THE INTERNATIONAL DEMS BULLETIN DUKE ELLINGTON MUSIC SOCIETY 05/2 August-November 2005 Our 27th Year of Publication. FOUNDER: BENNY AASLAND HONORARY MEMBER: FATHER JOHN GARCIA GENSEL EDITOR: SJEF HOEFSMIT ASSISTED BY: ROGER BOYES

Voort 18b, 2328 Meerle, Belgium
Telephone: +32 3 315 75 83
Email: dems@skynet.be

Lillian Strayhorn Dicks

DEMS 05/2-1

I had the great pleasure of meeting Billy Strayhorn's youngest sister in 1993 at the Ellington conference in New York. She took part in a panel discussion with members of the Strayhorn family. In 1995 she was a very active member of the Strayhorn group which organised the Ellington conference in Pittsburgh. I have met her on several Ellington conferences since. She was a DEMS member. She was a typical Strayhorn. She was graceful, gentle, intelligent and friendly. It was a real pleasure to have met her and her family.
She died on 4Apr05 in Freeport, NY at age 74. She is survived by her husband, Howard, and a daughter.
Sjef Hoefsmit

We lost three of the finest bassists.

In less than a fortnight we lost Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (19Apr05), Jimmy Woode (23Apr) and Percy Heath(30Apr).

DEMS 05/2-2

Jimmy Woode was one of Duke's great bass-players. He was featured in almost every concert as the soloist in Satin Doll. He was together with Sam Woodyard in a large part responsible for the huge success at Newport in 1956. Jimmy attended several of the Ellington conferences. He was a great raconteur and he made himself many friends. Like many other American jazz musicians, he spent a great part of his career in Europe. Jimmy had a severe stomach operation early in April. He died of cancer in his home at Lindenwold, NJ. Isabelle Durivaux gave me in May the following details:
"Jimmy had five children. Jimmy Bryant Woode III deceased like 20 years ago. His other son Patrick Bergmans lives in Berlin. Jimmy’s 3 daughters are Anne Frederickson who lives in Stockholm, Deidre Woode who lives partly in Italy, partly in Santa Barbara, Ca. and Shawnn Hueldig Monteiro, who lives in Boston. Shawnn is Jimmy’s eldest child. She is a singer. Among other ones, she recorded a wonderful CD live with Jimmy, Clark Terry and Jimmy Cobb. Jimmy's wives died. Jimmy's father, Jimmy Bryant Woode Sr., pianist, might have died last month [Apr05] in Stockholm a friend told me. I know he had a heart attack last year."
There is little doubt about the day that Jimmy was born: 23Sep. The year however is uncertain. 1926, 1927 and 1928 have been mentioned. We would welcome a confirmation to set the record straight.
The pencil drawing of Jimmy was made by the Swiss painter Georges Wenger. We have not been able to contact him in order to have permission for publishing his drawing of Jimmy. We hope he doesn’t mind.**

Trumpeter Benny Bailey

DEMS 05/2-5

Benny Bailey played for one week (7-15Nov69) in the Ellington band during Duke's European tour when he replaced Ambrose Jackson in the fifth chair of the trumpet section. He even soloed in the encores in Berlin (8Nov) and in the opening number of the second concert in Köln (10Nov). I saw him in Rotterdam, during two concerts on 7Nov. He may have been too briefly in the Ellington band to warrant a mention as an Ellingtonian, but nevertheless, he was there. He didn't seem to remember this very well. According to Steve Voce's obituary Benny Bailey said: "I just never listened to Duke Ellington or the older musicians. I had my hands full keeping up with Bop, which was pretty fast action. It's only in more recent years," he said during the Eighties "that I've gotten to appreciate Duke and Billy Strayhorn."
Benny was one of those American musicians who preferred to work in Europe. He lived in Sweden, in Switzerland and finally in the Netherlands. He appeared onstage on the closing night of the old BIM house in Amsterdam in Nov04.
On 14Apr05, a call came from England to the police in Amsterdam to inquire about Benny Bailey. He was found dead in his house. He must have died several days earlier. It had not occurred to his neighbours that something was wrong, since they were used to Benny being away on tour for several days. When he was at home they could hear him practice late in the evening, when they came home.
Because the Social Service couldn’t find his family or friends, an advertisement was placed in the paper of 29Apr. Soon afterwards many friends came forward. At first his funeral was scheduled for 3May, but in order to make it possible for his family and friends in the USA to attend the service, the cremation took place a week later, on 10May05. Benny was 79 years old. He had been married and he leaves two sisters who attended the service.
Sjef Hoefsmit

Wally Schaap

DEMS 05/2-6

Each of the few times I went to NYC for an Ellington conference, Wally called me in my hotel room to welcome me in NYC. He spoke for the occasion Dutch and many times during the conferences when we met, he asked me: "Hoe gaat het met je?".
Walter Schaap who belongs to the pre-war researchers in jazz, died on 29May05 on the age of 88 years. He joined George Avakian in assisting Charles Delaunay to compile his New Hot Discography. His son, Phil, inherited Walter’s good taste and enthusiasm for Jazz. I offer Phil my sincere condolences. I will always remember his father as a most generous gentleman. I am proud to share with him my Dutch origin.
Sjef Hoefsmit

Pierre Michelot

DEMS 05/2-7

The great French bassist died on Sunday 3Jul05. He suffered from Altzheimer's. He was 77.
Steve Voce**

Pierre Michelot accompanied Duke Ellington, Stéphane Grappelli, Michel Legrand and Gus Wallez on 3Jan73 during an appearance for the French television ORTF. This may not have been enough to call him an Ellingtonian. He was however an important jazz musician from French origin who accompanied many American musicians, like Chet Baker, Miles Davis, Benny Golson, Dexter Gordon, Clifford Brown and Bud Powell.
DEMS**

The next Duke Ellington Conference

DEMS 05/2-8

Just after Bulletin 05/1 came out, we received the message through the Apr05 edition of the TDES Newsletter, that the next conference cannot be held in New York next year. The president, Ray Carman, wrote: "We believe that we will not be able to deliver a quality program and key personnel. Regretfully, at this time, I must pull the plug on the conference. This has been a very painful decision."
DEMS

John Franceschina

DEMS 05/2-9

The College of Arts and Architecture has nominated Distinguished Professor of Theatre John Franceschina for The Pennsylvania State University’s prestigious Faculty Scholar Medal in the Arts and Humanities.
Dan Carter, director of the School of Theatre, asked me (as editor of DEMS) for a letter in support of Professor Franceschina’s nomination. I have sent him photo copies of the articles in DEMS Bulletin in which Franceschina has been mentioned, the most important of which was the Stefano Zenni review of John’s book "Duke Ellington’s Music for the Theatre" in Bulletin 01/2-12/3. We are very pleased with this award for the author of such an important addition to Duke’s library. (See also 00/2-17/1; 01/1-5/6; 02/2-14/1; 02/3-24/1; 02/3-25 p267; 03/3-18; 04/2-18 and 04/3-58.)
Sjef Hoefsmit**

Clark Terry

DEMS 05/2-10

Clark Terry has won the 2005 Jazz Award of the Jazz Journalists Association as Trumpeter of the Year.
That’s rather late, if we may say so.
DEMS**

EDITION WILHELM HANSEN ACQUIRES STORYVILLE RECORDS

DEMS 05/2-11

Storyville Records, one of the world’s great jazz labels, has been acquired by Edition Wilhelm Hansen, part of The Music Sales Group.
Storyville began life over 50 years ago when legendary Danish jazz enthusiast Karl Emil Knudsen began releasing rare or exceptional recordings by jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong and The Red Onion Jazz Babies. Many of these tracks were initially licensed from the UK label Tempo which had a similar vision of making great jazz recordings more widely available.
Later Knudsen would expand Storyville’s catalogue by recording many American jazz performers when they were on tour in Europe and Scandinavia: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Clark Terry, Benny Carter, Roland Hanna to name a few.
Danish jazz stars such as Papa Bue & His Viking Jazz Band and Fessors Big City Band were later added to the Storyville roster.
Storyville Records, named after the notorious New Orleans neighbourhood where jazz was born, remained a vibrant force into the 1990s, venturing into modern jazz, re-releasing over 300 revival tracks by among others Chris Barber and gaining exclusive rights to release many of Duke Ellington’s previously unreleased recordings.
By September 2003 when Karl Emil Knudsen, the self-styled "Doctor of Jazz Archaeology", passed away, his Storyville label was considered by jazz fans to be a prestigious Scandinavian equivalent to America’s Blue Note Records.
Now the acquisition of Storyville by Wilhelm Hansen means that, with the support of The Music Sales Group, it will be possible to digitize the entire catalogue and make it widely available on CDs to be sold online.
Music Sales Chairman and Managing Director Robert Wise says "I am sure Karl Emil Knudsen would have been delighted to know that his precious Storyville catalogue will now become available to an even wider audience and, I hope, to a whole new generation of jazz aficionados".
Edition Wilhelm Hansen, Tine Birger Christensen

We hope sincerely that this is "good" news. We wonder if Edition Wilhelm Hansen will continue Karl Emil’s policy to look first and foremost to the musical importance of his editions and not only to the expected commercial success. If so, we will be happy to recommend to DEMS Bulletin readers to buy Storyville records even if they wouldn’t have done so anyway, to support one of the few serious producers of serious Jazz music.
DEMS

DEMS 05/2-12

It is amazing. Not only is there a continuos stream of re-issues of the highest quality, like Jean-Claude Göttings booklet plus double CD (see 05/2-31) but also an amazing number of so called "fresh" recordings has recently popped up.
Not only has Steven Lasker found take -B of Jive Stomp from 15Aug33 (B13801B) but he also found 16" acetates with three ABC broadcasts from Ciro’s in Los Angeles on 5, 6 and 7Aug47. (See 05/2-13).
Luciano Massagli recorded from the Spanish television the complete concert at the Palau de la Música de Barcelona on 14Nov71. We know now the exact contents of this concert in the correct sequence. (See 05/2-14 and Correction-sheet 1072).
We also received the AB Fable CD with Ray Nance’s non-Ducal violin recordings, featuring Ben Webster. This release was announced by Frank Büchmann Møller in his presentation in Stockholm on the first day of the Ellington Conference, 13May04. (See 04/2-10). A complete survey of this CD is on 05/2-34.
The Storyville CD "Duke Ellington – The Piano Player" is out. See 05/2-30.
Two interesting DVDs are out and another one is announced. See 05/2-16/17&18.

Duke Ellington at Ciro’s, Los Angeles August 1947.

DEMS 05/2-13

Steven Lasker has found these three marvellous broadcasts from Ciro’s. The quality is impeccable. The acetates were cut at Radio Recorders in L.A. through a direct telephone line. The most amazing find is Duke’s rendition of Fats Waller’s Squeeze Me. The only other Ellington recording of this title was with a small group for the album "Side by Side". H’ya Sue (announced as Flirtation) and Lady in the Laverder Mist (announced as Too Weary to Worry) have very unusual arrangements.

5Aug47

Squeeze Me (by Fats Waller, is not Just Squeeze Me by DE)
Take the "A" Train (theme)
Royal Garden Blues
I Like the Sunrise (vocal by Chester Crumpler)
Sophisticated Lady
Brown Penny (vocal Kay Davis)
Blue Is the Night (announced as How Blue the Night)

6Aug47

Take the "A" Train (theme)
Flippant Flurry
It’s Kinda Lonesome out Tonight (vocal by Chester Crumpler)
Hollywood Hangover
Tulip or Turnip (vocal by Ray Nance)

7Aug47

Take the "A" Train (theme)
Lady of the Lavender Mist
H’ya Sue
Azalea (vocal by Chester Crumpler)
Caravan

Palau de la Música de Barcelona, 14Nov71

DEMS 05/2-14

Luciano Massagli recently recorded this concert from the Spanish television. A correction-sheet is made available for the New DESOR, but if you are not a Correction-sheet customer, here are the details:

Eddie Preston, Mercer Ellington, John Coles, Money Johnson,
Booty Wood, Malcolm Taylor, Chuck Connors,
Russell Procope, Norris Turney, Harold Minerve, Harold Ashby, Paul Gonsalves, Harry Carney,
Duke Ellington, Joe Benjamin, Rufus Jones,
Nell Brookshire, Tony Watkins.

C-Jam Blues
Goof
Kinda Dukish & Rockin’ in Rhythm
Happy Reunion
Cotton Tail
Take the "A" Train
Fife
Chinoiserie
All Too Soon
Harlem %
Perdido
Satin Doll (with Raymond Fol at the piano)
Things Ain’t What They Used To Be
In Triplicate
La Plus Belle Africaine
Come Off the Veldt
Medley: Prelude to a Kiss; Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me; In a Sentimental Mood; I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart; Don’t Get Around Much Anymore; Mood Indigo; I’m Beginning To See the Light; Solitude; It Don’t Mean a Thing; I Got It Bad; I Don’t Know What Kind of Blues I Got; Everybody Wants To Know; Sophisticated Lady; Caravan.

Newport Jazz Festival 1962

DEMS 05/2-15

See DEMS 05/1-6 (and Meeker 2289, Stratemann p463, New DESOR 6233 from 8Jul62)

I watched and listened again carefully to the DVD BACH FILMS EDV 1508 and I can confirm that Kinda Dukish, 6233a, is definitely absent; (New DESOR probably in error claiming Kinda Dukish to exist on Toshiba Laser Disc).
This DVD fits perfectly the Klaus Stratemann description (page 464) with Duke's part as follows:
-%1:56 of Rockin' in Rhythm, 6233b,, starting with the last notes from "ver16HC(cl)" and continuing with "pas3DE,1BAND;4°IILB etc";
-%2:00 of Passion Flower, 6233c, beeginning during the latter part of "1°JH";
-2:50 of Things Ain't What They Used Too Be complete as 6233d.
The entire Ellington sequence just reaches 7 min.
Klaus Götting

Berlin Philharmonie / Berliner Jazztage

DEMS 05/2-16

JazzDoor in Germany recently released a DVD (JD 11023) showing 21min of Sarah Vaughan material together with 26 min of the Duke Ellington Orchestra in Berlin.
This "Live at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall" is of excellent color and audio quality, zone-coded 0 in PAL.
The Ellington portion contains:
                                          New Desor
2Nov73: Pitter Panther Patter        %2:08    7348g
        Mood Indigo                  %4:00(%) 7348d
        Mack the Knife                3:02    7348j
8Nov69: Don't Get Around Much Anymore 2:40    6954k
5Nov71: In Triplicate                 4:09    7170m
        Happy Reunion                 4:11    7170d
        Take the "A" Train            4:47%   7170e
Klaus Götting

The Ellington video recordings have been telecast through W(est) D(eutsche) R(undfunk) in 1989.
DEMS

I have found this European CD on the internet: Here are two links for where you can purchase it: http://www.fnac.com and http://www.jpc.de
The first site is in French and the second is in German. North American buyers have to consider the region of the DVD. The region code is PAL 0. Unless you have a region free DVD player, it will not play on a North American DVD player. I bought it from FNAC, since I speak a little French. FNAC really gets you on the shipping. Shipping cost more than the DVD, but it was sent express delivery. There was no choice in the shipping method.
Rich Ehrenzeller**

Pal Region 0 means it will play on ANY player that supports the European Pal format; an all region player is not required. For those in North America, a player with a Pal/NTSC converter would be required. Most players with this converter would have an option in the video set up menu to always output NTSC. "Region 0" means the disc has no region code at all. This is usually a good thing.
Geff Ratcheson**