren och det Allt som nu finns på DESS hemsida väl synd! var tack vare honom som vi kunde skall finnas på den nya webbplats­ arrangera de mycket lyckade och en. Men tanken är också att ge välarrangerade Duke Elling­ den en starkare inriktning mot ny­ tonkonferenserna 1994 och 2004. hetsinformation med möjlighet för Nu är han med igen och med sin medlemmar som är intresserade att erfarenhet och sitt vittförgrenade lägga in eget material. Webbplats­ kontaktnät kommer han att vara en kommer också att ha medlems- Leif Jönsson, till stor nytta för DESS. rum med ett Ellington-arkiv av ordförande i DESS Jag vill även tacka Björn Englund musik, video, foto och artiklar där för hans insatser i bulletinredak­ DESS medlemmar kan botanisera tionen som han nu valt att lämna. fritt och ladda ner till den egna Han har under sin tid i redaktionen datorn eller smartphonen. När

2 Trevligt stoff, men nog vore det värt en Duke´s Place grundligare kommentar för att ge publi- ken en merupplevelse. Sedan var det musik av en kvartett Snålblåst på årsmötet med trumpetaren Jan Stolpe som ledande namn. Det föreföll som klubbkamraterna och trist efterbörd omkring mig gillade framträdandet, vil- i kvällens konsert ket också har bestyrkts av de mejl som nått mig. De flesta av dessa mejl tycks Det blåste kallt på årsmötet den 22 febru- främst vara ämnade att stärka styrelsens Foto: Sonja Svensson ari när en gammal surdeg vädrades vid självuppfattning av gjorda insatser men betyder mycket för en kvartett och kan val av en nygammal styrelsemedlem. Ett innehåller också värderande omdömen inte helt kompenseras av att den rutine- ovanligt drama för DESS, som dock lös- om musik och musiker. Det händer inte rade och välformulerade Calle Lundborg tes efter viss parlamentarisk förvirring. sällan att mina egna åsikter går stick i stäv tog allt sitt tillvara när chanserna gavs. Mer om årsmötet på annan plats, för se- med vad som framförs av dessa recensen- I den stillsamt reserverade stil som är dan började medlemsmötet med numera ter. Det står dem helt fritt att delge mig hans. Udda och fängslande var basisten rätt obligatoriska rekvisita. sina tankar men jag måste få sagt att det Magnus Marcks, som originellt nog prö- Först några bidrag ur Anders Asp- också besvärar mig så länge jag har upp- vade sig på In A Sentimental Mood med lunds outtömliga kollektion av Ellington draget att formulera mig i Bulletinen. stråkens hjälp och vann publiken och på film, där jag med särskild förtjusning Som nu! Jag kan nämligen inte se myck- mig med ett av kvällens bästa nummer. noterade Rolf Ericson på bild i Rockin’ et försonande i kvällens konsert. Orkes- Nog sagt för denna gång …. In Rhythm från en Englandsturné 1964. terledaren var uppenbart ur form. Det Bo Holmqvist

CLAES ENGLUND IN MEMORIAM

På tisdagsmorgonen den 29 mars får vi beskedet att vår vad gäller preferenser började i skolan och har fortsatt allt­ nära och mycket käre vän Claes Englund gått ur tiden. Vän sedan dess (sic). Med Bulletinen började han arbeta 2010 och klasskamrat sedan tidigt 50-tal, student- och DESS- vilket medförde en kvalitetshöjning, som också bidragit till kompis och med ett helt liv tillsammans. Claes drabbades tidningens numer goda rykte, även utomlands. Han kunde lördagen den 19 mars av en hjärtinfarkt som visade sig bedöma kvaliteten på föreslaget material och visste hur både vara lätt, men han fick tillbringa söndagen, som var hans det svenska och det engelska språket skulle behandlas på 77:e födelsedag, på sjukhuset. Allt hade gått bra och i två samtal med bästa sätt. Hans språkgranskning var fenomenal. Han hade mängder av honom den gångna veckan var han fylld av tillförsikt, och vi skissade på idéer och förslag till texter, och idéer från andra i redaktionen mottog han lämpliga dagar för att ses och skriva inbjudan till studentklassen för det alltid med stor entusiasm. årliga mötet den 20 maj (”Vi” är 3/4-delar av organisationskommittén). Claes kunde sin Duke. Detta kom alltid till uttryck i de artiklar som ingick Men så på långfredagen drabbades han av en tydligen rejäl stroke som han i en lång serie som han kallade ”Other Duke’s Places”. När det gällde själva inte överlevde. Nedanstående skrivet i någon slags sorgens bedövning. musiken var det speciellt trummisarnas insatser han ville bedöma. Han Claes var född den 20 mars 1939 i Uppsala, där han gick i folkskolan visste hur en trummis skulle bära upp ett storband och han höll en gång och därefter i Högre allmänna läroverket, det som numer kallas Katedral­ ett mycket uppskattat anförande i ämnet på ett av DESS medlemsmöten. skolan, där hans far var lektor i kemi. 1957 tog han studenten tillsam­ Det blev senare även en artikel i ett nummer av Bulletinen. I detta num­ mans med oss och gjorde sedan sin militärtjänst i Kustartilleriet. Han mer av tidningen ingår en artikel där Claes behandlar några av Ellington’s gick vidare till Uppsala universitet för att studera filosofi med estetik som trummisar. huvudämne, för Teddy Brunius. Claes hade också ett intresse för bildkonst och en betydande begåvning för Claes var mycket teaterintresserad. Efter avslutade studier började teckning och måleri. Men efter skoltiden vägrade han att utveckla denna, han arbeta på Riksteatern och blev redaktör för deras tidskrift Entré (eller med hänvisning till att hans yngre bror var en professionell och utmärkt entré som man stavade den). 1969 blev han en kort tid chef för Västerås bildkonstnär. Länsteater, knuten till Riksteatern. Därefter återgick han till redaktörs­ Det är omöjligt att på några rader sammanfatta ett helt livs intressanta jobbet och kom att följa svensk och internationell teater i hundratals ar­ erfarenheter, diskussioner, upptäckter, skratt och bekymmer, men vi bär ho­ tiklar och intervjuer. Efter sin pensionering fick han uppdraget att skriva nom med oss resten av våra liv. Riksteaterns historia. Därefter blev uppdrag för teatern allt färre, något Våra tankar går till hans hustru Susanne, och barnen Johan, Hedda, som han sörjde, eftersom han hade både lust och stor förmåga att skriva. Petter och Leo. Den lusten fick han utlopp för, efter att vi som nya medlemmar efter El­ lingtonkonferensen 1994 tagit med honom i DESS. Om någon skulle vara Norrtälje och Uppsala den 29 mars 2016 medlem så var det ju Claes. Han var ett levande uppslagsverk vad gällde vännerna Leif Klitze och P.O. Sporrong klassisk jazz, beläst på jazzlitteratur och våra diskussioner inte minst

3 fles they mostly are. Ben Webster is fore- ver, his playing defies age by being truly beautiful and wholly original. Beauty is never irrelevant and originality cannot die. He achieved this singular, poetic Ben Webster beauty by wedding the twin pillars of his colossal playing: his incomparable, mag- The Heart of the Matter nificent tone and his very direct commu- By Steve Wallace nication of real emotion. Ben Webster fell under the spell of Coleman Hawkins’ Style It’s hard to find words to describe his ground-breaking tenor saxophone style early in his career, but sound, yet they could fill volumes. The eventually discovered himself and largely formed his own style gruff-to-tender tone he produced from his saxophone Betsy was with him all of by about 1938. Shortly after this he found a setting as perfect for his life, it was his domain and his palette him as the Count Basie band was for Lester Young – the Duke – majestic, sumptuous, roomy, sensuous, Ellington Orchestra, from 1940-43. a slab of mahogany wrapped in velvet. At medium tempos, it billowed, furled and swayed like a huge sail in the wind. His time with Ellington and especially and Wayne Shorter. By the early ‘60s, his On ballads it purred, whispered and the exposure to Johnny Hodges further playing seemed badly out of fashion and, caressed, sometimes fading to a mere shaped him. Hawkins may have been finding work scarce and perhaps feeling breathy exhalation. On up-tempo songs Webster’s original model, but Hodges marginalized in America, he exiled him- or slow blues numbers it was the roar and another great alto saxophonist – self to Europe, in search of a fresh start and snarl of a provoked lion, his tenor Ben’s lifelong friend Benny Carter – were and a new audience for his saxophone sounding like metal on metal, a Cadillac his biggest influences. From Carter he musings, never to return home. engine badly in need of an oil change. learned breath control and to smooth out In a single solo, Webster could start out his phrasing with more legato, from Hod- sounding as light and fluffy as a soufflé, ges he learned how to project emotion by move to a medium volume with a vibra- using glissandi and imbuing his sound to that neighed like a horse, offer some with an endlessly nuanced vibrato. savage parrot squawks or dragon roars, Even the Ellington band couldn’t con- then slither like a boa constrictor back to tain his Promethian temper for long the floating meringue again. If, as Zoot and he left in a huff after an altercation Sims once put it, Stan Getz was “a nice with Duke in 1943. His style evolved bunch of guys”, then Ben Webster as an somewhat after this in small ways as he entire menagerie, his saxophone a vessel and his life changed, but he never really of sound along the lines of Noah’s Ark. embraced bebop or other aspects of mo- Webster’s command of his sound – and dernism in jazz, his playing remained es- his vibrato and dynamics – was absolute sentially the same and true to itself. and shaped his playing. The sheer luxu- rious mass of it allowed him to play very In perspective simply and slowly; with a sound like This individuality was celebrated in the this he couldn’t play very fast, nor did 1950s, when Webster found an ideal out- he need to. His focus on tone colour al- let in the touring Jazz at the Philarmonic lowed him to work in broad strokes and troupes and the attendant record labels handle big matters. His solos were ora- (Clef, Norgran, Verve) founded by Nor- torical, a series of dramatic pronounce- man Granz. His many recordings from ments, melodic statements and shapes that time capture him in a kind of golden rather than lines, with large swatches of middle period and moved critics and lis- space and silence left between these. He teners alike to belatedly place Webster didn’t generate time so much as he filled alongside Hawkins and Young in a tri- But the passing of decades allows the it, straddling the rhythm section under- umvirate of classic jazz tenors. By 1960 dust of events and trends to settle, can neath him, floating on top of their beat though, the Granz/Verve forum dried up bring the perspective of distance so that like the absurdly tiny hats he wore per- for Webster and he suddenly faced being we can see things – history, ourselves, art ched atop his massive head. For this rea- a lonely, anachronistic footnote. He was – more clearly. Listening to Webster now, son, Ben always sounded his best with seriously out of step with the young men he is perhaps the most timeless of jazz good pianists and rhythm sections, he who were increasingly setting the pace players, he never sounds remotely dated needed them to generate momentum and on his horn in those years: Sonny Rollins and sweeps aside considerations of style, make his pauses sound better. He played and John Coltrane, later Joe Henderson period, “schools” and genres as the tri- the piano (his first instrument) quite well

4 Duke, Ben and Jimmy Hamilton seem to discuss some tricky pas­ sage for the reeds.

and idolized great pianists like Teddy They were more like sounds than notes Ben Interlude #1 Wilson, Art Tatum, Jimmy Rowles (a li- – and in these sounds lie his emotional Ben Webster had the habit of sometimes felong friend), Oscar Peterson, Jimmy transparency, his openness. His playing tailing a note off to just a tiny puff or Jones, Hank Jones and Joe Zawinul. acquired the properties of language, of human speech. Other saxophonists offe- breath, finishing it with a miraculous In certain registers during his more red virtuosity and musical thought, fast, sotto voce vibrato. It sounded like this – lyrical moods, he could sound uncannily complex lines full of harmonic and rhyth- phuff-ffff-ff-fff-ff-ff-ff….f.. He was living like a string instrument. He tended to mic brinksmanship. They played ideas, in Los Angeles in the late ‘50s and work play lower on the tenor in the 1940s and whereas Ben seemed to play the shapes of was scarce, but when he did work it was sometimes sounded like a cello, albeit feelings, tone-syllables which talk directly often with a marvellous band – Jimmy one on steroids. In the ‘50s he played hig- to us. And more than any other saxopho- Rowles on piano, Jim Hall on guitar, her on the horn and especially on ballads nist, with the possible exception of Lester Red Mitchell or Leroy Vinnegar on bass could sound for all the world like a viola. Young, Ben Webster seems to offer us his and Frank Butler on drums. They played It was not only the warm woodiness of heart itself, as if to say, “Here it is on a sil- at a club called The Rennaissance and the timbre but the vibrato and phrasing, ver platter, take it.” one night Butler called the young Billy the sustain that resembled bowing. This Higgins to sub for him on drums. Hig- Such emotional directness cannot beco- may have resulted from studying the vi- gins, only about eighteen, was both ex- me dated, because feelings are essentially olin as a child, but whatever the reason, cited and nervous about this chance to it was a unique feature of his playing. what humans have experienced each and every day, forever. Who among us has not known the longing for lost friends, Comparisons the joy of Christmas morning as a child, His rich menu of sound constantly served the thrill of first love, the heartbreak of the conveyance of feeling, which is what romantic rejection, the self-doubt of fai- his playing is all about. He felt things lure, the ache of loneliness, the despair of very deeply – tenderness, rage, nostalgia, aging? How can these be irrelevant? Not joy, yearning, loneliness, absent friends, while Ben Webster speaks to all of these homesickness – and these feelings were feeling and more, he doesn’t wallow in never far from the surface of his music. them; his playing offers sentiment, but is Though he had perfect pitch, he often never sentimental. He stops short of the played with deliberately blurred or wide cloying or mawkish by being utterly sin- intonation – his notes were in tune at the cere and devoid of self-pity, by achieving centre, but were often surrounded by an a kind of beautiful and passionate ho- English of moving air, some fur or fuzzi- nesty. It also helped that at any moment ness. I pity anyone trying to transcribe he was fully capable of producing a note one of his solos, because he rarely played that could blow you halfway across the a ‘straight’ note, his were often bent or room; his playing captures your atten- suffused with a whole range of inflection. tion and keeps you on your toes.

5 work with such a master and wanted to George’s car and he popped in a cassette an old tenor and Budd gave him his first play as considerately as possible for the tape, saying, “This is a long Ben Webster lessons and pointers on the horn, so this elder Ben – he decided he would use brus- track, it might last all the way home.” (I was payback.) Next I recognized the ur- hes almost exclusively. The first number had no idea at the time what record this gent, buzzing rasp of Roy Eldridge and as at a slow-medium tempo and Billy was from, but I’ve since come to know it as he always does, Roy dialled the heat was stirring away with his brushes on – Ben Webster and Associates, an all-star up a couple of notches. I’d scarcely reco- the snare drum when, halfway through affair from 1959.) A good-sized band be- vered from this when Coleman Hawkins his first chorus, Ben turned around and gan playing Ellington’s In A Mellotone at entered in all his thundering and magis- gruffly barked “Sticks, kid!” out of the a perfectly relaxed medium tempo, with terial glory; by now the groove and inten- at least two tenors and a trumpet play- sity had reached mythic proportions, but ing the melody and Webster answering still no Ben Webster. There was a drum them with improvised countermelodies. interlude from Jo Jones and at last, after This was followed by a long series of so- being a cordial host (after you, fellas) or los, most of them lasting two choruses. perhaps thinking he’d save the best for Unusually, the bass led off – Ray Brown last, Big Ben entered the fray. – brilliant, but a little hard to hear over Even then, I was aware of Ben’s com- the car engine. Next was piano and I bative bravado, and in this competitive distinctly remember George saying it arena I expected him to take the gloves off was Hank Jones, but it’s actually Jimmy and come out swinging right off the bat, Jones, followed by a slightly diffident but no, he began with disarming restraint, guitar chorus by Les Spann. Then came which I at first mistook for tentativeness. two choruses from a tenor player I didn’t Even holding back like this, his tone was recognize, who used some double-time riveting; it went “Vrroooouuuwwwllll” and other impressive boppish touches. and sounded like the voice of God. In (It’s Budd Johnson, who’s become one of his first chorus he almost toyed with my favourites. He wasn’t supposed to be the song’s chords and the beat, playing on this date, but Ben stopped off at a bar some very interesting and dissonant har- on the way to the studio for a drink and monic ideas, with unusual and angular saw Budd and immediately asked him to shapes, building steam. He uttered some join as a guest on the session. This was pretty savage roars in his second chorus, side of his mouth. Billy, a little startled, entirely typical of Ben and appropriate but contrasted these with some oblique, switched to sticks and the ride cymbal. because they were very old and dear sideways murmurings. When he was The same thing happened whenever friends. They met sometime in the late finished, I was literally blown away by Ben played on the next couple of num- ‘20s in Amarillo, Texas, where Ben was his control and utter mastery, the audaci- bers, which were a little faster. Finally, working as a silent-movie pianist in a lo- ously original imagination at work here. Ben called a ballad and Billy figured he’d cal theatre. Ben was interested in learning Whether he was trying to or not (and I have to let him play brushes on this one. to play the saxophone and had bought rather suspect he was), Ben had effecti- But no, eight bars into the melody, Ben leaned aside and snarled out “Sticks!” again, Billy couldn’t believe it. When the set was over, he was confused and a little hurt, he thought he’d played quite well. He decided to ask Ben about it and ap- proached him. “Gee, Mr. Webster, don’t you like the way I play brushes?”. Ben answered, “Huh? Naah, it ain’t that, kid. You play just fine. But the shwoo, sh- woo, shwoo from you brushes is getting’ in the way of the foo, foo, ff-foo coming’ out my horn.” First impression I’ll never forget becoming fully aware of Ben’s greatness for the first time. It hap- pened in a car sometimes in 1977, though I knew of him before that and had proba- bly heard him a little in passing. Pianist George McFetridge and I worked regu- larly near the Toronto Airport that year and one night we were riding home in

6 vely used the building excitement of all the wonderful playing preceding him as preamble and cannon fodder, sweeping Some some very powerful players aside as al- most incidental, irrelevant. He didn’t do so with the exertion of force and muscle lesser known as I expected, but rather with guile and insinuating subtlety; his playing seemed Webster to imply as much as it directly stated. I was surprised by the avant-garde ab- straction of his solo, it was almost like recordings cubist painting in its bold manipulation of big shapes and contours and I thought From ”the large gap of recor­ of Ben as being the Picasso of jazz. One ding sessions” between 1947 thing I knew for sure after this, I had to and 1950 that Steve Wallace hear some more of him, and soon. mentions, still a few lesser Fortunately, it was easy to find his re- ways, the mid ‘40s were his peak, but for cords as Verve, following in the footsteps years his records from then were hard to known recordings with Ben of other labels, began issuing “two-fers” find, because they were mostly 78s and Webster exists. Back in his ho­ from their vaults around then. I found not issued as albums. This set offers five and bought three of these by Webster sessions led by Webster, one co-led with metown Kansas City shortly from the fifties. One paired his two LPs Big Sid Catlett and six others with such after his second period with El­ with Oscar Peterson, another his two illustrious leaders as James P. Johnson, lington, November 1948 – July meetings with Coleman Hawkins and Pete Johnson (his old Kansas City buddy a third was called Ballads and mostly and piano teacher), Teddy Wilson, Benny 1949 (expanding the Ellington featured Ben’s sumptuous playing with Morton, Cozy Cole and Benny Carter, sax section to six men) Webster strings. These were the records that made plus three led by very good but lesser- me fall in love with his playing and I’ve known musicians – Walter “Foots” Tho- on October 31 and November 1 been smitten ever since. Eventually, I mas, Al Hall and Bill De Arango. Webster 1949 took part in blues recor­ backtracked and digested his classic is surrounded by some of the finest play- playing with Ellington’s band, though I ers of that time, just the way he liked it. ding sessions led by Bus Mo­ didn’t do that entirely until CD reissues Wonderful trumpeters such as Hot Lips ten, three numbers, and singer were in full swing by the early ‘90s. Page, Buck Clayton, Emmett Berry, Id- Walter Brown, four numbers. rees Sulieman and believe it or not, May- A rediscovery nard Ferguson. And ace rhythm players They can be found on the 3-CD I was mostly moved to write this piece – aside from a good deal of his favourite album “Kansas City Blues” on on Ben by a strange and surprising dis- drummer Catlett, J.C. Heard, Cozy Cole covery in my CD collection this past fall. and Denzil Best are also here. State of the Capitol (CDP 7243 B 52042 One day, to borrow Ellington’s phrase, art bassists such as Hall, Oscar Pettiford, 2). Webster plays great, he feels I had a “yen for Ben” and went over to John Simmons, Israel Crosby. And most being “home” will full control the Webster shelf looking for some of importantly to Ben, great pianists – aside his records to play. I spotted a three-CD from Wilson and both Johnsons, these over his persuasive lyricism Ben Webster: The set on Definitive called sessions feature such stalwarts as Mar- Complete Small Group Recordings, 1943-51, and, in most numbers, with lowe Morris, Johnny Guarneri, the prop- which I’d forgotten all about. I vaguely hetic and shortlived Clyde Hart, Jimmy his typical more brutal autho­ remember buying it and surely I must Jones and the early bebop pianists, Al rity. Jay McShann plays first have listened to it, but it felt like new in- Haig and Argonne Thornton (later Sadik formation to me. So, into the CD player Hakim). As these names suggest, a lot of class blues piano on the Walter went the three discs and there they stay- this music is classic, mature small group Brown sides. ed, I scarcely listened to anything else for swing and some of the later sessions (es- about two weeks. His playing throug- pecially from 1946) cross into early be- hout was a revelation, by turns drama- bop territory. which didn’t seem to faze tic, lyrical, ghostly, moving, raging and Ben at all. Claes Englund above all, exciting. His playing here builds on his won- This set is invaluable because in one derful work with Ellington and, while place, it offers the almost forgotten and mining the same emotional territory as unknown Ben Webster, filling in the he would alter, is quite different than his blanks between his time with Elling- work in the ‘50s. Whereas Ben’s sound ton, which made his reputation, and his during the Verve years was often velvety Verve period, which crowned it. In many and at times ventured up quite high on

7 the tenor into almost a falsetto range, Ben Interlude #2 were Mrs. Anger, the widow of the late his sound in the ‘40s was much heavier, Justice Anger of the Supreme Court of On a Friday night in May of 1964, ve- thicker and darker, his vibrato tighter Ontario, and her son Ron, who was at teran jazz fan Don Brown and his wife and he spent more time in the middle the time the president of the Toronto went to The Town Tavern to hear Ben to lower registers. Despite the deeper, chapter of the Duke Ellington Society. Webster. They were seated at the bar di- weightier sound, Ben was faster and Mr. and Mrs. Anger had been longtime rectly in front of the bandstand, which more mobile on the horn in the ‘40s and Ellington fans and first heard Ben in was a raised affair up behind the bar at tended to be more linear, playing longer, Hull, Quebec in 1940 when he appeared about the level of the bartender’s shoul- serpentine lines phrased very smoothly there with Ellington shortly after join- ders. It was flanked by two of the- big with a slurring legato. Ironically, though ing the orchestra. Ben was dead set on gest, noisiest cash registers in Toronto, his sound lightened in the ’50s, he gene- reaching the Angers and was really mov- often described as “the stereophonic cash rally played simpler and slower then. At ing. Just then a young college student registers”. There was a good Friday night any rate, hearing this missing Ben Web- jumped up, pulled a pen and pad from his crowd on hand, but as usual, only a few ster convinced me more than ever that briefcase, and attempted to ask Ben for people were paying any attention to the he is unique, one of the most eloquent, his autograph, like a paper coffee cup in music. Ben was playing his heart out, profound and imperishable soloists jazz the path of the charging Chicago Bears’ ably backed by the local trio of Norm has ever known. defensive line. The massive Webster Amadio on piano, Bob Price on bass and straight-armed the poor kid, knocking Archie Alleyne on drums, and Don could Influences him flat on his back onto a small table, sense his growing frustration. Ben had spilling its drinks and cigarette butts Conventional jazz wisdom holds that had a few and was teetering dangerously all over the couple sitting there. Big Ben Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young near the edge of the stage, and Don also never even broke stride and in a couple of formed the two great early models of noticed that, unlike other elite musici- seconds had managed to throw his huge tenor saxophone and that most players ans such as Duke Ellington or Coleman arms around the petite Mrs. Anger. As followed one or the other, with Web- Hawkins, Ben was not exactly a fashion Don puts it, talk about extremes – in an ster definitely being counted among the plate. He was wearing a baggy, rumpled instant they’d seen Webster morph from Hawk followers. This was certainly true suit and, in contrast to the narrow, dark being the tender balladeer of “Willow” early in Ben’s career. One story from the ties in vogue then, Ben was sporting one to “The Brute” they’d read about, then early 1930s has it that Ben was not only that had to have been eight or nine in- just as quickly back into “Gentle Ben”. trying to sound just like Hawkins, but ches wide and could have served as some Both the man and his music were full of to dress, act, walk and talk like him too. country’s flag. Toward the end of his first contradictions. One day a fried said, “Okay, I’m hea- set, Ben noticed that Don and his wife ring and seeing Coleman Hawkins, but had been listening to him closely and he where is Ben Webster?” By the late ‘30s leaned precariously over the edger of the Personality however, and continuing through his stand and asked if he could “play so- Ben’s Jekyll-and-Hyde emotional volatil- time with Ellington, Webster developed mething pretty for the lady”. Don froze. ity was the stuff of legend and turned up a style original and significant enough Here was one of his two favourite tenor both in his playing and in his behaviour. that it formed a third stream of tenor players (the other being Lester Young) He could be very gentle and sensitive, as playing, between Hawkins and Young. asking him to choose the final tune of he was to his mother Mayme and great- His first great follower was Don Byas. I the set and his mind went blank for a aunt Agnes Johnson, both of whom he hear much more of Webster in Byas – in second and then he blurted out “Cot- often lived with. They spoiled him with his sound, phrasing and vibrato – than I tontail”. Of course Ben had played it their cooking and other attentions, but do Hawkins. Others followed; certainly hundreds of times and he groaned, “Oh he also doted on them. One story has Lucky Thompson, Lockjaw Davis, Flip God, not now”. Thinking fast, Don chose it that when the two ladies were older, Phillips, Benny Golson and especially something more appropriate, suggesting Ben used to brush their hair at night – Paul Gonsalves were Webster men. And “Willow Weep For Me”. Ben’s eyes lit up 100 strokes each – before they retired to Harold Ashby, who was a curator of and he gave an appreciative nod, saying bed. He could become maudlin and sen- Ben’s style in much the same way that “You got it”. He launched into a glorious timental when remembering departed Paul Quinichette was of Lester Young’s. interpretation of this beautiful old song friends – he was very close to both Jim- And later, so-called “avant-garde” play- and suddenly one could hear a pin drop mie Blanton and Sid Catlett, and their ers like Archie Shepp, David Murray and in the club. Even the hookers and their early deaths left a hole in his heart. He Bennie Wallace are deeply indebted to pimps down at the end of the bar stop- was known to weep openly when play- Webster and have acknowledged this. So ped their chatter and were hanging on ing pretty ballads he loved, his eyes roll- there is a strong line of influence coming his every note. It was one of those very ing back in his head, tears rolling down from Webster that is quite distinct from special moments, an example of the kind his cheeks. These tears were never far Hawkins, it just took a while for people of magic spell the thespian of the tenor away. Many have told of Ben, remember- to catch up to him and recognize it. I could weave. ing past times playing with great musi- think this is because Webster’s playing, The set over, Ben went as quickly as cians, suddenly sobbing, saying, “Man, though very direct, is also quite abstract; his feet would carry him toward the why don’t I get to play with guys like this is the paradox of his style. He deals club’s entrance, where he’d spotted two that anymore?” primarily with sound and emotion and longtime friends just coming in. They But out on the prowl, with a snootful these are both abstract things. 8 of booze in him, look out … he turned ing, ego and volatility made him his own Said by Ben into “The Brute”, willing to take on all worst enemy. There is a large gap of re- In 1934, Fletcher Henderson sent corners. Pimps, sailors, rounders, any- cording sessions by Ben in small groups for me, and I went to New York. one who offered a slight or insult – real between 1947 and 1950. Part of it was or imagined – Ben was all too willing to the second A.F. of M. recording strike Along with Ellington and Chick whale the tar out of them and had the of 1948 and that Webster rejoined El- Webb, Fletcher had just about the physical prowess for this. If it didn’t lington’s band for a while from 1948-49. top band and the hardest music reach the point of mayhem, his hostil- But mostly between 1949 and 1950, his I’ve ever seen in my life! He had ity could still be obnoxious, belliger- drinking was really out of control and arrangements that were written in ent, foul-mouthed, unmanageable. The he became ill, eventually moving back every key on the keyboard. I got a only person who could handle Webster to his hometown of Kansas City to be in this state was his old friend Benny nursed back to health by his mother and lot of help from Russell Procope. Carter. Webster would listen to reason great-aunt. When he recovered, he began He would tell me to take my book from Carter, whom he admired above working with some obscure local bands home and the next day he would everyone else, saying, “There’s a man in K.C. and later L.A., where he moved come around and help me with these who can bake a cake as light as a feather in 1951. Soon after that, Norman Granz arrangements. If you were fortunate and whip any man”. (Carter was famous came to the rescue and Ben made a huge enough to stay with Fletcher, I don’t for his elegance, but was also a deadly comeback. street-fighter). imagine you’d have too much trou­ Certainly his temper was the reason ble in any other band afterwards. Ellington fired him. The story I’ve read is that Ben had Ellington’s permission to But the height of my ambition play piano with the band whenever Duke was to play with Duke. Barney was busy off the bandstand schmoozing Bigard took a vacation in 1935 and with management or customers, and I had a chance to sit in the band for Ben loved to do this. One night while two or three weeks. And we went drunk, he overstayed his welcome at the keyboard, playing very badly and em- on the road for a little while. Then barrassing everyone. When Duke gave we made this record Truckin’, and him hell and told him to get up, Ben was we did In A Jam. Then Barney came so enraged he went to Duke’s dressing back, so I had to leave, naturally. room and cut a couple of the maestro’s But I sure hated to leave, because expensive suits to ribbons with a knife. I’d enjoyed that music and hearing Duke gave him two week’s notice, mak- ing Webster one of the few musicians these guys play. That was such a Ellington ever actually fired. Webster great band. Duke has always been had to have felt shame and regret over ”way out front”. He was then and this, he loved Ellington and remained Along with the temper and gargantuan he still is. devoted to his music for the rest of his drinking, there was also ego and hauteur life. In some ways, his abrupt departure in Ben, though a lot of it was bluster. I from the Ellington fold was a tragedy – think he felt the frustration of know- it was a perfect setting for him and the ing that he was great, but undervalued. band provided him with a kind of musi- Ben Webster and He saw himself as regal, expected the cal home and family, something he later royal treatment and felt slighted when lacked and craved. The brevity of his Dexter Gordon it didn’t come. (There’s a famous, funny stay does serve to concentrate the bril- These two giants spent quite some story about this from Ben’s later days in liance of his work with the band though. time together in Denmark. There is Europe. He was playing at a function at- actually two streets named after them tended by some European royalty and broke all protocol by butting into the offi- Family in Copenhagen ”Ben Webster Vej” cial receiving line holding his saxophone, There is a growing conviction in some and ”Dexter Gordon Vej”. They also vigorously shaking some startled royal’s scholarly jazz circles that Ben Webster appeared on gigs together and the fol­ hand, saying “Nice to meet ya Prince …. was in fact gay, closeted and possibly in lowing story produces a few laughs: Ben Webster, King of the Tenors!”) Milt denial for his whole life. I’m not certain When Ben Webster and Dexter Gor­ Hinton spoke of a time in the mid ‘50s how much of this is based on evidence when Ben was living with him and his or testimony and how much is specula- don were playing together, Dexter was wife Mona and not working much. Hin- tion. Outside of his mother and great- taking a solo that seemed way too long ton was doing a lot of studio work then aunt, Webster did not have many long- to Ben. He asked a friend, ”Are they and always tried to get Ben hired on re- standing relationships with women. In showing Gone With The Wind around cord dates but to no avail, because Ben his profile on Webster, the great Whitney here? If so, I can go to see it and come insisted on being paid triple-scale for Balliett mentions in passing that Webster back and Dexter will still be playing doing sideman’s work. So Ben’s drink- was married very briefly in the 1940s, the same solo.” 9 Ett möte but I’ve never heard or read any other mention of this. Certainly Webster never med had children or a ‘normal’ family life, Ben Webster apart from that with the two older ladies. It seems that Ben mostly needed women DESS-medlemmen Johan Etzler to look after him, rather than provide a skrev för några år sedan en liten be­ romantic outlet. During his stay in Eu- rope, this caregiving role was taken on in rättelse om ett möte med Ben Webster Amsterdam by his landlady, a Mrs. Hart- som vi haft inlagd på vår hemsida. looper, and later in Copenhagen by an Alla kanske inte erinrar sig den och elderly nurse named Birgit Nordtorp. därför återger vi den här: My initial reaction to all this theoriz- På 1960-talet råkade jag och Leppe ing was one of shock and scepticism. Su- Sundevall en eftermiddag på Gyllene perficially, it seemed to fly in the face of Webster’s image as a hard-living, brawl- Cirkeln bli presenterade för Ben Web­ ing tough guy and I’m not overly fond of ster av Arne Domnérus. Ett intryck posthumous psychoanalysis. However, jag då fick av Ben var att ingen kunde it’s possible that Ben was gay, it stands ha bredare axlar än den mannen. to reason that there were many more gay jazz musicians back then than we know Något år senare var jag på resa about. Lots of gay men have been mar- med min lärare i det som kallades ried, and Ben’s ultra-macho persona ”modern prose” på Stockholms uni­ could have been a means of denial, over- versitet. Vi mellanlandade hos Leif compensation or even a cover to hide Maynard Ferguson’s band. One night he Anderson på Tessins Väg i Malmö. something he felt would never be ac- found himself in a musician’s bar (prob- Vi bjöds på middag och under mid­ cepted in the hyper-masculine world of jazz in those days. (Billy Strayhorn was ably Jim & Andy’s) quite late and Ben dagens gång imponerades jag av the only openly gay man in jazz at the Webster was there, out on a toot. Rob att Leif utan att ens behöva titta time, but he had the protection and sanc- had heard Ben in Toronto and loved his sig bakåt kunde hitta Louis Jordans tuary of being Ellington’s indispensable playing, so he introduced himself and as ”What’s the use of getting sober right-hand man. Duke set Billy up with soon as Ben heard he was from Toronto, he was all over Rob. “Toronto, you must when you gonna get drunk again” everything he needed and the men in the band loved Strayhorn like a brother.) know my man Bob Price – wow, that i sin skivhylla. B.P. – what a motherfucker! Plays great I have no idea if Ben was gay or not, bass, tells good jokes and he knows how Resan fortsatte till Köpenhamn nor do I care. After all, he’s been dead for to drink! Good dancer too!” (Apparently, och vi hade fått tag på adressen till over forty years and his sexual orienta- Ben and Bob danced a couple of fox-trots Ben Websters hotell. Vid besök där tion was his business, not ours. But if he together when in their cups at a party was indeed gay, it might explain a lot of fann vi honom i sängen med hårnät one night in Toronto after a gig, and Ben the mysteries of his tempestuous person- (!) om huvudet och TVn påslagen got a big kick out of it.) So Ben and Rob ality. The frustration, angst and isolation men utan ljud och med sina egna did some more drinking and talking and of being closeted all those years, coupled Ben became more and more nostalgic inspelningar klingande från en with the racism he regularly met as a about the good times he’d had with Bob bandspelare. Jag minns särskilt en black man in America, could well have and decided he had to call him, right then underbar version av beatleslåten led to the sudden towering rages, the and there. Rob didn’t think this was such loneliness and emotional extremes, the Yesterday med danska radions stor­ a good idea and said as much; it was now quickness to find offence, the desire to band. Undrar om den finns utgiven? about three in the morning and Bob was beat the shit out of somebody and make then living with his elderly, widowed Då och då gick Ben upp från them pay for all of this ugliness and pain. mother, who was a very nice, genteel lady sängen och pinkade i handfatet i Personally, I think Ben was disappointed in somewhat frail health. rummet. Vi pratade naturligtvis and angry at a world that was seldom as mest om musik och Ellington. När pretty as the music he played or imag- Ben was not to be denied however, not in this state. “Don’t give me all that vi talade om Lawrence Brown ined. I don’t think we’ll ever know, but for whatever reasons, Ben was a com- bullshit about it being late, I got to talk sa Ben; ”I called him Sweetie, plicated and conflicted character. This to my man B.P.!” Ben found Bob’s num- I named him!” Detta bara nämnt cost him dearly, but is also part of what ber in his book and bellowed over to the som ett komplement till ”A Study makes his music so compelling. bartender, “Give me five dollars’ worth in Brown” (Bulletin 3/2009). of quarters to make the goddamn pay- Kvällen tillbringade vi på Montmar­ Ben Interlude #3 phone go!” He hauled his massive head and shoulders into its narrow confines, tre och lyssnade på Ben Webster, bl a Between 1963 and ’64, Rob McConnell lived in New York for a time, studying with his haunches and spindly legs med Rune Carlsson. arranging and playing valve trombone in sticking out at a twenty-degree angle.

10 McConnell. Sorry about that, it wasn’t his playing remained intact, the beautiful my idea. I just met Ben and he got to sound, grace and his love of songs never talking about you and Toronto and how left him. He made some good records much he misses you and he just had to in his last years, many of them on Black call you and I couldn’t talk him out of Lion with the players mentioned above. it. He’s fast asleep now, right out.” Bob There’s a hilarious recording from this chuckled, “No problem, but be careful period of Ben coaching the Danish Radio when you wake him up. Maybe do a fox- Big Band at a rehearsal, teaching, willing trot with Ben and tell him it’s from me, them to swing by all manner of profane, that’ll cheer him up.” obscene and vocal urgings. Hearing it is the next best thing to having known him. In Europe Ben died in Copenhagen on September Not long after Don Brown heard him at 20, 1973, and is buried there. He decreed The Town Tavern, Ben took himself off on his deathbed that his saxophone Betsy to play a season at Ronnie Scott’s club in was not to be played after he died and it’s London and stayed, eventually settling now at the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rut- in Amsterdam, then moving to Copen- gers. Ben was just 64, but in terms of mile- hagen in 1969. His days in Europe were age he lived many more years than that. mixed. He enjoyed the more leisurely pace of life there and the relative lack of Jim Crow. And he worked quite steadily and found a fresh and enthusiastic audi- ence, Europeans loved his classic playing and relished hearing him live for the first He started bellowing out instructions time. But it was also lonely, he missed his (DESS has got the kind permission of to the long distance operator and depos- American musician friends and rejoiced the author to reprint this article which ited some quarters into the phone, which in periodic visits from people like Jimmy was originally published on the author’s began ringing Bob’s number in Toronto. Rowles and Phil Woods. He often found blog site www.wallacebass.com. A bio of This is what Rob heard from his end: European rhythm sections to be ama- Steve Wallace was presented in Bulletin “Hello, s’that B.P.’s place? Whooz- teurish, lagging behind instead of push- 3/2014. zat? His mutha? … Oh. I know itsh a ing him as he liked. This was better in More about Ben Webster in our Bulletin: little late lady, shorry I woke ya up, but Copenhagen though, as he found some A lengthy article by Stan Brager – The thisisss important. I gotta talk to B.P.! good rhythm men there – Kenny Drew, Beauty in the Brute – can be found in Never mind what time it ish, put B.P. on N.H.Ö.P., Alex Riel and Tootie Heath. Bulletin 2/2012.) – whaddya mean he’s shleeping – well, He drank more and more and got big- wake him up, for Chrissakes! Tell him ger and bigger, resembling an inverted ish Frog on the line from New York! He’ll pyramid moving about on spinet legs. wonna talk t’ Frog!” As this was going His health suffered and he needed a cane on, Ben was starting to yawn and get to walk. His playing became slower and sleepy, his tiny hat cocked back, shoul- slower and sometimes he was drunk to ders leaning further and further in to the point where it unraveled. But mostly the booth, his legs now sticking out at thirty-five-degree angle. He finally con- vinced Bob’s mother to go and wake Bob up, the poor woman no doubt wondering just who this shrieking Frog character was and wishing her son had stuck to accountancy and never became a musi- cian. As she went off to do Ben’s bidding against her better judgement, Ben start- ed sagging and drooping into the booth, his legs now on a full diagonal. By the time Bob Price came on the line, Ben was out cold, snoring like a bear, his face and hat mashed up against the glass of the booth. Rob went over behind Ben, and heard Bob’s voice coming out of the re- ceiver, “Hello. Hello Ben, are you there? Hello?” Very, very carefully, Rob reached around the sleeping giant and eased the receiver from his hand. “Hi Bob, it’s Rob

11 It’s All True Unfinished Orson Welles Film: Duke Ellington Hired To Write Music By Fred Glueckstein

Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, writer, and producer who worked in theatre, radio, and film. Welles is best remembered for his innovative work in theatre, most notably Caesar (1937), a Broadway adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar; in radio, in the 1938 broadcast The War of the Worlds, one of the most famous in the history of radio, and in film for Citizen Kane, which is ranked as one of the all-time greatest films.

In 1941, Orson Welles conceived It’s All In fact, Welles was a tremendous El- Orson Welles, music written by Duke El- True as an omnibus film that mixed docu- lington admirer,who would see Jump for lington,” he said. “While you’re thinking mentary and docufiction. It was to have Joy, Ellington’s full-length musical based about this, you’re on salary at a thousand been his third film for RKO, following Ci- on themes of African-American identity dollars a week,” he told Ellington, “and tizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent that debuted on July 10, 1941, on several if you don’t take it, you’re a sucker!” “I Ambersons (1942). The original concep- occasions. accept,” said Ellington. tion of It’s All True was to be in four parts: During their first meeting, Welles asked In Ellington’s autobiography, Music The Story of Jazz, My Friend Bonito, The Ellington to do The Story of Jazz, which is My Mistress, he wrote that the project Captain’s Chair, and Love Story. was drawn from Louis Armstrong’s 1936 was going well. Duke had assistants, and That year, in Los Angeles, shortly after autobiography, Swing that Music. Arm- a lot of research was conducted. Then the the premiere of Citizen Kane, Welles sent strong was to star in the film. “I want unexpected happened. Ellington explai- Duke Ellington a message backstage of it to be written by Duke Ellington and ned that Welles had a big dispute with Jump for Joy. The message asked Duke to meet Welles Duke, Orson and Cab at RKO the following mor- ning at nine. Ellington was on time. He later said “I ne- ver been anywhere else on time in my life”. However, Welles was an hour late. Before Ellington could get a word in, Welles jum- ped into his impressions of Jump for Joy. “From the first curtain to the last cur- tain. Blow by blow, every number, every sketch, all of it coming out of his mind without notes - and he saw it once! It was both a review and a mass of suggestions,” remembered Ellington. “It was the most impressive display of mental power I’ve ever experience – just pure genius.”

12 The 24th International Duke Ellington Study RKO concerning another picture he was Although Orson, is credited to Duke El- doing in South America, and the compa- lington and Billy Strayhorn, Walter van Group Conference ny cancelled all of his projects, including de Leur, who has made very extensive It’s All True. studies about Strayhorn and published Ellington wrote: “He [Welles] left them a book of his finding, Something to Live with a lot of film on their hands, which For-The Music of Billy Strayhorn publis- I understand they couldn’t put together hed by Oxford University Press (2002), without him. That was the end of It’s established that Strayhorn wrote Orson. All True. No filming was done - just a Ellingtonia: The Recorded Music of Duke lot of research. I collected up to $12,500, Ellington and His Sideman. Compiled for which I wrote a total of twenty-eight by W. E. Timner, Fourth Edition shows bars, and it was supposed to represent Orson was recorded by Duke Ellington Buddy Bolden,” wrote Ellington. “I tried & His Famous Orchestra on April 7, 1953 Organisatörerna Michael Dinwiddie och Mercedes Ellington. to recapture some of it in A Drum Is a in Los Angeles at Capitol Studios. It was Woman (1957), but I am not sure of the first issued on Capitol T-637 “Dance To Kompletterande information om kon- relationship between them, because a lot the Duke”. Ellington Orchestra’s Orson ferensen sipprar så sakteliga in från of time elapsed between Jump for Joy was a strangely abridged version, and it arrangören Duke Ellington Center For and A Drum Is a Woman.” didn’t do justice to Strayhorn’s intentions, The Arts (DECFA). Ursprungligen an- In 1945, long after RKO terminated It’s which he crafted as ‘an intricate orchestral nonserades konferensen att äga rum 19- All True, Welles again tried to make the setting around one of his most inspired 23 maj. Nu har man koncentrerat den till jazz history film without success. He and emotionally charged themes’. 19-22 maj. Innehållsmässigt tycks detta spoke about it with Armstrong, who re- Also recorded with Orson was My inte innebära några förändringar men sponded with a six-page autobiographi- Old Flame; I Can’t Give You Anything But många delegater har säkert bokat sina cal sketch. Love; Ain’t Nothin’ Nothin’, Baby, Without resor och hotell baserat på den första in- John Edward Hasse in Beyond Catego- You; Stormy Weather; Star Dust, and Three formationen. ry: The Life and Genius of Duke Elling- Little Words. These numbers appeared on DECFA har skickat ut en ”Tentative ton wrote of It’s All True: “As Hollywood Capitol H-440 “Premiered by Ellington”. Conference Schedule” varur vi kan had yet to portray jazz authentically in a On December 3, 1955, Orson was again notera följande: Under de fyra dagar- feature film, Welles’s original idea had recorded live by the Ellington Orchestra na kommer presentationer i olika äm- created high expectations: the disap- from a NBC broadcast from Zardi’s, but nen att framföras av Philippe Baudoin, pointment in the jazz community was it has never been released. Finally, Orson, Matthias Heyman, David Hajdu, Krin widespread.” in its original full length version, was Grabbard, Daryl Waters, Steven Lask- Ellington later wrote that he unexpec- recorded in the late 1990s by the Dutch er, Bill Saxonis, Phil Schaap, Mick Car- tedly met Welles on a train to Chicago in Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Jer- lon, Ken Steiner, Olle Edström, Grego- 1956. It was just after A Drum Is a Wo- ry van Rooijen. It was released on Chal- ry Marion, David Palmquist, Marcello man was released. “I told him about it, lenge Records CHR 70091. Piras, Will Friedwald, Frits Schjött och and said he should see it. “Then he told Carl Woideck. John Edward Hasse in Beyond Cate- me about his play” wrote Ellington”. The S.k. ”paneler” kommer att behandla gory: The Life and Genius of Duke El- play was titled Le Temps Court, a rewor- olika Ellingtonämnen och i dessa kom- lington wrote: “Incidentally, Welles re- king of Faust in a program under the title mer namn som Rebecca Fulop, Car- portedly said that, other than himself, The Blessed and the Damned, and was men de Lavallade, Julie Malnig, John Ellington was the only genius he had scheduled to premiere in Paris. Wriggle, Michele Corcella, Nate Sloan, ever known.” Duke Ellington and Orson Herb Boyd, Mercedes Ellington, Eli When Ellington gracefully declined Welles were brilliant in their respective Yamin att ingå. Man annonserar des- taking on the task to write the score, he fields, and both men left their personal sutom ”Surprise Guest Performers”. suggested Billy Strayhorn. This was ac- imprint on the twentieth century. Each ceptable to Welles, who first met Stray- will be remembered for their individual Delegaterna kommer även att bju- horn on the West Coast in the 1940s. At contributions in jazz and cinema. das på musikalisk underhållning the time, there was speculation of an El- bestående av The Duke Ellington Cen- lington-Strayhorn-Welles collaboration, ter Big Band, Bobby Sababria’s Multi- which did not occur. With Strayhorn now verse Big Band och en trio under led- to write the score for Le Temps Court, he ning av Antoinette Montague. travelled to Paris to do the score on-site. Värt att notera är att man kommer One of the pieces was devoted to the att visa filmversionen av ”A Drum Is A play’s female protagonist Helen of Troy. Woman”. It was titled “Helen’s Theme”. After the Mera detaljerad information om konfer- production of Le Temps Court was can- ensen kan inhämtas på http://decfa.org celled before the premiere, Strayhorn la- ter adapted “Helen’s Theme” for his band Vi har all anledning att tro att konfe- and renamed it Orson, a work that is too rensen kommer att bli lyckad. little known. DESS

13 Satin Doll One of Duke Ellington’s most fre- quently played numbers Bill Kirchner is a composer-arranger, saxophonist, bandleader, educator, record edited by Alyce Claerbaut and David and radio producer and jazz historian. Satin Doll on Capitol Schlesinger (Agate Publishing 2015) van In an interview by Ethan Iverson he has After Duke Ellington had left Columbia de Leur has the following to say: the following to say about Satin Doll: and signed up with Capitol Records his ”It is strange how some of a composer’s BK: On the Ed Sullivan Show I heard the first recording date for the new company most famous pieces can be anomalies in Ellington band playing Satin Doll. What was on April 6, 1953, and the very first his or her oeuvre. Neither Ellington nor anybody think of the tune Satin Doll it’s composition recorded was Satin Doll. Strayhorn hardly ever wrote straight- been mauled by bad lub date or lounge Back in 1995 Mosaic Records issued a forward Tin Pan Alley-type tunes, such bands. To hear that tune played by the CD-box entitled The Complete Capitol as Satin Doll. In fact, they hardly ever Ellington band with that saxophone sec- Recordings of Duke Ellington. The very cowrote single works to begin with. In tion and those voicings is an unforget- informative inlet was written by Stanley the case of Satin Doll, however, Stray- table experience. Dance and here we quote what he has to horn reportedly fleshed out a Ellington say about Satin Doll: EI: The original Capitol recording of riff, added chords and lyrics, and dedica- Satin Doll is unbelievable. Currently in ”Satin Doll was recorded first – and for ted the piece to his mother, whom he lo- our repertoire it has become this bland the first time – at this first session for -Ca vingly called satin doll. Ellington main- AABA thing that just cycles forever. But pitol. It was far from an instant hit, yet tained that it was his father’s nickname when you listen to the first recording, Ellington had much faith in the number for Evie Ellis, the unofficial Mrs. Elling- that’s not what it is. It’s got moving parts and worked hard in later years to secure ton. Other women since have claimed and it’s very specific. The counterpoint its mass acceptance. Not only did his that Duke told them that they were the in the orchestra is complicated, and also band play it every night, but eventually song’s secret dedicatee. in some kind of way a bass feature. he would play it as a piano solo whene- The tune became a modest hit in 1953 ver he was interviewed on radio or televi- BK: They eventually had a bass solo as as an instrumental piece, but its success sion. The orchestral treatment varied sub- well. On the At the Bal Masque version grew after Johnny Mercer added the hip sequently (Ray Nance’s eight bars, as here, a few years later with Jimmy Woode, it lyrics. Strayhorn’s original lyrics are lost were long an integral part) until it became became like a bass feature. That was an but Mercer’s version may partly retain more of a bass feature. The somewhat unu- Ellington and Strayhorn tune, appar- them. The Ellington sketch and the ori- sual coloration of the reed section derived ently as we now know, Duke wrote the ginal Strayhorn reworking haven’t sur- from the fact that it was led by Paul Gon- melody and Billy Strayhorn wrote the faced either. There is, however, a little al- salves. The tempo here is noticeably slower harmonies, which are very II/V-ish in a lusion to Satin Doll in Strayhorn’s Kissing than that favored later.” way that Duke’s wasn’t. Anything in El- Bug, composed roughly ten years earlier. lington’s music that smells of II/V-ism, When studying New DESOR one finds The true extent of all these various con- you can be pretty sure is Strayhorn. that Satin Doll is listed no more than 536 tributions remains clouded, enough so times. Ellington kept the number on his that some parties took the case to court, EI : Ah, I see repertoir for the rest of his career. These where a judge ruled that the credits BK: The estates have been arguing ever 536 occassions are mostly live recordings should remain as they were.” since. As with many of Ellington’s tunes, which have been saved but far from all of In David Hajdu’s biography of Billy St- it was composed as an instrumental and them have been released. Needless to say rayhorn: Lush Life (Farrar Straus Giroux later on lyrics were added. In this case Satin Doll was performed on numerous 1996) one can read the following: maybe the worst lyrics that Johnny Mer- other occassions which have not been sa- ”Most constructively, Strayhorn fleshed cer ever wrote. ved on tape. out an Ellington riff sketch with harmony EI: They’re not particularly good, are they? and lyrics – an ode to Strayhorn’s mot- BK: They’re terrible! And especially for Who was her, spun around Strayhorn’s pet name Johnny Mercer, by his standards. They’re the ”Satin Doll”? for her – and ended up with Satin Doll. Johnny Mercer on a very bad day. But we Though Johnny Mercer was brought in The musicologist Walter van de Leur are stuck with them. to replace Strayhorn’s oedipal lyrics with has made a thorough research on the life ones evoking more commerical male- EI : Tell me about seeing the Ellington and works of Billy Strayhorn in his book female love, Satin Doll was recorded as band at 12 years of age. Something to Live For – The Music of Billy an instrumental and became a modest KB: It was at the Pittsburgh Jazz Festi- Strayhorn (Oxford University Press 2002) hit (and the last single-record success of val. Several bands played. And Duke’s but funny enough he has nothing to say Ellington’s career), peaking at number band played Satin Doll, and Billy Stray- about Satin Doll in this otherwise very in- 27 in three weeks on the Billboard chart. horn was introduced by Duke. From that formative book. However, in the recently (Strayhorn’s original lyrics to Satin Doll night on, my fate was sealed. published Strayhorn – An Illustrated Life are not known to have survived.)

14 Vi kvinnor av Kid

Den följande artikeln var införd i Aftonbladet den 21 oktober 1933. Författaren bakom signaturen är Kid Severin, legendarisk kåsör i framför allt Expressen. Men hon började sin karriär på Aftonbladet, som gett oss tillstånd att återge hennes artikel. Efter Duke Ellingtons besök i Europa 1933 blev han synnerligen uppmärksammad på denna sida av Atlanten vilket troligen föranledde dessa, på den tiden kanske relativt vanliga synpunkter på en musikform som började göra sig allt mer gällande. Den som gjorde oss uppmärksam på artikeln var DESS- medlemmen Alf Arvidsson, etnolog och musikforskare vid Umeå uni­ versitet, som bl a gett ut boken ”Jazzens väg i svenskt musikliv”.

Mitt på dagen promenerade jag på Birger Jarlsgatan och tänkte på livet, döden och Blues och jazzläppar ett rött sidenband på min nya laméklän- De nya plattor mänskligheten har fått att ning. Då fick jag se en skylt där det stod stimulera sig med är ganska många. Duke Harmoni. Just vad en stackars höstdepri- tycks vara lika produktiv som han är svart. merad människa kan behöva, sade jag Jazzlips heter en snabb foxtrot. Här lig- till mig själv och gick in i affären bakom ger man särskilt märke till orkesterns skylten. Men där fanns endast disharmo- berömda klarinett, eller den här gången nier, ty affären är en grammofonaffär och rättare sagt två klarinetter. De visslar luften darrade av hot-musikens nervösa, fräckt som gatpojkar. När trumpeten sönderslitna rytm. skäller som bäst kommer plötsligt ett mjukt pianosolo. Svart jazzkung På baksidan är Harlemania, också en en mörk bakgrund av dovt dunkande. Eftersom den lilla affären bl a är specia- snabb foxtrot. Den har en snabb, lättfly- I Rocky Mountain Blues har man läm- liserad på exklusiv och hypermodern tande, elektrisk rytm. Ibland stannar to- nat de fräcka effekterna. Den är lugn och dansmusik och älskad av staden jazz- nen, utdragen som ett tuggummi. klar som luften över bergen. En svag, ljus ungdom och jazzmusikanter bad jag att Sloppy Joe är bluesbetonad. En trött trumpet, ett lätt pianissimo. få höra på det allra senaste. herre stönar långt och rytmiskt. Klarinet- En annan bra blues är Bundle of Blues. En Naturligtvis var det Duke Ellington. ten drillar ovanligt gällt och fräckt mot foxtrot med en lätt, flytande rytm är Hyde Denna kolsvarta herre, som Park. Den har något av plötsligt erövrat världen den vårdade galoppen med sin hot music med sitt hos fina hästar på pro- iskallt medvetna, koketta menadritt. och djävulska utnyttjande av oljud. Hans negerorkester har en rytm och en barnslig glädje att föra oväsen som Ellingtonbandet kommer det att rycka i de anländer till mest förstockade knäveck. Waterloo Station, När Duke Ellington var i London togs han emot med London, 1933 ovationer som en Garbo och en musikkritiker skrev om honom: ”Hans musik är inte en orgie, det är ett vetenskap- ligt applicerande av en noga utmätt och farlig stimulans.”

15 Duke Nya CD-skivor Ellington’s European Glädjande nog har vi i flera av de senaste Thing-Be Cool And Groovy For Me)/Satin tour 1948 Doll/R.T.M./In Triplicate into Satin Doll Bulletinerna kunnat anmäla nyutgivna In the Bulletin 4/2015 on page 13 was skivor med Duke Ellington, och denna gång an article about recordings made by the kan vi presentera ytterligare två nyheter Ellington group during the tour. It was för våra läsare. Den första har getts ut av said that the conference CD issued 1997 Storyville och är betitlad contained a recording of Take The ”A”

DUKE ELLINGTON Train made in July 1948. However, Roger & His Orchestra – Rotterdam 1969 Boyes has made us aware of the fact that research has proved that the recording actually emanates from a telecast from Liverpool on October 17, 1958. Duke is joined by Malcolm Mitchell g., and Russ Stableford b. We stand corrected.

Elvin chez Duke - Jazz European Tour – January 1966 Maison du Duke MDD-007 Humour är titeln på en ny CD som givits ut av vår Dad: franska systerförening och endast kanin- Your mother says she’ll leave Under Europaturnén 1969 uppträdde or- handlas av föreningens medlemmar. Det kestern i en mångfald länder i Europa, som är unikt med denna skiva är att El- me if I don’t quit buying bl. a. i Sverige och som i detta fall De vin Jones spelar med i stället för Louie Duke Ellington records. Doelen, Rotterdam, där två konserter Bellson som inte följde med på turnén. genomfördes den 7:e november. Här rör Dessutom finns ytterligare en trumsla- Son: det sig om den sena konserten, som är gare med, Skeets Marsh. De två spelar That’s tough, dad. nästan fullständig. Repertoaren är den att döma av den fina ljudupptagningen för turnén gängse, och innehåller inga samtidigt, men en del överraskande Dad: speciella överraskningar, men det skall markeringar och effekter, liksom extra Yes, we shall miss her. sägas att ljudkvalitén är ypperlig och tyngd och drive torde kunna tillskrivas att medföljande skivfolder är intressant Jones. Inspelningen är gjord vid en kon- och välskriven och författad av vår dans- sert i Salle Pleyel i Paris den 29 januari ke DESS-medlem Bjarne Busk. Ett num- 1966, och innehåller musik från både den mer som bör nämnas är ”Black Butterfly” första och andra konserten denna afton, som tagits till heder igen efter många års samt en inspelning av Ad Lib On Nippon Nya frånvaro och framförs på ett förtjänstfullt gjord kvällen innan i Frankfurt. medlemmar sätt. Skivan finns nu ute i näthandeln och bör inte vara svår att få tag på. Skivan har följande innehåll: DESS hälsar följande Take The A Train/Medley (Black & Tan Fan­ nya medlemmar välkomna i vår Låtlistan är som följer: tasy-Creole Love Call-The Mooche)/Chelsea illustra förening Take The A Train (theme)& C Jam Blues/Kin­ Bridge/El Viti/La Plus Belle Africaine/Trom­ Jan Leonard, Djursholm da Dukish & Rockin’ In Rhythm/Take The bonio-Bustoso-Issimo(Trombone Buster)/ A Train/Up Jump/La Plus Belle Africaine/ Passion Flower/Things Ain’t What They Torgil Rosenberg, Täby Come Off The Veldt/El Gato/Black Butterfly/ Used To Be/Wings And Things/Take The A Things Ain’t What They Used To Be/Don’t Train/Ad Lib On Nippon DESS behöver fler medlemmar. Get Around Much Anymore/Medley#1 Inspirera Dina vänner och bekanta

(Mood Indigo-Sophisticated Lady)/Medley att också vara med! #2 (Making That Scene-It Don’t Mean A Anders Asplund

16 Elvin chez Duke Albumtexten till CDn Elvin chez Duke ger utförligare och närmare uppgifter om omständigheterna kring Elvin Jones korta gästspel hos Duke Ellington. Claude Carrière har skrivit texten som här återges i förkortad översättning från franska.

I november 1965 bestämde sig John ruska om ”gamlingarna” i orkestern (och före de fyra dagarna i Europa hos Duke, Coltrane för att börja spela med dubbla det är sant, det finns vittnesmål om hur 10-11/1 på inspelningen av Earl Hines trumslagare. Rashied Ali engagerades Duke, Gonsalves och ytterligare några få förnämliga album Once Upon a Time för att komplettera Elvin Jones. De pro- gladdes medan vissa andra inte var så (prod Bob Thiele, Impulse A-9108) där blem som uppstod ledde snabbt till slu- roade). Problemet för Jones var emeller- också flera av Dukes dåvarande musiker tet för Coltranes historiska kvartett. Ali tid att han åter befann sig som hos Col- utgjorde stommen i bandet: Johnny Hod- och Jones fungerade dåligt tillsammans, trane, som en av två trumslagare. ges, Lawrence Brown, Russell Procope, både personligen och musikaliskt. Dess- Elvin anslöt till orkestern i Frankfurt Jimmy Hamilton, Paul Gonsalves, Bus- utom var Jones och pianisten McCoy 28/1. Efter konserten där framträdde de ter Cooper, Cat Anderson; dessutom ti- Tyner båda emot att avlägsna sig från i Paris 29/1 (två konserter i Salle Pleyel), digare och senare bandmedlemmar: Ray den regelbundna rytm som båda kände dagen därpå i Milano (dessa tre dagar Nance, Clark Terry, Harold Ashby, Bill för. De var (som bl a Coltrane-biografen svarade Ella Fitzgerald med trio och Berry, Aaron Bell och Sonny Greer – som Lewis Porter riktigt påpekat) inga free blåsarna i Dukes orkester för konsertens alternerade med Elvin). Elvin karakte- form-musiker. Tyner slutade först, i no- andra del). Situationen löstes upp 31/1. riserades vid tillfället som ”a hell off a vember -65. Ali ersattes av Frank Butler, Efter nästa konsert i Geneve återvände drummer” av Procope, även om han lite men för Jones kvarstod problemen; i ja- Jones till New York, medan Duke kal- senare rimligen hörde till de äldre som nuari -66 accepterade han ett erbjudande lade in Sam Woodyard som vilade ut vädrade visst missnöje enligt Carrières från Ellington. Efter ett framträdande i hos familjen i Boston och nu anslöt sig albumtext. Hines-skivan är en höjdare, San Francisco tog han planet till Frank- till truppen i Basel 2/2.* Hela sällskapet som när den kom lite sensationellt visa- furt för att ansluta till DE som turnerade återkom till Salle Pleyel den 11/2 mycket de hur förnämligt Elvin kunde spela mer i Europa sedan tre dagar. nöjda med att alla störningar under den- traditionellt svängigt, tungt och drivan- Louie Bellson hade varit Dukes trum- na episod nu hade lett till ordning igen de än man visste. Han skulle passa hos mis från slutet av juli -65 som ersättare med den oersättlige Sam Woodyard på Duke!, minns jag att jag tänkte då, och för en utarbetad Woodyard. Inför Euro- plats med sina magiska trumstockar! tycker fortfarande även om Woodyards paturnén lämnade han bandet för att spe- (Almbumtexten berättar därefter lite om tyvärr korta och upphackade återkomst la med hustrun, sångerskan Pearl Bailey de olika numren på skivan, vilket inte re- fram till -68 naturligtvis var det allra och ersattes av ”den värderade trumsla- fereras här.) bästa. Redan tidigare hade Duke faktiskt garen” Skeets Marsh från Philadelphia. också spelat med Elvin Jones, i slutet av *Anm: Tveksam uppgift, troligen Zurich, där (1974 åter i Europa med Count Basies 1962 på den skiva Duke och Coltrane man spelade 2/2, i Basel dagen därpå. Däref­ orkester). Efter konserterna i Lissabon gjorde tillsammans och där Jones alter- ter gick turnén vidare bl a till Sverige. och Barcelona 24-25/1 var Ellington föga nerade med Woodyard. tillfreds med Marshs spel och tillkallade Intressant att notera i detta sammanhang: Elvin Jones; inte för att ersätta Marsh Ellington torde ha haft aktuell informa- utan för att assistera! Samt, utan tvivel, tion om Elvin Jones och hans kapacitet; och i hemlighet, för att roa sig med att Jones medverkade nämligen en kort tid Claes Englund 17 att höra Armstrong framföra Azalea. 1990 kom Roulette ut med CD-boxen ”The Complete Louis Armstrong & Duke El- lington Sessions” (CDP-7938442) med Azalea alla nummer plus andratagningar. Azalea är en krukväxt som i Sverige är oftast Vid Ellingtonkonferensen i Stockholm förekommande på fönsterbräden. Den förekommer dock också i 2004 var George Avakian inbjuden som buskform i trädgårdar och i varmare klimat växer den vilt. föredragshållaren och han hade som Den är släkt med Rhododendron och är synnerligen giftig. I äldre ämne valt ”Louis Armstrong, Guest Ar- tist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra” kinesisk poesi kallas den för ”Thinking of home bush”. med underrubriken ”The recording that Staden Sao Paulo i Brasilien har den som sin stadssymbol. never came about”. När Avakian var I flera amerikanska sydstater har man årliga azalea-festivaler. inspelningschef på Columbia hade han Men vad har detta med Duke Ellington att göra? som ambition att få till stånd en inspel- ning med Armstrong och Ellington till- Förbindelsen med Duke Ellington är det mofoninspelning för Columbia. Ar- sammans. Av olika anledningar kunde faktum att han 1946 eller 1947 kompo- rangemanget är till vissa delar nytt och detta inte genomföras. nerade en melodi som han gav namnet man kan höra kortare inpass av Jimmy Senare i sin karriär fick Avakian iupp - Azalea. Den spelades inte ofta och i New Hamilton. Sångare är nu Lloyd Oldham, drag att sätta samman en 3-CD-box med DESOR finns den endast registrerad vid som endast medverkade i bandet en olika Armstronginspelningar i kronolo- tre tillfällen. Det första är från den 10 juni kort tid. När man hör hans insats kan gisk ordning. En medarbetare föreslog 1947 då Duke Ellington gjorde en serie man lätt förstå varför han inte fick fort- då Azalea men Avakians kommentar inspelningar för Capitol Radio var ”Oh, nobody ever heard of Transcriptions. Vid tillfället ersat- it before, and the melody is hard tes Ellington av Billy Strayhorn to follow and Duke’s lyrics are vid pianot. Numret är en feature not exactly professional”. Men för barytonsångaren Chester efter ingående diskussioner och Crumpler som framför Ellingtons studium visade det sig att med egen text med ett kortare avbrott stor sannolikhet hade Ellington för ett trumpetsolo troligen av Ha- komponerat melodin 1946 med rold Baker. Skivproducenten Wal- Louis Armstrong i tankarna. I ly Heider köpte rättigheten att ge Armstrongs biografi ”Swing ut dessa Capitolinspelningar på That Music” (sid. 19-22) be- sitt LP-märke Hindsight men han skriver Louis hur han i unga år valde att välja bort Azalea. Hans råkar somna in bland azaleor. förklaring var att han inte upp- Avakian beskriver det ”Duke’s skattade Crumplers sätt att fram- lyrics parallel a very poetic de- föra numret och han ansåg dessutom att satt engagemang. CBS gav naturligtvis scription by Louis about falling asleep melodin var en undermålig komposition inte ut denna inspelning men franska in an azalea swamp during a Boys av Ellington och inte värd att ingå i sam- CBS hade fått en kopia och gav 1983 ut Home picnic.” lingen. Det är självklart Heiders högst inspelningen i sin serie ”The Complete Avakian berättar vidare; “Azalea is a personlig uppfattning men en samlare Duke Ellington 1947-1952” (CBS 66607). very difficult song. Dan Morgenstern, tycker naturligtvis att i en samlingsutgå- Dessförinnan hade den även getts ut på who was at the session, told me how va bör allt material ingå. Smak är något Up-To-Date 2004. Louis did it in two takes. The first take som bör överlåtas på lyssnaren. Denna misslyckade inspelning torde was pretty good, and you can hear it be- Bland samlare cirkulerar en inspelning ha lett till att Ellington nu definitivt tog cause it was finally released. On the se- som inte är registrerad i New DESOR. bort numret ur sin repertoar och kanske cond take Pops nailed it!” Det är en liveinspelning från Ciro’s i Los föll det i glömska. Men 1961 händer nå- Eddie Lambert har följande att säga om Angeles den 7 augusti 1947. Den skiljer got som gör att kompositionen Azalea Rouletteinspelningarna i sin “Listener’s sig inte mycket från den föregående in- är värd att uppmärksamma. Då gjorde Guide”: “The repertoire is mainly taken spelningen. skivbolaget Roulette en inspelning med from Ellington’s output as a songwriter, Azalea är mycket vacker som melodi Louis Armstrong och Duke Ellington with C Jam Blues masquerading as Duke’s betraktat men många har uttryckt sitt tillsammans. Det var Armstrongs or- Place and Azalea, a little known ballad missnöje över texten. Ellington var en kester plus Ellington som genomgående from the forties, the only surprise. This avsevärt bättre kompositör än textförfat- spelade in Ellingtonkompositioner. Den last item has just about the poorest ly- tare. Han hade säkert väntat sig något första LPn med titeln “L. Armstrong and rics – written by Ellington himself – of bättre av kompositionen men i brist på D. Ellington together for the first time” any Ducal song. They are the epitome uppskattning tycks den ha tagits ur re- (R-52074) innehöll inte Azalea. Det var of that overblown, overcolored manner pertoaren. Men den 11 december 1951 först 1964 när man gav ut “The Great Re- which characterized Ellington’s verbal tas melodin till nåder igen vid en gram- union” (R-52103) som man fick möjlighet expression at its worst. Fortunately they

18 are quite overshadowed by Armstrong’s majestic statement of the theme.” I inlägget i Roulettes CD-box skriver Dan Morgenstern: “Duke mustered up Recension av the courage to pull out a lead sheet for Azalea. He pulled up a chair, sat down facing Louis, and held up the words and Dess CD 3 music. Louis donned his horn-rimmed Hösten 2015 gav DESS ut sin turns in a superlative performance glasses, smiled that matchless smile, and tredje CD till medlemmarna. on Guitar Amour, with a cha cha cha, began to hum and sing. An expert sight- from the soundtrack of Paris Blues. reader, he soon had the melody down. Den innehöll Duke Ellingtons On Cop Out & Cop Out Extension, ev- The lyric, even with Duke having moved första konsert i Stockholms eryone in the band, except the rhythm to the piano, was a bit challenging, but Konserthus den 6 februari 1963. section, steps back and lets Paul Gon- it, too, fell into place. As all this was ta- Ett exemplar av skivan skickades salves just play and play – joy oh joy. king shape, Ellington was positively bea- Up tempo Jam With Sam has Carney ming, and when a take had been made, till den amerikanska föreningen back to lead the group, but he’s soon he was ecstatic. If indeed he’d had Louis The International Association of joined by Buster Cooper, Procope and in mind when he created this hothouse Jazz Record Collectors (IAJRC). trumpeters Burrowes and Anderson, conceit, he had chosen properly, for no Föreningen publicerar kvartalsvis with Anderson schrieking at the end. one else could have made it credible but Stompy Jones is smooth and relaxed the incredible Mr. Strong.” en mycket läsvärd tidning, The and the two Cootie numbers just ooze Efter alla synpunkter på sångtexten till IAJRC Journal, och i december­ his muted horn, one over a measured Azalea torde det vara lämpligast att här numret 2015 kunde man läsa en tempo and one over a shuffle. The återge den: recension av vår CD författad av lushness of Johnny Hodges fills Star Crossed Lovers and Dancers In Love is It was such a fine spring day Bob Reny. Valda delar återges här: all Ellington, an encore, that is delight- down Louisiana way fully light and frothy. There are two The Duke Ellington Society of Sweden With fragrance, divine very familiar chestnuts – Things Ain’t released another winner – this time and such magnificent regalia, … and Do Nothing …, the last the only live recordings of the orchestra from Azalea vocal in the concert and sung by Milt 1963 when Duke was visiting Sweden. Oh what a lovely sight Grayson, a baritone with a Eckstine I find the CD fascinating because it in red and pink and white kind of voice. Can’t help, but believe captures a complete concert – just as presented – with Duke introducing This is the second DESS disc we’ve that nothin’ evil can assail ya reviewed and, like the first, it’s only So naive, Azalea the titles and making witty comments about each soloist. There were two distributed to members of the Duke concerts in the Concert Hall on that Ellington Society of Sweden. But you You were at ease, on the knees can join the Society and then receive of the moss covered trees date and this recording captures the first one in its entirety. this CD and all that follow. The Soci- whose tops meant to make ety also issues an impressive quarterly A quick check with Tom Lord’s Jazz a high ceiling glossy magazine on Ellington that has Discography shows no new material, in the church-like clump enough articles in English to make it most of it was recorded at one time or of a cypress swamp worth your membership fee, the last another, but these versions have the I’ve yet to get that same issues featured articles on Clark Ter- added zip of a live performance and strange feeling ry and Freddy Jenkins. If interested, little nuances that make them a little please contact Bo Haufman, e-mail: different from the studio takes. I’ve got to go back there [email protected] for details on and find that blossom fair Just poking around, you’ve got Jim- how to join. If you love Ellington, talk I always dream of my Hamilton playing Silk Lace against to Bo. a very busy background, Cat Ander- Because with you Vi, och inte minst vice ordföran- son’s pyrothechnics on Eighth Veil, who could be a failure den, känner oss hedrade av de upp- Lawrence Brown and Harry Carney My first love, Azalea skattande orden. DESS har nu en ny working Pyramid with Latin under- CD planerad för distribution i höst och Det är inte många andra artister som tones and Carney blowing the cob- vi är övertygade om att även den kom- spelat in Azalea. I diskografierna hittat webs away. mer att bli en ”winner”. man ungefär ett dussin, bl.a. med Sonny Duke and his men play the Asphalt Rollins, Butch Miles och Randy Sandke. Jungle Theme in a shuffle cadence (he George Avakians kåseri kan läsas i dess wrote the music for the TV show in helhet i Bulletin 3 och 4/2008. 1961) but the outcome pales compared DESS to the other cuts. Ray Nance on violin Bo Haufman

19 Posttidning B Duke Ellington Society of Sweden c/o Leif Jönsson, Anbudsvägen 15 187 50 TÄBY

KALLELSE! Duke Duke Ellington Society of Sweden hälsar sina medlemmar välkomna till årets andra Ellington medlemsmöte den 9 maj. Society Bosse Tigrén of Sweden, DESS

ISSN 1400-8831

DESS PLATS: c/o Leif Jönsson Anbudsvägen 15, 187 50 TÄBY Franska Skolans Aula, 08 - 51 05 03 14, 0706 22 88 16 Döbelnsgatan 3, Stockholm. Du har väl inte [email protected] Portkod för kvällen: 0905 Entrén öppen fr. kl. 17.00. glömt att betala Redaktionsgrupp: Entréavgift: 100:- i kontanter Din medlemsavgift. Bo Haufman, Närmaste T-banestation: Hötorget Claes Englund, Claes Brodda, Glöm ej portkoden som Thomas Harne, endast gäller för denna kväll. Den är viktig för Ulf Callius (layout) Kommer Du inte in så ring: vår verksamhet. 070-622 88 16, 070-540 70 09. Bankgiro: PROGRAM: Vänligen sätt in 211-3207 250:- på DESS 17.30 - 18.30 Hemsida: Thomas Erikson – DESS-medlem bankgiro: 211-3207. med ett gediget kunnande om www.ellington.se Duke Ellington och hans musik kåserar på temat Joe ”Tricky Sam” Vi tackar! PayPal account: Nanton. [email protected] 18.30 – 19.00 Har Du inte betalat Paus med möjlighet till mingel DESS medlemsavgift och inköp av öl/vin och wraps, är detta den sista är per kalenderår: 30:-/st. Bulletin Du får och Inom Norden 250 kr Obs! Endast kontanter gäller. det vore väl synd 19.00 – 20.15 att gå miste om in- Membership outside Scandinavia För kvällens musikaliska inslag annual fee USD 40 svara en trio under ledning av Bos- tressanta framtida se Tigrén på klarinett assisterad av nummer och nästa Vid köp hos DESS, använd vårt bankgiro: 211-3207 Joel Svensson gitarr och Eirik Lund CD-utgåva!! bas. Repertoaren kommer att bestå av mainstream jazz och självklart med inslag av Duke Ellington. Tidsangivelserna är ungefärliga.

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