5. Duke Ellington in Cleveland Cleveland Press I CSU Archives Duke Ellington and his orchestra at Cleveland's Palace Theatre in 1937. Front row (L-R): Freddie Guy, Barney Bigard, Johnny Hodges, Otto Hardwick and Harry Carney. Second row: Rex Stewart, Ray Nance, Arthur Whetsol, Joe Nanton, Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown. Back row: Billy Taylor, Sonny Greer and Hayes Alvis. (Note two bassists) dward Kennedy Ellington was probably the most Clevelander Noble Sissie, the son of the pastor of creative force in jazz history. For more than 40 Cleveland's Cory Methodist Church, who opened the Eyears, he made monumental contributions as a door for Ellington and other black entertainers by composer, arranger, pianist and bandleader in a variety producing an all-black Broadway review, Shuffle Along, of musical forms. Christoph von Dohnanyi, the world in 1921. famous classical conductor and the music director ofthe When Ellington, a native ofWashington, D.C., went Cleveland Orchestra, told me in 1985 that he believed to New York, he met violinist and orchestra leader Will Ellington was "one ofthe really great people in music." Marion Cook. Ellington said Cook was one of his Ellington biographer John Edward Hasse said it was strongest musical influences. He called him "Dad Cook" and said the Oberlin graduate gave him lectures in music. But, according to Ellington, the most important thing Cook told him was, "Don't try to be anybody else but yourself," advice that Ellington followed throughout his career. Ellington had many local connections. When he was leading his band at Harlem's Cotton Club in 1928, he hired a four-foot ten-inch left-handed trumpet player from Ohio' s Wilberforce University. Freddy Jenkins was the first ofa number ofOhioans who would perform with Ellington. From 1931 until his death in 1974, Ellington made more than 40 appearances in Northeast Ohio, frequently for extended engagements. Freddy Jenkins playing with the Ellington band Duke Ellington in Cleveland 33 Ellington's opening at the Palace the reviewer said, "I'll wager the guess that there's more After attracting wide attention for four years at the originality and worthy experimentation in it than in half Cotton Club, making his first hit recording, "Mood of the 'new music' that is offered in a season by the Indigo," in October of 1930, and recording the music for Cleveland Orchestra." a movie, Check and Double Check, Ellington set out in Later in the week, there were reports of"phenomenal 1931 with his orchestra on his first national tour. business at the RKO Palace this week." A July 9 story Beginning February 13, 1931, they played for a month in the Cleveland News said, "The crowds not only in Chicago and moved on to Detroit, Omaha, follow this dispensation of jazz and syncopation, they Minneapolis, Des Moines, Denver, Kansas City, St. demand more and more of it." Bell said, "Duke has the Louis, Indianapolis, Toronto, Philadelphia, Toledo, and, best band of its kind to be heard anywhere." during the week ofJuly 4, at the RKO Palace Theatre at In a newspaper interview, Ellington said, "When I'm East 17th and Euclid in downtown Cleveland. making my arrangements or composing something new, Ellington and his orchestra played half-a-dozen 1 try to think of something that will make my hearers performances a day at the 3,100-seat theatre. They feel like dancing. The desire to step around a little played between showings ofa movie called Ex-Bad Boy means that people are not bothered very much about the and newsreel film of the heavily-promoted July 3 Max cares ofthe world, at least for the moment." Schmeling-Young Stribling boxing match, the first event at the brand new Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Other performances in the 1930s In the depths of the Depression, when 100,000 Seven months after that first engagement in Clevelanders were unemployed, tickets for the Ellington Cleveland, Ellington returned to Chicago and made his performances were 35¢ for evening performances and first recording of"It Don't Mean a Thinglflt Ain't Got 25¢ for matinees. That Swing." The record, featuring singer Anderson, The 1931 orchestra consisted of trumpeters Artie and solos by Nanton and Hodges, became a sensation in Whetsol, Freddie Jenkins and Cootie Williams; 1932, five years before before Benny Goodman was trombonists Joe "Sam" Nanton and Juan Tizol; hailed as "The King of Swing." In a later Cleveland saxophonists Harry Carney, Barney Bigard and Johnny interview, Ellington said his band had been exploiting Hodges; guitarist Freddie Guy; drummer Sonny Greer; for years a style characterized by "swing," which he said and Ellington on piano. was a Harlem word for rhythm. After the Cleveland opening, a Plain Dealer reviewer Bolstered by his great success in 1931, Ellington wrote, "Duke Ellington Burns 'Em Up!" Ward Marsh returned to the Palace Theatre in Cleveland for another said Ellington's tunes "rush at you with a kind of week beginning June 11, 1932. Trombonist Lawrence frenzied madness, spiced with tricky rhythms and Brown and saxophonist Otto "Toby" Hardwick joined garnished with strange, half-eerie tonal backgrounds. the musicians who had been in Cleveland the previous They ripple and swell through the house with their year. Ellington was playing a number of engagements flashing, artful way of almost completely submerging around the country at theatres like the Palace. But, the melody to give you effects and colors no other when he was interviewed by the Cleveland Press, orchestra seems to have been able to do." Ellington said, "Every once in a while, I drop out of Archie Bell, writing in the Cleveland News two days theatres for a week or a few weeks and play dance after the opening, said, "Duke Ellington and his Cotton engagements. That wakes up the boys and they get back Club Orchestra are star-lined and they bring along a into form. It works like magic." remarkable newcomer, (singer) Ivie Anderson." Bell The Ellington band returned to Cleveland two said she "has a great individual style of shouting her months later to playa dance engagement August 4, 1932 songs that carries them across the footlights with the at the Crystal Slipper Ballroom at 9802 Euclid A venue. skill of a song recitalist who aims to tell a complete The Crystal Slipper, which had opened in 1924, could story and establish a distinct mood by each selection." accommodate 4,000 dancers. Two years after the Bell wrote that Ellington's new vocalist "takes her place Ellington Orchestra first played there, the name was with Ethel Waters and Adelaide Hall." changed to the Trianon Ballroom after a famous dance Anderson later remembered, "When I first joined his hall in Chicago. band, 1 was just an ordinary singer of popular songs. The Ellington band made its third 1932 appearance Duke suggested 1 fmd a 'character' and maintain it." in Northeast Ohio when it played for a December 27, Reviewing the instrumentalists, Bell said trombonist 1932 dance at the Land O'Dance Ballroom in Canton. Nanton ''tells a tearful story in something so like a human It was a new ballroom at 12th and Market and featured voice that it is almost uncanny as well as amusing." many national and local orchestras. The owner, W.H. Praising the band's playing of "Black and Tan Fantasy," Perry, charged 75¢ for admission. 34 Cleveland Jazz History Ellington made his first tour of Europe in 1933. It exploding in popularity. was followed by tours ofNew England and the South. When Ellington returned to He returned to Cleveland with his orchestra for Cleveland for another one-week another week at the Palace Theatre beginning March 22, engagement at the Palace Theatre 1935. August 6, 1937, the band played When he came to Cleveland in the 1930s, Ellington between showings of a movie and the members of his band frequently went out after called Marry the Girl. A young their stage shows or dances to Cleveland after-hours comic from Mansfield was also clubs to hear local jazz. Duke first heard pianist Art on the bill. He later borrowed Tatum at Val's in the Alley near East 86th and Cedar. some money from the theatre Langston Hughes Veteran Cleveland saxophonist Willie Smith recalled manager, went to Hollywood and that "Duke and the guys in the band came down to the a year later, appeared in his first film. His name was SDCH&Y Club (at East 40th and Woodland) because Red Skelton. they knew this is where all the musicians would be after Ellington and his orchestra returned to the Palace the 12 o'clock at night." week ofOctober 7, 1938,just after playing at the Apollo The band returned to the area in May of 1935. They Theatre in New York City. did a stage show at the Palace Theatre in Youngstown On November 25, 1938, a month after his sixth week­ May 11 and a dance at Cleveland' s big Public long run at the Palace Theatre, Ellington and the band Auditorium at East 6th and Lakeside May 15. Public played for a Friday night dance at the Trianon Ballroom Auditorium was the huge downtown hall where where they had Republican National Conventions nominated Calvin performed six years Coolidge for president in 1924 and AlfLandon in 1936. earlier when it was DIXIE ECHO CLUB Tickets for the Ellington dance were $1. called the Crystal V. Tutlt.olle' I"ra. Slipper. A newspaper Presents promotional article DANCE said, "Made popular by radio, Duke and his DUKE ELLINGTON musicians have created PUBLIC AUDITORIUM a sensation in theatres MAIN HALL and ballrooms from TONIGHT coast to coast, as well as $1.00 Pl::R PERSO:"J in Europe.