THE INTERNATIONAL
DEMS BULLETIN
DUKE ELLINGTON MUSIC SOCIETY
08/3 December 2008 - March 2009
Our 30th 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: dems1@telenet.be

SAD NEWS


Quentin “Rocky” White

DEMS 08/3-1

“Rocky” White died on 4Jun08 in Houston at age 56. When Duke hired him in 1973, he was only 21 years old. He stayed in the band and became road manager in late 1990.


Wonderful Smith

DEMS 08/3-2

Wonderful Smith who was born on 21Jun11, died on 28Aug08. He appeared in the show “Jump for Joy” with several sketches, one of which made him famous: the telephone call with the President of the United States. I knew that I had a recording of him, which I couldn’t find at first, because in my files I misspelled his name with quotation marks: “Wonderful” Smith. That was wrong. I asked my computer to look for Wonderful Smith. That was his real name. I gave his birth date because I hope the New DESOR will accept him among the musicians in Section Four. Duke introduced him in the CBS broadcast pre-recorded on 25Aug41 and Wonderful did another hilarious routine: a telephone call with Uncle Tom.
Joe Medjuck told us where to go to read his obituary:
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-smith15-2008sep15,0,3409100.story




Arne Domnérus

DEMS 08/3-3

                          “With greetings from Sweden /Sven Eriksson”

Sven has sent us this clipping. Only a few weeks later (on 13oct08) Sven passed away.
Arne Domnérus was a great musician and Sven was a great friend. They will both be missed.
Sjef Hoefsmit


Frank Dutton

DEMS 08/3-4

Frank Dutton was one of my dearest pen-friends. His letters were mostly written on an old type-writer and sometimes even by hand. I tried to establish his dates of birth and death but I didn’t succeed. Roger Boyes wrote an obituary for “Blue Light” and gave me a copy of his article to be included in this DEMS Bulletin. I think it is a good idea to make this sad news accessible to more readers than only the members of DESUK.
Sjef Hoefsmit**

 

I returned home from the United States early in October to learn of the death of DESUK founder- and life-member, Frank Dutton of Malvern. A distinguished and diligent jazz researcher of long standing, Frank was in charge of Jazz Journal’s ‘Notes And Queries’ feature as long ago as the 1950s. In the Ellington community he will always be remembered for his pioneering work in the 1970s on Duke’s earliest years as a bandleader. This developed from an investigation into the Ellington Orchestra’s saxophone section on Duke’s earliest idiomatic recordings, from November 1926 to June 1927. It appeared in Storyville 80, December 1978 - January 1979, pages 44-53. Three further articles added to it, and Frank admitted in the third (Storyville 98, December 1981-January 1982, page 12): ‘And we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of the sax-team problem!’ Instead he had laid the foundations for all subsequent early Ellington Itinerary studies.
In his first article, after an explanatory Introduction, Frank presented over eight pages a chronological survey, in the form of what we would now call a spreadsheet. In four columns, headed respectively Date, Personnel, Source, Remarks, he marshaled all the information he had gleaned on Duke’s early band leading years, from 1917 in Washington DC to 4 December 1927, when he opened at the Cotton Club. Frank gave a memorable presentation on that event at the second Oldham conference, Ellington’88.
As such surveys usually do, Frank’s stimulated others to further research. Previously the early years had been largely overlooked and at best skated over, by writers who were usually keen to get on to the less challenging territory of the records. Everyone who works on this fascinating period of Duke’s career acknowledges a debt to his Storyville survey. Here is the late Mark Tucker, in Ellington The Early Years (Bayou Press, 1991): ‘The single most helpful article for this study was a four-part series by Frank Dutton entitled Birth of A Band that appeared in the British periodical Storyville from 1979 to 1983’ (p309). In his Preface to The Washingtonians: A Miscellany (2006, privately published) Steven Lasker singled out Frank’s work along with Tucker’s for special mention. He reiterates the point in his Foreword to Ken Steiner’s Wild Throng Dances Madly In Cellar Club (2008, privately published), the most recent substantial addition to the story.
Ken himself has talked of ‘standing on the shoulders of the giants who came before us’, to describe his own work, referring to a frequently-used image which dates from as long ago as twelfth-century France and the philosopher Bernard de Chartres: ‘We are like dwarves on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size’.
Frank Dutton was such a giant.
Roger Boyes


Wm Fawcett Hill

DEMS 08/3-5

That’s how he signed his letters. We all knew and loved him as Bill Hill. Here are some testimonies.
Sjef Hoefsmit**

William Fawcett (Bill) Hill died at home in Los Angeles on November 13. He was 90 years old. I first met Bill at the Duke Ellington International Meeting in Newark NJ in the summer of 1986. He joined TDES then. He returned to LA and founded the Duke Ellington Society of Southern California (DESSC) shortly after. He served as President for 11 years. He was a regular at the DE International meetings. He once told me that he was the Chairman and only member of the Las Vegas Chapter of the Duke Ellington Jazz Society at its founding in 1959.
Bill and I were great friends. We visited back and forth many times. I will miss him dearly.
Morris Hodara

Bill was a lovely gentleman. I remember well meeting him at Ellington 2000 and later he went to some trouble to send me a copy of his interview with Ivie, in which she talked (or more truly, avoided talking) about the disastrous 1928 trip she made to Australia with Sonny Clay. Unfortunately Bill must have inadvertently turned something off while copying the tape, so I mostly got the sounds of him wandering around in the background. I didn't have the heart to tell him, so just thanked him politely for his trouble, but fortunately another LYM member gave me a good copy of the tape a short while later.
Bill Egan

It was with great sadness I just learned that Bill Hill has passed away, and received this obituary from Bill's wife Priscilla.
I knew Bill for many years, we met at Ellington conferences and privately, I read one of his books "Learning thru discussion" with great professional interest, and I benefitted from long talks on this topic, and Ellington oriented topics. We shared an interest in examining and collecting other artists interpretations of Ellington music, and exchanged music and thoughts for many years.
I was also privileged to get to know Bill's wife Priscilla, a gifted and loving person, who meant so much to Bill, and my thoughts and compassion go to her and the family.
Bjarne Busk

William Fawcett (Bill) Hill died peacefully at home in La Verne on Nov. 13, 2008. He was born Aug. 20, 1918 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to William Kennedy and Laura Fawcett Hill. He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Priscilla Smith Hill and their two sons, William James Hill and Simon Quinn Hill and grandson, William Jerome Miranda-Hill of Claremont, CA; and a daughter from a previous marriage, Susan Hill Hawes of Bracebridge, Ont., Canada.
Bill served in the RCAF during WWII for 5 years as a navigator, stationed at Coal Harbour, B.C., Canada. After his service he attended the Univ. of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, where he received his B.A. in Psychology in 1948 and M.A. in Psychology in 1950. He then attended the University of Chicago, where he received his doctorate in 1955.
Bill worked at state mental health hospitals in both Idaho and Utah for 7 years, during which time he was both a clinical psychologist and researcher. In his capacity as a researcher he developed a method for studying the verbal interaction of psychotherapy groups. This method has been used by universities inside and outside the US, having generated about 144 doctoral dissertations, as well as numerous other published studies. Bill then went to work at the Youth Studies Center at the Univ. of So. Calif. During this time he founded and edited for eight years one of the first professional group journals, Comparative Group Behavior, (later called Small Group Behavior). Bill also authored a discussion group method called Learning Thru Discussion, which has been used widely in education.
After working at USC, Bill taught in the Behavioral Sciences Dept. at Cal. Poly for 18 years. He became a Professor Emeritus in 1988 and from then on his focus was on his lifelong love, jazz. He was the founding president of the Duke Ellington Society of So. Calif. (DESSC) in 1988 and served in this capacity for 11 years. DESSC is still active and it gives scholarships to students of the Duke Ellington High School. Remembrances of Bill can be made by sending donations towards this scholarship fund to DESSC, P. O. Box 2652, Culver City, CA 90231-2652. Services will be private.




NEW FINDS


Treasures from South Africa

DEMS 08/3-6

I am attempting to date music from CDs taken from my friend Jerry Valburn’s reel to reel tapes. This has resulted in finding several unissued and unknown treasures.
1. The oldest New Find is a rendition by Albert Hibbler of Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me, which is not documented in the New DESOR. Hoefsmit suspects that this is from the session of 13Apr44. Since Benny Aasland was so sure about the existence of the acetate (documented in WaxWorks 44-9) and because already 3 selections of this broadcast have popped up, Giovanni Volonté and Luciano Massagli decided to include this session in their discography although they had no copy to listen to. I wonder why they did not accept this recording as a part of the broadcast of 13Apr44. They have heard it now and decided to put it as a 1943/1944 NBC broadcast on Correction-sheet 1089, session 9017.
2. The second oldest item is the recorded conversation between Duke and Mildred Bailey, which precedes Dancers in Love of 2Aug44.
3. Another interesting New Find is something else which seems to be taken from a broadcast. It contains in addition to the commentary Sophisticated Lady & Mood Indigo and Dancers in Love. Luciano Massagli first believed that this is taken from two different broadcasts because he heard two different speakers. I also believe that there are indeed two different speakers, but I hear them throughout the whole programme: Percy and Don. It seems that the title of the broadcast is “Carnation Contented Hour” and that the orchestra is Percy Faith’s. The last selection is accompanied by what one might believe to be a tap-dancer or Duke’s terpsichorean interjections. My guess is that the date is from either 1946 or 1947. See Correction-sheet 1089, session 9072.
4. Another broadcast is taken from the series “Smiling Jack Smith Show” which ran from 21Aug45 until 26Dec52 through CBS four times a week for 15 minutes, sponsored by Procter and Gamble. It contains in addition to some conversation Duke with a studio orchestra playing: Take the “A” Train and a Medley: Solitude, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore & I Let a Song Go Out Of My Heart, Sophisticated Lady. The main clue as to the date is the phrase “A recent return after extensive touring, to the Paramount Theatre in the big city.“ (Can we assume this to be New York?) This could narrow the date down to shortly after 23Apr47. See Klaus Stratemann p286. It sounds similar to the last item presented by Steven Lasker in 2004 in Stockholm, but in fact it is different. It is obvious however that the same scores were used by the accompanying orchestras on both recordings. It too sounds as if it is the same as the recording of 16Apr44, DESOR 4408, but once again it is different. The Medley on DESOR 4408 is the only one of the three which is interspersed with selections (in this case by the Hall of Fame Orchestra) in which Ellington is not heard. The two other, unidentified Medley’s are not interrupted in this way; Ellington is heard throughout. See Correction-sheet 1089, session 9074.
5. Another new item is the introduction to Duke’s appearance on 6Dec47 on the “King Cole Trio Time” show, preceding his performance of Mood Indigo.
6. A less interesting recording is the one taken from a WMCA broadcast, copied from a 16”ET “Duke Ellington Audition” No. 1 and 3, First Duke Ellington Show from Dec47. The whole programme consisted of recordings which were commercially available at the time. We hear on this segment the opening Take the “A” Train, from 15Feb41, Duke’s introduction to the records of the Andrews Sisters, Vaughan Monroe and two records by Perry Como. The records themselves are not heard, only the introductions. It ends with the recording of Flamingo of 28Dec40. See Klaus Stratemann p291. The last record (by Perry Como) was A Fellow Needs a Girl from the show “Allegro”, which opened on Broadway on Oct47.
7. An isolated track is the one on which Duke introduced several British traditional jazz musicians. It was recorded for London’s Associated Rediffussion (ARTV) 30 minute series Tuesday Rendezvous. [ARTV became Thames TV in the weekday, Saturday and Sunday it was Weekend TV.] The series was broadcast from 1961-63. The programme in question was the last of a series “History of Jazz”. Duke introduces Bob Wallis and his Storyville Jazzmen, along with Chris Barber, Mr. Acker Bilk and George Webb, all being participants in the “Trad Jazz Revival”. I very much doubt if this could be an American production. The year 1963 is a good guess. Duke was at the Chelsea Studios of Granada Television at the end of Jan63. We only hear Duke speaking. There is no music of any kind featured. There is evidence that Duke appeared on this programme on 13Feb63. Any information would be appreciated.
8. We know the recording of 26Aug63 at the Michigan State Fair Grounds, which had guest vocalist Dinah Washington. See New DESOR 6365. A great part of this concert was “released” on Azure cassette CA-23. There was also an afternoon concert on the same day with Chubby Kemp doing the vocals. There is no doubt that this is another recording. It has been compared with cassette CA-23. That afternoon concert was attended by the violist David Rubinoff. During Silk Lace an aeroplane was flying over the proceedings, which confirms the location as an open air site. The selections are: (nc) Stompin’ at the Savoy; Silk Lace; Lullaby of Birdland; Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue; Medley: Satin Doll, Solitude, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, Mood Indigo, I’m Beginning To See the Light, Sophisticated Lady, Caravan, Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me, I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart & Don’t Get Around Much Anymore (nc); Tootie for Cootie; Skin Deep; Walkin’ and Singin’ the Blues; I Got It Bad; Things Ain’t What They Used To Be; Al of Me.
On DE 6365 Rolf Ericson is introduced as the ‘Dizzy Gillespie of Scandinavia, from 42nd street and Broadway Stockholm’. On the concert with Chubby Kemp, this becomes ‘52nd street’.
9. The greatest surprise among these New Finds is a complete concert, recorded between the end of Jan and the beginning of Mar74. We can date this because Cootie Williams and Woolf Freedman are present, both came into the band at the end of Jan74. Alos there is a spoken “Welcome” after the opening C-Jam Blues, on behalf of the Union Activity Organisation for the opening of the 1974 Mardi Gras Celebration. Mardi Gras 1974 was on 26Feb. Woolf Freedman answered my e-mail and gave New Orleans and Mardi Gras as location and date. He wrote: “Your date is correct. With Mardi Gras we first were paraded around outdoors on a mobile bandstand as the head of Mardi Gras and then we played a concert/dance indoors.”
This recording has historic significance, since it was one of the last concerts Duke played.
See for the complete programme Correction-sheets 1090 and 1091/1, session 9070.
There is not the slightest doubt that this Feb74 recording is a genuine “New Find”.
Lance Travis

I can add a little concerning paragraph 7, though nothing conclusive, I am afraid.
Trad Jazz was a British phenomenon, and this is bound to be a British programme, not an American one.  Even a mainland European origin is most unlikely, I’d think. Barber, Bilk and Wallis were definitely part of the ‘trad’ boom. George Webb was not. He was a key figure much earlier, in the revivalist movement of the early post-war years, long before trad. 1963 is a very likely date. Certainly not much later. By 1964 the Beatles and the Stones had arrived and the ‘trad’ bubble had burst.
Presumably the music offered by these participants has been edited out, leaving Duke’s introduction. What is the evidence that the Rediffusion programme was transmitted on 13 February though? 13 Feb was a Wednesday in 1963. Lance himself says that Tuesday Rendezvous was screened on Tuesdays and on Fridays (odd!) A Wednesday screening would also be odd. And if it was it would be on the same evening as Granada’s Ellington Orchestra recording to which Lance refers. Network ITV programmes were sourced from both Granada and Rediffusion, and other companies too. I think it most unlikely that the ITV network schedule would run two programmes with jazz content on the same evening. It is possible that Rediffusion’s Tuesday Rendezvous had a purely local - ie London - screening. The franchise holders sometimes ran (and still do run) local programmes in a slot between the teatime News and the evening’s national schedule. Even so, two jazz programmes on the same channel in 1963? I doubt it, though I could be proved wrong by the evidence.
The Granada Chelsea Studios recording took place before the end of January. The Ellington Orchestra left England for Paris on 28th. I see no reason to date it later than 21-22 January, the date given in Stratemann and New DESOR.
Roger Boyes


NEW BOOKS


DEMS 08/3-7

There is a new book coming out from the same publisher and in the same series as “Someone to Watch over Me: The Life and Music of Ben Webster” by Frank Büchmann-Möller. (See DEMS 06/2-8. The first release was in hardcover but on 28Jan09 there will also be a paperback edition of this book on the market, ISBN-13: 9780472033607).

The new book is
Ellington Uptown : Duke Ellington, James P. Johnson, and the Birth of Concert Jazz
by John Howland
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Pub. Date: February 28, 2009
Series: Jazz Perspectives
Format: Hardcover, 392pp
ISBN: 0472116053
ISBN-13: 9780472116058
Format: Paperback, 392pp
ISBN: 0472033166
ISBN-13: 9780472033164

Go for more info to:

http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=211239

Milo van den Assem


Duke's Itinerary



Additions to Duke’s Itinerary by Roger Boyes

DEMS 08/3-8

I spent three days in the Ellington Archive in Washington DC in late September, and unearthed some additions to the listings in Stratemann (p241) and Vail 1 (pp231-2). There are also anomalies. The dates below are all listed on the weekly financial statements.
Sunday 21Feb43, Toledo Ohio. (Ellington Archive, Smithsonian, Series 3, Box 55, Folder 28).
Tuesday 23Feb43, Warren Ohio. This is a second night, presumably at the Robin Theatre. (Same Folder).
Thursday 4Mar43 (my first birthday!). Newark, NJ. (Folder 30).
Stratemann and Vail 1 describe Friday 12 to Thursday 18Mar43 as a week-long engagement at the Boston Roseland, but the weekly statement lists the following:
Friday 12Mar43, Boston.
Saturday 13Mar43, Portland, Maine.
Sunday, 14Mar43, Holyoke Mass.
Tuesday 16Mar43, Cumberland, Maryland.
Wednesday 17Mar43, Greensburg, Penna.
Thursday 18Mar43, Johnstown, Penna. (weekly statements in Box 55, though I didn't note the Folder number; it should be Folder 33 or thereabouts).
The weekly statements list the receipts, but they don't name the venues in the towns visited.
Capitol Theatre, Steubenville Ohio, one-nighter during the weekend following the week at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh. This must have been on Saturday 27Mar43, since we know they were in Washington on Friday and travelled across to play New Haven in Connecticut on Sunday. So it meant they had to go from Pittsburgh to Washington, and then almost all the way back again, since Steubenville, though in Ohio, is quite near Pittsburgh. I gleaned this information, along with the others, from the weekly financial statements in the Ellington Archive, Smithsonian, Series 3, Box 55.
I'm beginning to see why Otto took leave of absence during the Hurricane residency. It turns out that Sax Mallard subbed for him during much of March as well.


Additions to Duke’s Itinerary by Arne Neegaard

DEMS 08/3-9

1950:
10Jan    Shine Paramount, NYC, New York
11Jan    Shine Paramount, NYC, New York
12Jan    Shine Paramount, NYC, New York
13Jan    Shine Paramount, NYC, New York
02Feb    Parkway Theater, Madison, Wisconsin
10Feb    Junior Hop, University of Michigan
11Feb    Junior Hop, University of Michigan
12Feb    Pabst Theater, Milwaukee
Returning from Europe and on the road again
20Jul    Old Orchard Pier, Portland, Maine
28Jul    Geneva´s Club 86, NYC, New York
29Jul    Geneva´s Club 86, NYC, New York
30Jul    Geneva´s Club 86, NYC, New York

         

27Oct    Three Rivers Inn, Syracuse, New York
28Oct    Three Rivers Inn, Syracuse, New York
29Oct    Three Rivers Inn, Syracuse, New York

1951:
31Mar    The Oasis, Austin, Minnesota
01Apr    The Armar Ballroom, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
03Apr    The Guild´s Page-One Ball, Washington DC
05Apr    Lincoln University Gymnasium, Jefferson City, Missouri
07Apr    The Terp, Austin, Iowa
08Apr    Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake, Iowa
09Apr    Great Hall, Memorial Union, Ames, Iowa
20Apr    Owensboro, Illinois
11May    Canobie Lake Park Ballroom, Salem, New Hampshire

         

21Sep   ”Biggest Show of 1951” tour until 29Nov
15Dec    White City Park, Harrisburg, Illinois

1952:
04Jan    Riverview Ballroom, Sauk City, Wisconsin

1954:
04Mar    Madison, Wisconsin – UWIS Stock Pavilion
        (with Dave Brubeck Quartet )
12Mar    NYC, Louis Armstrong´s opening night at Basin Street
14Mar    Edgewater Park, Celina, Ohio
??Mar    Newcastle, Indiana

The last entry (Newcastle) is based on a story that appeared in several newspapers in Mar54:
“Ellington, the Gourmet, had been travelling all around the world and eaten at the best restaurants but never had tasted a really good ice cream. This prompted the owner of North Star Ice Cream, Muncie, Ind., to drive the 15 miles to Newcastle and presented Duke and his men with 5 gallons of fresh pear ice cream.


Additions to Duke’s Itinerary by Ken Steiner

Club Harlem

DEMS 08/3-10

New research in an untapped source - the Inter-State Tattler - indicates that "Duke Ellington and His Band" played Sunday afternoon matinees at Club Harlem throughout the first four months of 1929, while working nightly at the Cotton Club. The Tatter contained ads for black clubs in Harlem and lively social coverage missing from New York's other black papers. Unfortunately, microfilm collections of the Tattler contain many gaps. The first issue with an ad for Ellington at Club Harlem was in the 4Jan29 issue, and ads ran through 24Mar29. From 31Mar - 14Apr the venue switched to the Lenox Ave. Club, and the last ad was 28Apr in a return to Club Harlem.
The 22Mar29 issue indicated Ellington's performance were popular: "the taxis are lined up for two blocks from Club Harlem."


COTTON CLUB BROADCASTS ON NBC by Ken Steiner
SEPTEMBER 1930 – FEBRUARY 1931

DEMS 08/3-11

Duke Ellington’s broadcasts from the original Cotton Club breakdown into three phases.

Dec27–Feb29: During his first 15 months at the Cotton Club Ellington was only heard locally in New York over WHN and its sister station WPAP.

Feb29–Jun30: Ellington attained national exposure when he joined WABC and the Columbia (CBS) network, with broadcasts relayed “coast-to-coast.”

Sep30–Feb31, Feb32, Mar-May33: Ellington’s switch to WJZ and WEAF, flagship stations of NBC’s two networks, the Blue and Red respectively, meant that the orchestra’s music was heard over more stations, with greater coverage and more prestige.

Recent research in NBC Log Books held at the Library of Congress reveals song titles of Ellington’s 1930-31, 1932, and 1933 broadcasts from the Cotton Club. A search of NBC Master Books, NBC’s official record of the broadcast day, located 51 Ellington broadcasts from the Fall 1930 – Winter 1931 season (29Sep30–3Feb31). Log Books, with the “Corrected Traffic Sheets” for each program, listing song titles and other details, were found for 27 of those programs. Song titles were either handwritten or typed. Some of the logs are difficult to read, and the song titles are listed here as spelled and as best can be deciphered.  Correct spellings and commentary have been contributed by Steven Lasker. Ellington’s 1932 and 1933 NBC broadcasts will be listed in a future issue of DEMS.

In addition to the regular Cotton Club broadcasts, Ellington was heard from the Cotton Club on the Friday, 24oct30 RKO Theatre of the Air, WEAF and Red Network 10:30-11:00 pm, which featured Amos and Andy on the premiere of their movie Check and Double Check.  The orchestra performed Ring Dem Bells and  I’m So in Love With You.

Monday, September 29, 1930. WJZ 12:00–12:30 am

Tuesday, September 30, 1930. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm

Thursday, October 2, 1930. WEAF 11:30-12:00 mid
Black Beauty; Jasamine [Sweet Jazz o’Mine]; Linda* [from the Cotton Club Revue “Blackberries Crop of 1931 in Brown Sugar”]; Hitting the Bottom [Hittin’ the Bottle]; [I’ll Be a Friend] With Pleasure*; Milanburg Joys [Milenberg Joys*]; I’m a Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas*; You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me*

Monday, October 6, 1930. WJZ 12:00-12:30 am
Liza; The Mootch [The Mooch]; Hittin’ the Bottle; Linda*; Ring Those Bells [Ring Dem Bells]; Three Little Words; Cotton Club Stomp; [I’ll Be a Friend] With Pleasure*; Signature [ESLTO]

Tuesday, October 7, 1930. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm
Stevedore Stomp; Liza; Saturday Night Function; In the Shade of the old Apple Tree; [I’ll Be a Friend] With Pleasure*; Three Little Words; Old Man Blues; Tiger Rag

Thursday, October 9, 1930. WEAF 11:30-12:00 mid
Tiger Rag; Doing[Doin’] the Voom-Voom; [I’ll Be a Friend] With Pleasure*; Japanese Dreams [Japanese Dream]; Poor Butterfly; Siren Song*; Just a Word of Consolation*; I’ll See You in My Dreams*; Nobody’s Sweetheart Now*; Ring Those Bells [Ring Dem Bells]

Monday, October 13, 1930. WJZ 12:00-12:30 am

Tuesday October 14, 1930. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm

Thursday, October 16, 1930. WEAF 11:30-12:00 mid
(Pre-empted by Hal Kemp and his Orchestra)

Monday, October 20, 1930. WJZ 12:00-12:30 am
Sig.- (Blues); Stepping Out [The Duke Steps Out?]; [My] Bluebird [Was] Caught in the Rain*; [I’ll Be a Friend] With Pleasure*; Running Wild; [I’m] So In Love With You; Mood Indigo; Hittin’ the Bottle; [In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree;
Sig. – (Blues)

Thursday, October 23, 1930. WEAF 11:30-12:00 mid

Monday, October 27, 1930. WJZ 12:00-12:30 am
Signature; In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree; Three Little Words; St. James Infirmary; I’m So in Love With You; Just a Little Dance, Ma’m zelle*; Mood Indigo; Old Man Blues

Tuesday, October 28, 1930. WJZ 11:00-11:30 pm
I’m Nobody’s Sweetheart, Now [Nobody’s Sweetheart*]; Dicty Glide; Wang Wang Blues; I’m So in Love with You; Black and Tan Fantasy; Tiger Rag; If I Could Be with You [One Hour Tonite]*

Thursday, October 30, 1930. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm
I’m a Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas*; Secret Passion [You’re My Secret Passion*]; You’re lucky [to Me]; [I’ll Be a Friend] With pleasure*; Old Man Blues; A little dance [Mam’selle]*;[I’m] So in love [with You]; Duke sits down [The Duke Steps Out?]

Monday, November 3, 1930. WJZ 12:00-12:30 am
Stevedore Stomp; Just a little dance Mamselle*; My blue bird was caught in the rain; The Mooche; I’m so in love with you; Mood Indigo; Old Man Blues

Tuesday, November 4, 1930. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm
(Duke Ellington crossed out)

Thursday, November 6, 1930. WEAF 11:30-12:00 mid
Signature; The Duke Steps Out; Poor Butterfly; Just One Word*; Siren Song*; [I’ll] See You In My Dreams*; Jazz Lips; I’m So In Love With You; Three Little Words; [The] Mooch; Old Man Blues

Monday, November 10, 1930. WJZ 12:00-12:30 am

Tuesday, November 11, 1930. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm

Thursday, November 13, 1930. WEAF 11:30-12:00 pm
Black Beauty; Hitting the Bottle “Vanities”; You’re the One I Care For [possibly recorded 10Jan31]; Sugar Hill Flats*; You’re Lucky to Me “Blackbirds of 1930”; A Mood Indigo; The Lindy Hop “Blackbirds of 1930”; Under [in] the Shade of the Old Apple Tree; East St. Louis Toddle-O

Monday, November 17, 1930. WJZ 12:00-12:30 am

Tuesday, November 18, 1930. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm
x Sugar Hill Flat – Piano Solo; Old Man Blues; Japanese Dream; Poor Butterfly; Siren Song; Just A Word of Consolation; I’ll See You In My Dreams; When You’re Smiling [The Whole World Smiles with You]; The Mooch; Tiger Rag
x Piano badly out of tune
y Vocal Chorus

Thursday, November 20, 1930. WEAF 11:30-12:00 mid
Alabamy Home; Black Beauty; Three Little Words; Linda; Black and Tan Fantasy; I’m So in Love with You; Cotton Club Rhapsody [Creole Rhapsody?]

Monday, November 24, 1930. WJZ 12:00-12:30 am

Tuesday, November 25, 1930. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm

Thursday, November 27, 1930. WEAF 11:30-12:00 mid

Monday, December 1, 1930. 12:00-12:30 am

Tuesday, December 2, 1930. WEAF 11:00-11:30 am
The Stevedore Stomp; Brown Buddies [Brown Berries]; Hittin the Bottle; Three little words; Jazz Lips; Black & Tan Fantasy; I’m so in love with You

Thursday, December 4, 1930. WEAF 11:30-12:00 mid
Confessin’* by vocal trio of the Cotton Club; Black Beauty; Running Wild; [I’ll Be a Friend] With Pleasure*; Mood Indigo; I’m So in Love with You; Old Man Blues; The Milenburg [Milenberg] Joys*

Monday, December 8, 1930. WJZ 12:00-12:30 am

Tuesday, December 9, 1930. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm
East St. Louis Toddle-Lo; Flaming Youth; Us & Co*; Dreaming Sweet Dreams [of Love?]; I’m A Ding-Dong Daddy [from Dumas]*; St. Louis Blues; [That] Lindy Hop; The Mooch

Thursday, December 11, 1930. WEAF 11:30-12:00 am
Jungle Nights on Lennox Ave. [Jungle Nights in Harlem?]; Us and Company*; When a black man is blue; Ring dem bells; You’re lucky to me; Black & Tan Fantasy; Tiger Rag

Tuesday, December 16, 1930. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm
St. Louis Toddle-O; Stevedore Stomp; Five-Six-Seven-Eight-Nine Little Miles From Ten-Ten-Tennessee; In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree; Three Little Words; Wang Wang Blues; The Mooch; I’m So In Love With You; Lindy Hop “Blackbirds of 1930”

Thursday, December 18, 1930. WEAF 11:30 -12:00 mid
Mills Blue Rhythm Band substituted

Monday, December 22, 1930. WJZ 12:00-12:30 am
Stevedore Stomp; When a black man’s blue; [That] Lindy Hop; [I’m] So in love with you; Milenburg [Milenberg] Joys*; St. Louis Blues

Tuesday, December 23, 1930. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm
California Rhapsody [Creole Rhapsody?]; You’re Lucky to me; Mood Indigo; Cotton Club Stomp; Getting myself ready for you*; Three little words; Nobody’s Sweetheart Now*; I’m so in Love with You

Thursday, December 25, 1930. WEAF 11:30-12:00 mid

Monday, December 29, 1930. WJZ 12:00-12:30 am

Tuesday, December 30, 1930. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm
Sand [San?]; Blue Again; You’re Driving Me Crazy; That Saturday Night Function; High Society Blues; Awful Sad; He’s My Secret Passion*; I’m So in Love With You

Thursday, January 1, 1931. WEAF 11:30-12:00 mid

Monday, January 5, 1931. WJZ 12:00-12:30 am

Tuesday, January 6, 1931. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm
St. Louis Toddle-O (Signature); Ring Dem Bells; Something to Remember You By* “Three’s a Crowd”; Bye Bye Blues*; Body and Soul “Three’s a Crowd”; The Milenburg [Milenberg] Joys*; Awful Sad; Cotton Club Stomp; That Saturday Night Function; Old Man Blues; [East] St. Louis Toddle-O (Signature)

Thursday, January 8, 1931. WEAF 11:30-12:00 mid

Monday, January 12, 1931. WJZ 12:00-12:30 am

Tuesday, January 13, 1931. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm
Dixie Glide [The Dicty Glide]; [She’s] My Secret Passion*; Hittin’ the Bottle; Rockin’ Chair; Ring Dem Bells; Saturday Night Function; Three Little Words; Old Man Blues

Thursday, January 15, 1931. WEAF, January 15, 1931
Rockin’ in Rhythm; What Good Am I without You; Truly; Awful Sad; Peanut Vendor; When a Black Man’s Blue; Ding Dong Daddy; Double Check Stomp

Monday, January 19, 1931. WJZ 12:00-12:30 am

Tuesday, January 20, 1931. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm
Cotton Club Stomp; Blue Again; I’m getting myself ready for you*; Black & Tan Fantasy; I’m alone because I love you*; [The] Peanut Vendor; Brooklyn Rhapsody [Creole Rhapsody?]; St. Louis Blues

Thursday, January 22, 1931. WEAF 11:30-12:00 mid
St. Louis Toddle-O; Milenburg [Milenberg] Joys*; Rockin Chair; I’m So Afraid of You; St. Louis Blues; Stardust; Keep A Song In Your Soul; Mood Indigo; St. Louis Toddle-O

Tuesday, January 27, 1931. WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm
The Cotton Club Stomp; When Your Hair Has Turned to Silver; In the shade of the old Apple Tree; Dreaming Sweet Dreams of You; The Peanut Vendor; Doing the Boom-Boom [Doin’ the Voom-Voom]; I’m So in Love With You; Hot and Bothered

Thursday, January 29, 1931. WEAF 11:30-12:00 mid
Rockin’ in Rhythm; Three Little Words; St. Louis Blues; Keep a song in your Soul; Mood Indigo; A Lot of Fingers [Lot o’Fingers]; Rockin’ Chair; Stevedore Stomp; I’m so in Love with you

Monday, February 2, 1931. WJZ 12:00-12:30 am

Tuesday, February 3, 1931; WEAF 11:00-11:30 pm
sig; The Duke Steps Out; I’m So In Love with You; The Mooch; The Double Check Stomp; The Twelfth Street Rag; Black and Tan Fantasy; Tiger Rag; sig[nature]

- Ken Steiner

Note: Asterisked titles were never recorded by Ellington. Some went unrecorded for many years, such as Liza (an Ellington aircheck from 1939 survives, just a single chorus alas; he recorded it commercially for Capitol in 1953) and Poor Butterfly (first recorded by Duke in 1958). Alabamy Home (broadcast 20Nov30) is an intriguing title to find, as Ellington recorded a piece by this title in 1937 that would seem to be of earlier origin given that the words and music were credited to Dave Ringle and Duke Ellington. Ringle was Ellington’s collaborator on Choo Choo (I Gotta Hurry Home), from 1924 - yet the 1937 Alabamy Home is strongly based on 1936’s Caravan.  Go figure!
Steven Lasker


DISCUSSIONS - ADDITIONS - CORRECTIONS


LONDON 2008

DEMS 08/3-12

See DEMS 08/2-6/3.

Steven Lasker contacted me privately to tell me that besides the four itinerary researchers I mentioned in my report (Stratemann, Igo, Pilkington and Ewing), there were at least several others who made substantial Itinerary contributions and that Stratemann is unfortunately no longer around to voice his opinion as to the relative value of each individual's contributions.
I gave the impression by using the same word, “enormously”, to describe how Ken Vail benefitted from Klaus’s work and how Klaus himself benefitted from the work of Joe Igo, Gordon Ewing and Art Pilkington, that Klaus had hardly done any research for the Itinerary himself (like Ken Vail). This impression was partially corrected in the same paragraph by my statement that Gordon and Klaus exchanged their research results as if they both participated for let’s say 50%. I should have known better. I should have gone through my correspondence with both Klaus and Gordon.
On 18Mar91 Gordon wrote to me: “I sent Klaus five years of the Itinerary. Rick [Gordon’s son] is printing and duplicating the complete Itinerary and will send out the latest revision to Klaus, Benny [Aasland], Giovanni [Volonté], Art [Pilkington] and the Smithsonian [Institution] next week.”
On 17Mar91 Klaus Stratemann wrote to me: “I was quite surprised when Gordon offered to share the data from the ‘Ellington Chronicle’ with me, as - like everyone else, I guess - I was under the impression that the ultimate goal of his efforts was to have Joe Igo's work published once it was complete.
On the other hand, I can understand his reluctance to do so. For one, finding a publisher for this kind of specialized material would not be easy, a difficulty I encounter myself. Secondly, chronicling Ellington's activities is an enormously difficult enterprise, which is why neither the Igo-Ewing chronicle nor my own itineraries are near completeness. The combination of both may get us closer to that goal, but there'll be much room left for improvement.
If the combined data come out in my book, which is not devoted to the itinerary exclusively, as you know, we can excuse the majority of defects with the argument that it was never intended to be a day-to-day chronicle in the first place, and that it should be regarded as the best possible effort of the moment, a skeleton with a little meat here and there, but with ample opportunity left for other interested parties to use their own resources for addition and correction, such as research on a local basis.
In a work as specialized as the Igo Chronicle, I think people would not quite as readily tolerate omissions and flaws.”
And a little further in the same letter, Klaus wrote: “Of course, Joe Igo and Gordon will receive due credit for the contribution that their work will mean to [my] work, just like my other collaborators. However, the itinerary sections of my book being the one area where errors will most likely be detected, I think I'll have to be careful not to overemphasize their contribution. It would be quite unfair to create the impression that Joe Igo's Chronicle was the basis of my itineraries and as such the root of my defects, when in fact it is not. It's going to be no more than an adjunct to my own research, and all responsibility for the combined results - the good and particularly the bad - rests with me.”
Steven Lasker told me that he worked closely with Klaus on “Day by Day and Film by Film” and that he had the opportunity to compare the Itinerary (at the Smithsonian) and Klaus’s manuscript, which brought him to his opinion: “Klaus was the principal research force behind ‘Day by Day,’ and his individual efforts outweighed those of everyone else combined, so one should either credit Stratemann singly, or credit Stratemann assisted by an international team of researchers whose names can be found in the acknowledgments section of the book.”
It goes without saying that the more recent Itineraries by Steven Lasker “The Washingtonians: A Miscellany” (see DEMS Bulletin 02/2 first page) and by Ken Steiner “Wild Throng Dances Madly in Cellar Club” (see DEMS Bulletin 08/2-6/3) have nothing to do with the Klaus Stratemann Itinerary (which did not cover the same period) or with the Joe Igo Chronicle (which had hardly any entries for the early years).
Sjef Hoefsmit

Just surfaced: My correspondence with Klaus Stratemann. In a letter to me dated 15Mar91, Klaus wrote:
“Your letter of February 23 arrived just as I was in the process of working my way through the first pages Gordon Ewing had sent me, covering the years 1965 to 1969. There you have the reason for my delayed answer.
Gordon's files so far have not really provided very much that I did not have, because I had covered these years pretty well myself.....Unfortunately, the way Gordon's database is structured, his files provide nothing but a mere skeleton of information for a given date, less than I have usually tried to incorporate from the material I researched myself. Also, as Gordon points out in each of his letters to me, the "Chronicle" is still a work in progress, with many loose ends that are unfortunately not always recognizable as such. I have to be a bit careful deciding what I want to accept and what not....
To answer some of your questions:
The collaboration with Gordon does not mean that I'll extend my book to the years prior to 1929. I never even contemplated that seriously, but if I did, the reasons against an expansion would be quite simple:
For one, I would have to start my research again (I never read Variety earlier than 1928, for instance). Secondly, the Ellington band began extensive travelling only after its exit from regular employment at the Cotton Club, and only that's when the itinerary becomes interesting. Also, I don't think that--without access to the local papers--I could ever cover those summer tours in New England and all the other gigs outside the Cotton Club as thoroughly as I would like to. Finally, Mark Tucker has done most of that, and why should I repeat his data?
.....For my book, 1929 and BLACK AND TAN remain the starting point (unless an earlier film showed up, of which there is no hope, I guess).”
You're welcome to work this into your article. It's provides a nice set-up to the subject of the research done by Ken and me--and Ken's discovery of the reference to the 1925 film "Headlines" which we all hope to see one day soon. (I suppose it's possible we'll see Toby sporting a full head of hair!)
Steven Lasker


The least significant LP

DEMS 08/3-13

Another Gotham 12" LP with Ellington has surfaced. But it's really only a curiosity, as there isn't any music. It is a two-sided disc devoted to "Personalities in Print" who are interviewed by Willard Espy. "Week of April 15, 1957" is shown on the label and in the run-out, so I take this to be a transcribed radio program. Side A (GRC-4492-A) cut one: Ernie Kovacs; cut two: Don Dimond, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman. Side B (GRC-4492-B) has three cuts, one each by Gustave Springer, Morris Frank and Herbert Mayes. In the run-out area on each side: the "GRC" number and "JSF-.25RD-S-40957." Don Dimond, music director for Radio Free Europe is interviewed and plays clips of Duke Ellington saying "hello friends and goodbye" in Czech and Woody Herman singing a snippet of a lullaby his mother had taught him--in Polish! Ellington's name appears on the label, and his voice is briefly heard on the record, so this disc qualifies as an Ellington item, but allow me to suggest that this may well be the least significant record in the entire Ellington discography (unless you speak Czech, of course).
Steven Lasker


Hollywood Hangover

DEMS 08/3-14

Here is yet another query from 1945, and an interesting one, I think.
Has there ever been any discussion in DEMS Bulletin about the trombone solo in Hollywood Hangover? Klaus Götting's invaluable index in 97/2 reveals nothing prior to 1997 and I do not recall any more recent discussion, though my memory is not infallible.
The interest lies in the fact that, in DE - A Listener's Guide (1999, though written long before as we know), Eddie Lambert writes, of this solo: 'an open trombone solo from Nanton (his first on record since the twenties!)' (p122); and again: 'the recordings of this number are unique in being the only Ellington items since the very early thirties to feature open trombone solos by Nanton' (p127). In contrast, Eddie's inlay note in vol.5 of the Circle World Broadcasting Transcriptions Series, dated 1985, CCD105, states: '...a trombonist who sounds a little like Joe Nanton playing open but who is surely Lawrence Brown.'
The minor discrepancy between 'twenties' and 'very early thirties' interests me not at all. But the fact that Eddie changed his mind about the trombonist's identity is very interesting. Not least because it is unclear, from what he writes, in which direction he changed it.
My first port of call for trombone issues is always Duke's Bones, but Kurt Dietrich has nothing to say about Hollywood Hangover. In his first edition at least, he didn't consider much of the music beyond the recordings for Victor, Columbia et al., so Hollywood Hangover is off his limits unfortunately.
New DESOR has Tricky on all performances, with Wilbur De Paris taking over after Tricky suffered his stroke, including during the brief period in 1946 when he was back in the band. I go for Tricky too.
Roger Boyes

As far as we have been able to trace, nothing about this solo has ever been mentioned in DEMS Bulletin.
My vote also goes to Tricky.
Sjef Hoefsmit


Bubber Miley

DEMS 08/3-15

See DEMS 06/1-29

Wandering through past Bulletins I discovered your notes on "Bubber Miley, Rare Recordings, 1924 - 1931". The notes are a classic of their kind and, discussing track 17, you mention the intended BMG CD devoted to Bubber. Do you know if it has yet been issued and, if so, can you give details, please?
Ron Malings

We asked Steven Lasker, who wrote to us: “Bubber Miley? Deader than a doorknob, I suppose. The major companies only reissue the big names nowadays, and fewer of those as they used to. These are dark days for the industry.”
Nevertheless take -3 of St’ Louis Blues was in 1999 included in the 24 CD box set from RCA “The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition” on disc 2.
DEMS


Joya Sherrill and Blue Jay

DEMS 08/3-16

At the top of the left column of page 6 of DEMS Bulletin 98/2 is a reference to a song based, so Joya said, on a children's playground song, Blue Jay's Whooping Cough. It comes up in my own report on the E98 conference in Chicago. A bracketed note at the end of the paragraph has the information that the recording, titled Blue Jay, first came out on a 1978 LP. Also that it was recorded in New York on 5Jul45.
I am fairly sure that the bracketed note is not my work, if only because I have no expertise at all on these discographical matters, particularly where non-Ellington Ellingtonia is concerned. But I find that Willie Timner's 4th Edition dates Blue Jay to 26Jan45 in LA. See pages 466-7.
Can you tell me if this discrepancy has been cleared up at some point since?
Can you also refer back to what Joya said about the song in the presentation? It was the Smithsonian contribution, titled Three Lovely Ladies of Song, and it was the last one before the lunch break on the Friday morning. In particular, did she suggest she had a hand in working up the playground song into Blue Jay in the same way she said a minute or so earlier she worked up Kissing Bug?
Roger Boyes

Timner is right, I was wrong in my remark between parentheses. I think I know now what caused my mistake over the date. I looked it up in Jepsen and I took the location and the beginning of the date from the previous session, NYC, 5Jul44. I mixed things up by taking the year 1945 from the proper session.
I have made a copy on DVD (my first attempt) of the presentation of 7May98 by Deborra Richardson. Joya is very explicit about the creation of Kissing Bug. Rex Stewart supplied the music and Joya wrote the lyrics. Blue Jay was apparently an existing song, Joya remembered singing at school. The melody existed already. Joya also remembered a few of the words. She completed the lyrics with her own writing. That’s what I understood from the presentation. Hope you like it. The loss in quality of the images is roughly the same as when copying on tape. The sound however came through quite well. Bad parts stayed bad and good parts stayed good without additional loss.
The sound is the main thing of these recordings. You may wonder why I use video tapes instead of audio tapes. Most presentations take more than 45 minutes, which is the limit of one side of a music cassette; tape in 60 minutes cassettes is too weak. Video cassettes give you 3 hours time before you have to put a new tape in the camera.
Sjef Hoefsmit


John Steiner

DEMS 08/3-17

See DEMS 08/2-24

In the latest DEMS Bulletin I found the contribution of Bo Haufman about the John Steiner “Merry Christmas” 78rpm. I bought this test pressing and I can confirm your statements. I send you an audio copy of both releases of this record with two photocopies of the two different labels. I do not hear any difference between both releases, but I am sure you want to check this yourself.
Jordi Navas Ferrer



Thank you very much for your message and for the copies. We start to believe that Bo Haufman has a different copy again. He mentioned that he has a SD-78, without the words “Merry Christmas” but on the label of your test pressing there is no mention of SD. In print we see: 78 RPM, Lateral, 96 lines, outside start, Technical Recording Service, P.O.Box 5911, Chicago ILL. (COPY). In red typewritten: Frankie and Johnnie [sic] Part One (or Part Two) Ellington 3-21-45.
The date is wrong. The recording was made at the Civic Opera House on 25Mar45. There is indeed no difference between both audio copies, with the exception of one: The test pressing is more complete at the start. The “Merry Christmas” release does not have the opening 8 bars by the band. We do not think that you misplaced your pick-up at the start of Part One of the “Merry Christmas” release, because we have the same release, on which the opening bars are also missing.
DEMS

The label of my copy is in black/grey with the words "FRANKIE AND JOHNNIE" and "DUKE ELLINGTON" typewritten in red. Side two has "PART II" also typewritten in red.
"Merry Christmas" is not mentioned.
In the wax of side one is engraved "UP 501 B" and on side two "UP 502".
When playing the record I hear no 8 bars by the band but Duke starts playing right away. However, it is not a normal start of a record so possibly something has been deleted from the very beginning.
As the first side is "UP 501 B" one cannot help wondering if there exists a "UP 501 A" ??
Bo Haufman

There is no doubt in my mind that you have exactly the same pressing as the famous “Merry Christmas” release. I found on the photo-copies from Jordi the numbers UP 501 ? and UP 502 ? in the wax. It is impossible to say if the question mark stands for an A or a B. I have not received your photo-copies by e-mail. I hope to be able to publish the photo-copies from Jordi in the next Bulletin.
Sjef Hoefsmit


Ellington in Umeå Sweden

DEMS 08/3-18

See DEMS 08/2-7

If you want to visit You Tube in order to see this interview do not forget the connection between the F and the h in the address. This connection becomes invisible when you underline the address. This is the proper address: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9F_hRpwL4M>
I found it immediately after I asked for the combination Ellington Helsinki. But as Sven told us, the recording has nothing to do with Helsinki.
DEMS

It is with great sorrow that we have seen in the latest (November) DESS Newsletter that Sven Eriksson is no longer with us.
Sjef Hoefsmit

I like to mention that Sven's list of Hodges' compositions is available through my Hodges website at http://tinyurl.com/zcv67 then click on "Johnny Hodges - The Composer" on the sidebar.
Michael Palmer


The Queen’s Suite

DEMS 08/3-19

As you can read in the report of the London Ellington conference (DEMS 08/2-6/12) Steven Lasker brought with him a copy of the “Queens Suite” LP. As you can see on the picture of the labels, one side was pressed in Stereo and one side in Mono. Steven has sent copies of both sides on a CD to DEMS and we have found out that there is a slight difference between the Mono version and the Pablo releases in the selection Apes and Peacocks.
I am not sure if this is merely an insert or if the whole number has been recorded twice. The only difference I hear starts at bar 28 in the 2° chorus, where the brass is very different as far as the moment it starts playing is concerned. It does not mean that we have to make another description. The total of choruses and bars fits perfectly in both cases. I guess that Duke made an insert because he didn't want the brass section to start too early (as on the Mono side of Steven’s LP). It is so obvious that you can undoubtedly hear the difference without synchronous listening. It is not a matter of different mixing, but it actually seems to be a correction in the score.
In the Stereo version is a slight difference with the Pablo releases. This time it seems that the end of Northern Lights was recorded more than once. I presume that something was wrong with it and that there had to be an insert made, to replace the corrupted ending. It seems that the join in the Pablo releases between the piece and the insert is a very little bit different from the join in the Stereo version of Steven’s LP. On Steven’s LP one or more notes are missing at the end of “cod6BAND,”. It is much less than one bar. I would say that the “cod” has 5,5 or 5,75 bars. Definitely not the same 6 bars as on the Pablo releases.
All the other selections are the same as on the original Pablo LP and my Japanese CD (DEMS 84/4-9&10&11;87/4-4;88/4-6).
Sjef Hoefsmit


Duke's Far and Middle East Tour 1963

DEMS 08/3-20

I can't help wondering that we still know so little about two video sequences existing from the French documentary "La Légende Du Duke" (see DEMS 01/2-11). They consisted of two lengthy portions of 4 and 11 minutes respectively and they were supposed to have been filmed in Calcutta or Bombay during Oct63 and Teheran or Bagdad during Nov63. Small parts were later used for the PBS documentary "Billy Strayhorn, Lush Life" (DEMS 07/1-42).
We know that some filming for the State Department Tour survive at the Library Of Congress in Washington and possibly in the Voice Of America archives, but nothing else has shown up for years and even detailed info concerning dates and locations of the existing recordings is missing.
I can't imagine that nobody is interested in exploring the LOC files in Washington and I can only notice that nothing of these interesting 15 minutes found its way into The New DESOR either.
Klaus Götting


Café au Lait

DEMS 08/3-21

See DEMS 08/2-18

We have listened again to the cassette of this session that Jerry Valburn sent me some years ago and compared it with the CD Columbia CK 65568 and the LP UTD 2006. On the cassette we have 5638f (4DE) and 5638g (10DE and then an interruption). On CD and LP we don't have 5638f, and 5638g is complete (12DE). Consequently we have now to do these corrections: on page 229 of DEDOR, 5638f is unissued and on page 783 the description is 5638g: int12 DE, instead of 10DE.
Luciano Massagli


Harry Carney at Carnegie Hall

DEMS 08/3-22

What I did find interesting while going through Norman Granz-JATP itinerary, was the fact that on 5May, 12May & 24May47 Harry Carney is listed as performing with JATP at Carnegie Hall on those dates! I didn't know that. This is from the detailed booklet that was part of the 10CD Verve boxed set "The Complete JATP on Verve 1944-49.” There is no indication that any of this was recorded by Granz.
Bill Morton


Black and Tan Fantasie

DEMS 08/3-23

One of the highly enjoyable items to be found on Ellington on the web is a collection of Ellington 78 rpm labels. One of the labels shown is Victor 24861-A with "Black And Tan Fantasie". The recording is said to have been made on 6oct27 corresponding to item DE 2708a in New DESOR. Is that really true?
According to New DESOR that recording is unissued and it was not included in the RCA Centennial edition.
Thomas Erikson

No it isn't true. Black and Tan Fantasie on Victor USA 24861 was recorded on 26oct27 (New DESOR 2709a). Only the early issues had this wrong title. Later releases carried the correct title: Black and Tan Fantasy.
DEMS


Membran 228427 444 — Quadromania (4 CD set)

DEMS 08/3-24

See DEMS 06/1-27

I noticed you wrote re Quadromania CD2: “Tracks 3 and 4 are from 21Jan42 not 1944. What a strange instrument is in the hands of Juan Tizol: "frh"?”
While I'm writing this quite a few years late, I thought it might interest you to know it likely stands for "French horn." My daughter played that instrument throughout high school, and I have a French horn in my Strictly Ellington band to cover one of the trombone parts. I didn't know JT played horn but I have seen a photo of one of the bandsmen, I think I recall it being Mercer, from behind holding a mellophone. It's a similar size and shape although the sound is quite different. Mellophones normally used a cornet mouthpiece, and had piston valves. French horns use a much smaller mouthpiece and have rotary valves. The mellophone bell points to the left of the player's body instead of the right, so the valves are operated with the right hand on the mellophone instead of the left as on the French horn. A large part of a French horn player's technique is the shaping of the sound by his right hand, placed inside the bell. Apparently you don't put your hand into mellophone bells. And finally, mellophones as I recall them were eventually superseded in the 1950s or 1960s by something called a mellophonium, which I think is essentially the same instrument but designed to point forward like a flugelhorn.  More than you ever wanted to know, eh?
David Palmquist


Retrieval 79053 — Swing Is the Thing

DEMS 08/3-25

See DEMS 08/2-27

In the last Bulletin you mentioned that the "Swing Is the Thing" compilation on Retrieval 79053, contains the B master of St. Louis Blues, and is the first time you are aware of its appearance on a CD. Let me add that I have the "Bing Crosby Story - Volume 1 (1928-1932) the early jazz years" on a Sony double CD, which contains both the A and B takes in correct sequence. The digital transfers are excellent, and it's enjoyable to listen for a direct comparison of the two versions.
Irv Jacobs


Change of Mind

DEMS 08/3-26

See DEMS 08/2-13

My "Change of Mind" inquiry, elicited no responses, but I have another question regarding the music: The Ellington band surely recorded MORE than is heard on the soundtrack. It would be interesting to learn if the producers of Change of Mind, preserved tapes of the music. Perhaps the matter could be investigated.
Irv Jacobs

Thanks to Bjarne Busk the recorded music of Change of Mind that was found in the Danish collection has been documented in The New DESOR, sessions 6912, 6916 and 6917. A very small part of these recordings have been broadcast through the Danish Radio broadcast #28 on 2Aug85 by Knud Sørensen as sixteen tracks in three groups plus the selection titled Neo-Creole. Fifteen of these sixteen tracks have been “released” on DEMS cassette CA-29 (2001) and Neo-Creole on CA-26 (1999). There are also a few selections released on Pablo LP/CDs. Wanderlust on Up In Duke’s Workshop and What Good Am I Without You? titled as Edward the First on The Intimate Ellington.
DEMS


Wrong Liner-notes on LP Jazz Archives JA-15

DEMS 08/3-27

See DEMS 84/3-8; 84/4-11 and 88/4-4.

I don't know whether you are familiar with the jazz research e-mail group that is centered on Rutgers, but someone has posted an interesting note today. It concerns the version of Sweet Georgia Brown on the LP Jazz Archives JA-15, "Ben Webster/A Tribute To A Great Jazzman".
According to this e-mail the performance, dated as June 15, 1943, includes a chase sequence between Dizzy and Ray Nance.
According to my researches Dizzy played with Ellington only for four weeks from October 14 to November 10, 1944. In June he was still with Earl Hines and at that time Earl's band was on a southern and southwestern tour.
Do you have any further light to shed?
Chris Sheridan**

You are right. Dizzy did not participate in that broadcast titled “Jumpin’ Jive” and dated in Jul43. Not Jun43! The wrong information comes from the discographical data on the jacket of the LP. There has been some discussion in DEMS Bulletins, mentioned at the top of this article. These Bulletins are now accessible on the web-site www.depanorama.net/dems.
Dizzy stayed with Duke one day shorter than you indicate and one year earlier. From 14oct43 until 9Nov43. He participated in the recording session for the Worlds Transcriptions on 8Nov43 but the next day the band continued with the recordings without Dizzy.
My bible (the New DESOR) mentions Harold Baker and Taft Jordan as the chasers in Sweet Georgia Brown. Taft being the high note specialist.
Sjef Hoefsmit**


For members with access to Google.

DEMS 08/3-28

Google started to manage the vast archive of Life Magazine photography. I’ve searched by name: Duke Ellington and a lot of beautiful pictures surfaced, many of them from the Gjon Mili studio.
Check this: http://images.google.com/images?q=duke+ellington&q=source%3Alife
Click on each image and on the amplified image click again in the link View Full Size to get a full screen picture such as this:
http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=duke+ellington+source:life&imgurl=ea40ed38f85dec9d
Luis Contijoch**



NEW RELEASES AND RE-RELEASES



Gambit Records 69299
Thelonious Monk, trio and quartet
Unissued live at Newport, 1958-59

DEMS 08/3-29

DEMS member Georges Debroe gave us details of this CD with exclusively unreleased material, which is interesting for Ellington collectors, because the last session on this CD was recorded when Thelonious Monk was accompanied by the Ellington Orchestra at Newport on 8Jul62. Russell Procope was ill and replaced by Gene Hull (not Hill as mentioned in the booklet).
Thelonious Monk played first Monk’s Dream, arranged by Billy Strayhorn. This was followed by what in the New DESOR is titled Frère Monk, Duke indeed mentioned that title in his announcement, but not very convincingly. The liner-notes mention as title Ba-Lue-Bolivar-Ba-Lues-Are. I am not a Thelenious Monk expert. I found this title spelled as Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lue-Are as recorded by Monk as his own composition on 23Dec56. I cannot find a recording by Thelonious of Frère Monk, which according to the New DESOR is an Ellington composition, recorded by the band on 13Sep62 (and released on Volume Three of The Private Collection). Comparison of this 13Sep recording with the Newport version doesn’t help me much. These are both Blues structured pieces, but I hear no evident similarity. I think that Duke may have had the intention to play Frère Monk, but that Monk decided differently and played his own “encore”. I also cannot believe that Aaron Bell and Sam Woodyard accompanied Monk. I believe he brought his own people, although I am not able to say who these people were. Is there a Monk expert out there to help me?
The first session on the CD was played by Monk’s trio: Monk, Henry Grimes and Roy Haynes. They played four selections on 7Jul58: Just You, Just Me; Blue Monk; ‘Round Midnight and Well You Needn’t.
Monks Quarter: Monk, Charlie Rouse, Sam Jones and Art Taylor played on 3Jul59: In Walked Bud; Blue Monk; Crepuscule with Nellie; Well, You Needn’t and Rhythm-a-Ning.
A special track is reserved for Ellington’s announcement of Thelonious Monk in 1962. It is complete, however the pauses between Duke’s words have been shortened. Why? There was enough space on the CD.
Sjef Hoefsmit


Original Masters RCA Victor - Columbia  88697302362
Sony & BMG
“The Best of Duke Ellington”

DEMS 08/3-30

See DEMS 08/2-31

A review by Remco Plas was published in the last DEMS Bulletin, but according to an e-mail of 12Aug08 by Don Brown at the Duke-LYM list there is still a demand for knowing all the recording dates and matrix numbers for which DEMS Bulletin is usually the source if the record companies don’t care to supply these data. On this list I have given this time all the matrix numbers also for those recordings from which only one recording on that specific date exists.
I may add to the previously published reviews that the quality of these CDs is amazing. Even if you have all the recordings in your collection on the Classics and the Neatwork CDs (See DEMS 02/1-18/4; 02/2-24/2&3 and 02/3-19/1&2) it is worth considering acquiring this terrific set. The digital sound restoration was done by Harry Coster with an astounding result. The price of the 4 CD box is negligible. (I paid USD 13.60.)
Sjef Hoefsmit

Disc 1

 1. It Don’t Mean a Thing              2Feb32  B11204-A
 2. Lazy Rhapsody                      2Feb32  B11205-A
 3. Blue Tune                          4Feb32  B11223-A
 4. Baby, When You Ain’t There         4Feb32  B11224-A
 5. St. Louis Blues                   11Feb32  B11263-B
 6. Creole Love Call                  11Feb32  B11264-B
 7. Blue Harlem                       16May32  B11839-A
 8. The Sheik of Araby                16May32  B11840-A
 9. Best Wishes                       17May32  B11852-B
10. Blue Ramble                       18May32  B11866-B
11. Clouds in My Heart                18May32  B11867-B
12. Blue Mood                         19Sep32  B12332-A
13. Ducky Wucky                       19Sep32  B12333-A
14. Jazz Cocktail                     21Sep32  B12343-A
15. Lightnin’                         21Sep32  B12344-A
16. Swing Low                         22Sep32  B12346-A
17. Slippery Horn                     17Feb33  B13078-A
18. Drop Me Off in Harlem             17Feb33  B13081-A
19. Happy as the Day Is Long           9May33  B13306-A
20. Get Yourself a New Broom           9May33  B13308-A
21. Bundle of Blues                   16May33  B13337-A
22. Sophisticated Lady                16May33  B13339-A
23. Jive Stomp                        15Aug33  B13801-A
24. Harlem Speaks                     15Aug33  B13802-A
25. Daybreak Express                   4Dec33  77201-1

Disc 2

 1. Ebony Rhapsody                    26Feb34   79093/1&
                                                79094/1
 2. Ebony Rhapsody - Part 2           26Feb34   79105/1&
                                                79106/1
 3. Solitude                          12Sep34  B15910-A
 4. Saddest Tale                      12Sep34  B15911-A
 5. Moonlight Fiesta                   5Mar35  B16974-1
 6. In a Sentimental Mood             30Apr35  B17406-1
 7. Showboat Shuffle                  30Apr35  B17407-1
 8. Merry Go Round                    30Apr35  B17408-1
 9. Reminiscing in Tempo              12Sep35  B18072-1
                                      12Sep35  B18073-1
                                      12Sep35  B18074-2
                                      12Sep35  B18075-1
10. I Don’t Know Why I Love You So    20Jan36    1199-1
11. Isn’t Love the Strangest Thing?   27Feb36  B18734-1
12. Clarinet Lament                   27Feb36  B18736-1
13. Echoes of Harlem                  27Feb36  B18737-1
14. Trumpet in Spades                 17Jul36  B19564-1
15. Yearning for Love                 17Jul36  B19565-2
16. In a Jam                          29Jul36  B19626-1
17. Exposition Swing                  29Jul36  B19627-1
18. Uptown Downbeat                   29Jul36  B19628-1
19. Scattin’ at the Kit Kat           21Dec36   L0375-1
20. Black Butterfly                   21Dce36   L0375-1

Disc 3

 1. The New Birmingham Breakdown       5Mar37  M177-1
 2. The New East St. Louis Toodle-O    5Mar37  M178-1
 3. Caravan                           14May37  M470-2
 4. Azure                             14May37  M471-1
 5. Chatterbox                        20Sep37  M646-1
 6. Diminuendo in Blue                20Sep37  M648-1
 7. Crescendo in Blue                 20Sep37  M649-1
 8. Harmony in Harlem                 20Sep37  M650-2
 9. Dusk on the Desert                20Sep37  M651-2
10. Steppin’ into Swing Society       13Jan38  M713-1
11. Prologue to Black and Tan Fantasy 13Jan38  M714-1
12. The New Black and Tan Fantasy     13Jan38  M715-1
13. Ridin’ on a Blue Note              2Feb38  M751-1
14. Lost in Meditation                 2Feb38  M752-1
15. Gal from Joe’s                     2Feb38  M753-1
16. Skrontch                          24Feb38  M771-2
17. I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart    3Mar38  M772-2
18. Braggin’ in Brass                  3Mar38  M773-1
19. Carnival in Caroline               3Mar38  M774-1
20. I’m Slappin’ Seventh Avenue       11Apr38  M810-1
21. Dinah’s in a Jam                  11Apr38  M811-1
22. Rose of the Rio Grande             7Jun38  M833-1
23. Pyramid                            7Jun38  M834-1
24. Gypsy Without a Song              20Jun38  M845-1
25. Stevedore’s Serenade              20Jun38  M846-1

Disc 4

 1. Prelude to a Kiss                  9Aug38    M884-1
 2. Hip Chic                           9Aug38    M885-1
 3. Buffet Flat                        9Aug38    M886-1
 4. Jazz Potpourri                    19Dec38    M947-1
 5. T.T. on Toast                     19Dec38    M948-1
 6. Battle of Swing                   19Dec38    M949-2
 7. Blue Light                        22Dec38    M958-2
 8. Old King Dooji                    22Dec38    M959-1
 9. Boy Meets Horn                    22Dec38    M960-1
10. Slap Happy                        22Dec38    M961-1
11. Pussy Willow                      20Mar39    M997-1
12. Subtle Lament                     20Mar39    M998-1
13. Smorgasbord and Schnapps          20Mar39   M1000-1
14. Portrait of a Lion                21Mar39   M1006-2
15. Something To Live For             21Mar39   M1007-1
16. Solid Old Man                     21Mar39   M1008-1
17. Way Low                            6Jun39  WM1032-A
18. Serenade to Sweden                 6Jun39  WM1033-A
19. Bouncing Buoyancy                 28Aug39  WM1062-A
20. The Sergeant Was Shy              28Aug39  WM1063-A
21. Grievin’                          28Aug39  WM1064-A
22. I Never Felt This Way Before      14oct39  WM1092-A
23. Tootin’ Through the Roof          14oct39  WM1094-A
24. Killin’ Myself                    16oct39  WM1106-A
25. Country Gal                       16oct39  WM1108-A


Nimbus CD 2704
Duke Ellington Great Concerts: London & New York 1963-1964

DEMS 08/3-31

I found this double CD advertised on http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7760991 for $ 14.15.
As could be expected this is a re-release of the sessions of 20Feb64 in London (New DESOR 6409; DEMS 97/3-14) and 20May64 in New York (New DESOR 6439), previously released on MusicMasters respectively 65106-2 and 65122-2. The year 1963 has nothing to do with either of these sessions.
If you do not have these recordings in your collection: this is your chance!
Lance Travis


Blue Label SPV 305822 (2008)
Johnny Hodges - Passion Flower - 1940-46

DEMS 08/3-32

This is a re-release of the RCA Bluebird CD from 1995 with catalog number 66616, which [I’m sorry to say] has not been mentioned before in DEMS Bulletin. Better late than never!

 1. Day Dream                           2Nov40
 2. Good Queen Bess            -1       2Nov40
 3. Good Queen Bess            -2       2Nov40
 4. That's the Blues, Old Man           2Nov40
 5. Junior Hop                 -2       2Nov40, is missing last note
 6. Squaty Roo                          3Jul41
 7. Passion Flower                      3Jul41
 8. Things Ain't What They Used To Be   3Jul41
 9. Going Out the Back Way              3Jul41
10. Don’t Get Around Much Anymore       4May40
11. Blue Goose                         28May40
12. In a Mellotone                      5Sep40
13. Warm Valley                -1       5Sep40
14. After All                          15Feb41
15. The Giddy-Bug Galop                 5Jun41
16. I Got It Bad               -2      26Jun41
17. Clementine                          2Jul41
18. Moon Mist                  -1      21Jan42
19. I Did’t Know About You     -1      28Jul42
20. Come Sunday                        11Dec44
21. Mood To Be Wooed                    4Jan45
22. Rockabye River                      9Jul46

It is true that Warm Valley (track 13) is the rare take -1, but also I Got It Bad (track 16), Moon Mist (track 18) and I Didn’t Know About You (track 19) have the rare takes.



ELLINGTONIA


Fresh Sound Records FRS CD 531 (single CD)
“Stepping Into Swing Society”
Mercer Ellington and his Orchestra

DEMS 08/3-33

This CD is a re-release of two Coral LP albums: Coral CRL 57225 with the same title and Coral CRL 57293 titled “Colors in Rhythm”, each album contained 12 tracks. From the first album
3 tracks were recorded on 14Jul58 by Cat Anderson, Harold Baker, Clark Terry, Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman, John Sanders, Johnny Hodges, Russell Procope, Jimmy Hamilton, Ben Webster, Harry Carney, Billy Strayhorn, Skeeter Best (g), Wendell Marshall and Joe Marshall (dr):
Steppin’ into Swing Society; Black Butterfly and Got My Foot in the Door.
4 Tracks were recorded on 17Jul58 by the same band with a completely different rhythm section:
Jimmy Jones, Carl Lynch (g), George Duvivier and Sam Bailey (dr):
Indelible; Ruint; Frolic Sam and Be Patient.
5 Tracks were recorded on 22Jul58 (according to my discography) by the same band in which Skeeter Best (g) and Wendell Marshall returned in place of Lynch and Duvivier: If You Were in My Place; Gal from Joe’s; Afternoon Moon; Broadway Babe and Yearning for Love. The liner-notes give the date as 20Jul58, but that was a Sunday. Not impossible, but unlikely.
The 12 tracks from the second album, “Colors in Rhythm” were recorded by the same band in which Ben Webster was replaced by Harold Ashby and the rhythm section consisted of Jimmy Jones, Les Spann, Wendell Marshall and Gus Johnson:
On 16Mar59: Little White Lies; Azure; Cherry Pink.
On 18Jul59 (according to my discography 18Mar59): Maroon; Coral Rock; Black and Tan Fantasy; Aqua-Tonic.
On 20Jul59 (according to my discography 20Mar59): Mood Indigo; Dawn of a Greenhorn; Blue Serge; The Moon Was Yellow and Golden Cress.

The same 12 selections of the second LP (but in another order) were previous released on 27Jun03 in Japan, Universal Music. UCCC-9069 COLORS IN RHYTHM [Initial pressing only limited release] mini card board LP replica CD
Milo van den Assem**


Fresh Sound Records FSR CD 532 (double CD)
“The Great Ellingtonians”

DEMS 08/3-34

This double CD is a re-release of three Columbia LP albums: (E) 33SX-1323, titled “Rock Me Gently”; (E) 33SX-1342, titled “Hang in There”; and (E) 33SX-1379, titled “Tenor Stuff”.
The first album was recorded on 16Sep60. Willie Cook, Ed Mullens, Ray Nance, Booty Wood, Paul Gonsalves, Harry Carney, Rollins Griffith (p), Aaron Bell and Sam Woodyard recorded: Rock Me Gently; Mabulaba; Jeepers Creepers and Tree of Hope.
The next day with Fats Ford on the chair of Ed Mullens: Blues for Blokes; Hand Me Down Love; Five O’Clock Drag and Baby Blue.
The second album was recorded on 13Dec60. Harold Baker, Booty Wood, Paul Gonsalves, Johnny Hodges, Ram Ramirez (p), Aaron Bell and Oliver Jackson recorded: Hang in There; New Cambridge Blues; Easin’ down Piccadilly and Ohso.
After Dickie Wells and Vic Dickenson had joined the group, Sir Charles Thomson had replaced Ramirez and Harold Baker had left, the following selections were recorded: Sunday; Snowstorm; Blues in Bones and Our Delight.
The third album was recorded on 5Jan61. Paul Gonsalves (also on guitar*), Harold Ashby, Sir Charles Thompson, Aaron Bell and Jo Jones recorded: Swallowing the Blues*; Out of Nowhere; Midnight Sun and London Broil*. After Ray Nance joined the group: Squeeze Me*; Jeep’s Blues; Blue Skies and You Can Depend on Me.

These 24 selections are possibly on CD for the first time.
Milo van den Assem**



The New DESOR correction-sheets


Complicated Correction-sheets

DEMS 08/3-35

I'm surprised not to find the description of neither 9068j nor k on Correction-Sheet 1088.
One can of course refer to Correction-Sheet 1068 for Cotton Tail, former 7305xa and now 9068v to session 7305 for the original Carnegie Blues, former 7305b an now 6968j, but is that clear enough?
Klaus Götting

I agree. It would have been much better if these two descriptions would have been added to the session 9068 on Correction-sheet 1088. I made for each of those two selections a note on sheet 1088, where to go to find the description of the structure.
Sjef Hoefsmit


Here are the latest additions to the Correction-sheets:

DEMS 08/3-36

Sessions

  1089 - 9069   Hartford interview    7May71   08/1-6
         9071   Unknown broadcast  1943/1944   08/3-6/1
         9072   NYC                1946/1947   08/3-6/3
         9073   Umeå                 27oct73   08/2-7
         9074   CBS bc      Late 40/Early 50   08/3-6/4
  1090   9070   New Orleans?         26Feb74?  08/3-6/9
1091/1   9070   Structure descriptions         08/3-6/9

Discs

  3029 - 6660-6664;9068     Eagle Vision-431   08/1-8&9

         6818              Impro-Jazz IJ-540   08/2-12
         4565/68/73              DETS Vol.13   08/2-28
         NY NY            Storyville 1018402   08/2-29




The New DESOR corrections


DEMS 08/3-37

We remind you that these corrections are merely suggestions. They are not (yet) accepted by the authors of the New DESOR. Unsigned suggestions were brought in by Hoefsmit.
DEMS

Page 909. I Don’t Know Why I Love You So. 3602a and 3602b both have an intro by DE of 4 bars. The first bar of 3602a is missing on CBS88137, but on Classics 659 and Sony&BMG 88697302362 the intro is complete.

Pages 562 and 949. Session 7011, 6Feb70. Bill Egan has published several interesting newspaper clips on <http://www.florencemills.com/duke_ellington_australia_1970.htm>.
One of these clips covered the interview of 6Feb70. It was printed in the Sydney Morning Herald of 7Feb and it read: “Today husband and wife Anne Deveson (2GB) and Ellis Blain (ABC) will do a joint interview with Duke Ellington. Tonight at 6.35, a half-hour version will be heard in Miss Deveson’s Newsmakers program on 2GB. On Tuesday, an hour-long version will be in Ellis Blain’s Guest on 2BL.”
In the DEMS files the names were spelled as Mrs and Mr Anne Daverson and Ellis Blaine. In the New DESOR the names are Anne Jefferson and Ellis Blaine, but now we have the correct names. The date should not be corrected however from 6 to 7Feb70. This is taken from our notes: “In Joe Igo's files the recording date is February 7, 1970 but that is wrong. Very clearly at the start of the interview the date is confirmed: ‘This was made on the 6th of February 1970.’ Early in the interview we hear: ‘Duke Ellington arrived in Sydney today for a concert at the stadium tomorrow night.’ This answers a lot of questions. At the end of the interview somebody was hammering on the door. Duke had to come for the tele-recording. This places the interview ahead of the ABC telecast ‘The Duke Ellington Special’ New DESOR 7010.”

Page 1036. Moonlight Fiesta. 3502c has no intro by Duke like 3502b has.

Page 1439. Edie Adams, who was born on 16Apr27 died on 15oct08.

Page 1460. The first name of Freedman is spelled WOOLF and not WULF. That’s how he signed his e-mail to me.
Lance Travis



 

DESOR small corrections

DEMS 08/3-38

These corrections are authorised by Luciano Massagli and Giovanni Volonté.
DEMS

DESOR small corrections 5013


Volume 1 (Corrections December 2008)

54 - Add session 9074, CBS bc of late 40s-early 50s. Correction-sheet 1089 (08/3-6/4)
82 - Add session 9071 of 1943/1944. Correction-sheet 1089 (08/3-6/1)
116 - 6oct45, session 4573. 4573p add to title: (Lament in a Minor Mood). (08/2-28)
143 - Add session 9072 “Carnation Contented Hour” 1946/1947. Correction-sheet 1089 (08/3-6/3)
229 - 6Dec56, session 5638. 5638f: delete: UTD 2006; add:   unissued. (08/2-18)
532 - 21Jun69, session 6922. RJ(d.) instead of RJ(b.).
695 - Add session 9073, Umeå interview, 27oct73. Correction-sheet 1089 (08/2-7)
706 - Add session 9070, Mardi Gras concert, 26Feb74? Correction-sheet 1090 (08/3-6/9)

Volume 2 (Corrections December 2008)

783 - Café au Lait, 5638g: int12DE instead of int10DE. (08/2-18)
833 - Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me, 4338g: 8BAND&LB instead of 4BAND&LB. (04/3-43)
1052 - No Title, 7106am. The structure should be read as follows: int12BAND;1°/2°BAND;pas18BAND;3°/4°BAND;5°/6°PG&BAND;7°/8°BAND;cod2PG,6BAND. (08/2-29)
1160 - Stompy Jones, 4568b. Add: and: 7°/9°BAND&CA. (08/2-28)
1349 - Add: 0917 CD. D.E.T.S. 9039013. Correction-sheet 3029 (08/2-28)
1353 - Add: 0915 double DVD Eagle Vision EREDV-431. Correction-sheet 3029 (08/1-8&9)
1365 - Add: 0916 DVD Impro Jazz IJ-540. Correction-sheet 3029 (08/2-12)
1419 - Add: 0918 CD. Storyville 1018402. Correction-sheet 3029 (08/2-29)
1426 - Up To Date 2006. Delete: Café au Lait (5638f). (08/2-18)
1456 - Durham, Robert Joseph “Bobby”. Feb 3, 1937 - Jul 6, 2008. (08/2-2)
1476 - Lamb, John Lee. Nov 29, 1933 - . (08/2-6/4)
1486 - Peterson, Oscar Emmanuel. Aug 15, 1025 - Dec 23, 2007. (08/1-1)
1503 - White, Quentin “Rocky”. Nov 3, 1952 - Jun 4, 2008. (08/3-1)

 

 

DEMS Domesticities


News from Washington, D.C.

DEMS 08/3-39

I have some news from the Duke Ellington Society of Washington, D.C.
We are planning to test mailing some of our newsletters as pdf files.  This will be mostly for courtesy copies. If you are a member you will continue to receive the newsletter in the mail.
I have put many back issues of the newsletter on the DC Ellington Society webpage.  These are old copies from our archives, some of which were supplied by DEMS. Perhaps it is worth mentioning in DEMS that these old DC Ellington Society newsletters are available online.
Our page is here: http://depanorama.net/desociety/index.htm
There is a link to the archives from that page.  Or people can get to it from the link on http://depanorama.net
Peter MacHare
A Duke Ellington Panorama


New CD in the DEMS collection

DEMS 08/3-40

The first thing that I will do as soon as this Bulletin is on line, is answering a “heavy request” for a copy of the Santiago de Chile concert of 26Nov71. A reader of Dems Bulletin, who was 14 years old at the time, attended this concert and would very much like to have a copy. It will certainly take more than one CD, so a double CD is in the planning. I will keep as usual the masters here, for making more copies. Before you start asking me for a copy you should know that a part of the concert has been used for the DEMS cassette CA-31, “released” at the end of 2003.
DEMS**

Merry Christmas

DEMS 08/3-41

This is again the last Bulletin of the year, the right moment to wish all DEMS readers (former DEMS members) a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Believe me, if you have worries about the situation in the world, nothing helps better than to listen to Duke’s music. I am happy if I have been of any help for the collecting of his recordings.
Sjef Hoefsmit**