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Storyville CD Cover
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My People LP front covers
Click to view on www.discogs.com
(reqires scrolling downonthat webpage))
Exposition Programme Front Cover

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References

• Contract, SI-NMAH DEC301 Series 3G, Box 114, Folder 1 "Centennial Productions"
• Letter, Tempo Music, Inc. to Centennial Production Corp.
  SI-NMAH DEC301 Series 3E, Box 102
• Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Ill.
  • 1997-08-29 s.5 p.2
  • 1998-03-08 s.7 p.10
  • 1998-05-01 s.7 p.1
  • 1998-05-08 s.1 pp.1, 28
  • 1995-05-11 s.5 pp.1,5
• Chicago Daily News, Chicago, Ill.
  • 1963-08-15 p.51
• Down Beat>,courtesy S.Lasker
• Ascap Jazz Notes, September 1963
  SI-NMAH DEC301 Series 3E, Box 102
• John F Franchesina
  Duke Ellington's Music for the Theatre
  McFarland and Company, Inc.
  Jefferson N.C. and London, at pp.105-109
• Eddie Lambert
  Duke Ellington A Listener's Guide
  The Scarecrow Press, Inc., Lanham, Md. and London, and
  Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, 1999, at pp.249-250
• Harvey S. Cohen,
  Duke Ellington's America,
  University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London,
  Chapter 11 at pp. 392-399
• Don George
  Sweet Man, The Real Duke Ellington
  G.P. Putnam and Sons, New York, 1981, p.112
• Mercer Ellington and Stanley Dance
  Duke Ellington In Person, An Intimate Memoir Houghton, 1978 and London: Hutchinson's, 1978, p.165
• Stanley Dance
  The World of Duke Ellington, pp. 216-218
• Stuart Nicholson
  A Portrait of Duke Ellington Reminiscing in Tempo , pp. 345-350
• John Edward Hasse
  Beyond Category, The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington,
  Da Capo Press, New York pp.350-351
• The Press Courier, Oxnard, Cal.
  1963-06-28 p.2
• The Tribune, Chicago, Ill.
  1963-07-21 p.4
• Brookfield Citizen, Brookfield, Ill.
  1963-08-15 p.l1, second front page)
• The Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Ind.
  1963-08-17 p.3
• The Palladium-Item and Sun-Telegram,, Richmond, Ind.
  1963-08-22 p.2
• Stratemann p.473
• Jet 1964-01-16 p.57
• MIMM pp. 197-199, 228, 234, 309, 314, 403-404, 492
• Bjarne Busk
  Notes to Storyville CD 1018430
  Duke Ellington's My People The Complete Show
• Danny Caine,
  Duke's People,
  Blue Light Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 13-23
• Recordings on YouTube:
  • King Fit the Battle of Alabam'
  • What Color is Virtue?

Peripheral event

---

Either "during rehearsals" for My People (Franceschina p.108 and Hasse, p.351) or "during the Chicago exposition" (Cohen p.395), Ellington met The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. outside Duke's hotel, where they were introduced by Marian Logan. Mrs. Logan described their meeting in this short YouTube interview extract. After they met, Duke invited Dr. King to McCormick Place where they heard Strayhorn et a; perform King Fit the Battle of Alabam'.

Dating this first meeting is difficult: Haijdu quotes Mrs. Logan talking about the August 28 March on Washington:

Strays spent most of his time in our room...Martin and Strays got together again, and Strays talked off his ear about Ellington's show ... Martin promised to go see it, and after that, he did. Arthur [Logan] and I took him, and that was where he met Edward for the first time.

It would seem Mrs. Logan had the timing confused. On August 1, King toured the exposition and gave Ellington a certificate, and in her interview above, she said they met the day King arrived in Chicago. Chicago Tribune 1963-08-22 says Dr. King paid a brief visit to the exposition "last week." King probably arrived before August 18, when he was the guest minister at Chicago's Liberty Baptist Church. On August 21 he toured the exposition and presented Ellington with an award (AP wirestory).

George puts the meeting on the day King arrived in Chicago:

'...King...flew from Atlanta to Chicago where Duke was rehearsing ... My People...The police and reporters met King's plane, and King left in a limousine...Marian Logan, who was in the car, mentioned, Duke Ellington is staying at the Blackstone.

King said, Why don't we stop there, I'd like to meet Mr. Ellington.

They pulled up to the hotel and sent someone in to get Duke. He wasn't up, of course, it being daytime. The assistant manager went up to the darkened room and told Duke, Dr. King is downstairs. He'd like very much to meet you.
Duke was excited. What'll I wear? What'll I wear? and eventually grabbed the same old pants and things he always wore... He just put on whatever junk was hanging around, including a white bathrobe with blue lining, and put his porkpie hat on over his stocking cap, and they came down the elevator. When they got outside the hotel, the wind was really blowing down Michigan Boulevard.

King jumped out of the car, and they were introduced...Just as they embraced like old friends, a great gust of wind blew Duke's hat off, and Duke was standing there with his arms around King, wearing only his stocking cap, his bathrobe fluttering in the breeze, while the policemen chased his beatup old porkpie hat down the street.

If George has accurately described Duke's attire, the Logan/YouTube footage showing Duke emerging from his room is not from this occasion.

What?

• Dan Morgenstern (Ascap Jazz Notes, September 1963):
  

  'ELLINGTON SHOW AT EMANCIPATION CELEBRATION
  
  ASCAP's Duke Ellington has created a musical production entitled "My People" to be staged twice daily as part of the Century of Negro Progress Exposition at Chicago's McCormick Palace [sic], Aug. 16 to Sept. 2. The Ellington work, which includes material from "Black, Brown and Beige" as well as newly composed sections, features 50 singers and dancers as well as the Ellington orchestra. In addition, a band made up of ex-Ellington musicians will perform at the exposition. Other recent Ducal activities include the writing of original music for the Stratford (Conn.) [sic] Shakespeare Festival's production of "Timon of Athens"...'

• Down Beat, 1963-08-15, p. 11:
  

  ELLINGTON PUTS TOGETHER SHOW FOR EMANCIPATION CELEBRATION
  
     To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Duke Ellington has conceived an hour-long production simply titled My People, which will be a major part of the Century of Negro Progress to be staged in Chicago's huge McCormick Place from Aug. 16 to Sept. 2. The show will be presented in the Arie Crown Theatre of McCormick Place twice daily throughout the exposition.
     It will combine the songs from Black Brown and Beige, Ellington told Down Beat. That is, Come Sunday and The Blues, and these two themes will be developed further – we take the spiritual (Come Sunday) and show all that sprung from it, and then we take the blues and show all that's sprung from that.
     We are not trying to be documentary, Ellington continued. It's planned as entertainment.
     The production, according to the composer, will be made up of an opening statement, a work-song ballet (not the Work Song from BB&B), a five-selection spiritual-Gospel section, "rhapsodization" of the work song and spiritual together, the blues-and-development portion, a choir doing King Fit the Battle of Brirmingham (an Ellington poetic comment sent in a Joshua mold), a song about mothers and fathers, a section featuring dancers Geoffrey Holder and Carmen de Lavallade, and a Bunny Briggs feature titled What Color Is Virtue?
     The cast includes 50 singers and dancers, according to Ellington. Vocalists include Joya Sherill, Lil Greenwood, and Milt Grayson.
     When the production is staged and viewed by audiences, Ellington said, We will have made them aware of our investments, will have been witnesses to the progress – and will have entertained the hell out of them.

• Background
  • Jet, 1954-09-12:

    A $5½ million exposition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation is planned for 1963 in Chicago... It will be sponsored by the newly-organized American Negro Emancipation Centennial.

  • The Illinois legislature passed an act in August 1961 creating and funding the American Negro Emancipation Centennial Commission of Illinois. Commission activities in 1962 and 1963, summarized in its 1963-04-01 report included a planned Century of Negro Progress Exposition at McCormick Place, Chicago from 1963-08-16 to 1963-09-02.
  • The Tribune:

    'Century Of Negro Progress To Feature Duke Ellington
      One of America's foremost composers and orchestra leaders – Duke Ellington – will present a daily musical extravaganza at "A Century Of Negro Progress' [sic] exposition, August 16 to September 2 at McCormick Place.
      The 18-day Exposition, the only national observance commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation centennial, is designed to recognize outstanding but little-known achievements by American Negroes. In 21 theme centres, the contributions of the Negro in areas ranging from baseball to biology, and from medicine to music, will be shown to the expected 800,000 to 1 million visitors.
      ELLINGTON will produce his original production of "Black, Brown and Beige" twice a day in the 5,000 seat Arie Crown theatre. The show, which will include top Negro entertainers, is described by the famous musician as "a tone parallel to the hostory [sic] of the Negro in America."
      "Black, Brown and Beige" was first presented by Ellington at his Carnegie Hall debut in 1943. For the Negro Progress Exposition, he will present an updated version of this work...
      In addition to the Ellington show, a special feature of A Century of Negro Progress Exposition will be a free musical revue staged by Negro producer Larry Steele. It will be presented on an aquatic stage on Lake Michigan, directly behind McCormick Place.
      More than 100 major American industries, the City of Chicago, several states, the federal government and at least five foreign nations are contributing to A Century of Negro Progress Exposition. The Exposition is being sponsored by the American Negro Emancipation Centennial Authority, headed by Alton A. Davis, Executive Director.'

  • The Press Courier:

    'New York (UPI) – Pianist-composer Duke Ellington said today there is little need for racial integration in his line of work becuse "musicians are always guided by sounds, not by what they see."
      Ellington, who arrived yesterday from a month-long tour of Sweden, also said he would write the music for a show to be presented during the centennial celebration of Negro emancipation, scheduled in Chicago, Aug.16-Sept. 2.
      He said the Negro in the United States is a "very patient and loyal citizen" whose civil rights guarantees have been delayed too long.'

  • See additional background of the show, the exposition and the 1963 civil rights climate in Dan Caine's blog at https://dancai.blogspot.com.
  • According to Caine, Ellington did much of his planning for the show at the Chicago apartment of his retired guitarist Fred Guy.

  ---

  When?

  • August 16 to September 2, 1963 (Labour Day)
  • The Century of Negro Progress Exposition opened in McCormick Place on August 16, and Ellington's "My People" revue, described in Franceschina as the principal entertainment of the exhibition, opened in its Arie Crown Theater the same day. 800,000 visitors to the exposition were predicted but less than 100,000 attended during its eighteen day run.
  • Chicago Daily News announced 500 people were invited to a black tie ball at McCormick Place the night (Aug. 15) before the opening. It said a preview of My People would be presented.
  • Jet reported Ellington said My People might be revived after he finished the upcoming 1964 tour of England and Europe, possibly as two shows, one on Broadway and the other in Europe. This revival did not happen.
  • My People was revived for a one-night performance May 8, 1998 at New Regal Theatre, Chicago, coinciding with the "Ellington 98" International Duke Ellington Study Group conference. Barbara Wright-Pryor, a member of its original choir, the Irving Bunton Singers, was the choreographer and stage director. Dan Caine's blog quotes her as saying it took 11 months to recreate the libretto. This is consistent with an initial announcement in the Chicago Tribune 1997-08-29 s.5 p.2. That newspaper publicized the revival as noted to the right. In addition to Ms Wright-Prior, the paper names others involved in the revival: Mercedes Ellington, choral director Dr. Robert L. Morris, conductor David Baker, Josie Childs, music transcriber Charles Harrison, and singers Robert Sims, Lucius Bell Jr., Roberta Thomas and Joya Sherrill.

  ---

  Where?

  
  My People in performance
  Arie Crown Theater stage
  Click to Enlarge
  • Arie Crown Theater, McCormick Place, Chicago, Ill.
  • 
    McCormick Place map
    Click to Enlarge
    The Arie Crown Theater is inside what is now the Lakeside Center in the huge McCormick Place convention complex. At the time, McCormick Place was one building with a main exhibit area of 320,000 square feet, 23 meeting rooms and the 5,000-seat theater.
  • My People was performed on a stage with a 90 foot proscenium, 60 feet from the "footlights to back wall," with a 75-foot arc to the ramp, Ellington, thinking the show would look too small, designed the set to put the band on stage in front of a 12-foot high platform - see embedded picture.
  • Franceschina quotes son Mercer as saying as well as composing and directing the production, his father painted the sets and constructed the lighting. In MIMM, Ellington said he choreographed the opening.
  • A poster reprinted in Franceschina says My People played at 2:00, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m., on Saturdays, Sundays and Labour Day and on other days, at 3:00 and 7:30 p.m. Admission was $1.00 for adults and 50¢ for children.
  • Bjarne Busk (Storyville CD booklet):

    'Duke Ellington wrote the lyrics and most of the arrangements himself. Billy Strayhorn wrote one number for the show, the background music for Purple People. Strayhorn's piece Strange Feeling from The Perfume Suite by Ellington-Strayhorn, was considered for the show, and recorded with the band. Eventually none of these two numbers were used...'

    Mr. Caine's blog, however, says Strayhorn wrote the orchestration for Heritage (My Mother, My Father and Love."
  • One piece, My People, is a soapbox oratory, a thunder and brimstone sermon, delivered by Ellington, or in his absence, Bunny Briggs (source: Busk, p.9).
  
  
  

  ---

  
  Terms of 1963 05 22 contract between Duke Ellington, Inc. (DEI) and American Negro Emancipation Centennial Authority (ANECA):
  

  ---

  • DEI to produce a one-hour musical revue to be performed twice daily except Saturday and Sunday when there would be three daily performances, from August 16 to September 2 inclusive. DEI agreed to a third perfomance Fridays at ANECA's request.
  • ANECA to furnish
    • all house personnel, including ushers, ticket takers, ticket sellers, porters, but not stagehands
    • all necessary lighting equipment except gels
    • any and all "guest stars," who must be approved by DEI.
    • all advertising and promotional material and services except what DEI agreed to provide.
    • all existing stage scenery
  • DEI to provide
    • cast (other than guest stars)
    • chorus
    • dance group
    • scenery
    • photos and biographies of principal performers
    • one 8' x 10' sign on the exterior wall
    • 8 stagehands
    • Ellington's services as a performer from Aug. 16 to 20, who will also collaborate with the Authority on the historical aspects in keeping with the theme of the show. When Ellington is not available for stage appearances, his substitute was to be jointly approved by DEI and ANECA.
  • Theatre to be available exclusively for DE commencing August 12 for rehearsals and pre-public perfomances.
  • Any and all subsidiary rights derived from the production, such as motion picture, legitimate theatre, phonograph recording, program souvenirs (except program souvenir rights in connection with the production hereunder), television and radio rights, to be owned by DEI.
  • DEI has the right to assign all of its rights, privileges and obligations to a corporation in which Ellington or DEI has a substantial interest, in which case DEI shall be relieved of all oblgations.
  • The $102,000 contract price was to be paid: $5,000 upon execution; $25,000 on or before July 1; $13,000 by July 30; $12,000 by August 14; balance by August 20.
• By letter dated 1963-08-09, in consideration of payment of $1,000, Tempo Music, Inc. granted Centennial Production Corp. a non-exclusive right and privilege to perform Black, Brown & Beige at the Emancipation Centennial Show during the period of the show, August and September, 1963. This may or may not be Centennial Productions Ltd., formed 1963 06 05 in New York without share capital, with Ellington as president, and Perry Watkins as vice-president and treasurer. The incorporating attorney was David Braun, who resigned upon incorporation as per his normal practice.

Who?

• Mercer Ellington:

  'When he did My People in Chicago the show required an orchestra, but there wasn't enough money involved to support the Ellington orchestra; he had to construct a band around a group of alumni while he continued working with his own band on the road...'

• My People personnel
  IRS Form 841 Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return names the following poeple as being on the payroll. Their roles are not stated:
  • Juan Amalbert
  • Harold Kenneth Ashby
  • William Bairn
  • Elmer Ball
  • Marion L. Barnett
  • Tally Beatty
  • Louis Bellson
  • Joseph R. Benjamin
  • William R. Berry
  • Bunny Briggs
  • Lawrence Brown
  • Irving Bunton
  • Dorothy Byrd
  • Candace Caldwell
  • Peter Clarke
  • George Collins
  • Marguerite deLaine
  • Andrew Duncan
  • Raphael Durso
  • Herbert Ellis
  • Robert M. Freedman
  • Paul Gonsalves
  • Nathaniel B. Green
  • Richelle Guilmenot
  • Thomas S. Harrell
  • Isaac H. Hawkins Jr.
  • Albert Johnson Sr.
  • Albert T. Johnson
  • James Jones
  • Victoria Lucas
  • Richard Martin
  • Gloria T. McCorkle
  • Saundra L. McPherson
  • Robert L. Morris
  • Willis Raymond Nance
  • Joan Peters
  • Florence Phillips
  • Everard Powell Sr
  • Edward Preston
  • Russell Procope
  • Barbara W. Prior
  • Lorene Richardson
  • Arlyne Roland
  • John Conrad Sanders
  • Celeste Cavalier Sawyer
  • Georgette A. Schneitter
  • Joya Sherrill
  • William Steward
  • Johanna Teatman
  • Perry Watkins
  • Vivian L. Weaver
  • Charles Williams
  • Edna Williams
  • Lester Wilson
  • Mitchell Wood Jr.
  • Nathan Woodard
  • Britt B. Woodman
  • Sam Woodyard
  • Note the list omits Jimmy Grissom, Billy Strayhorn, Ellington himself and copyist Tom Whaley.
  • People named in bold font were in the orchestra assembled for this show - see "Intrumentalists" below. This webpage calls it the Billy Strayhorn Orchestra for convenience. The name is on some of the record labels and in some books, but not on most of the album covers.
  • It isn't clear if the Charles Williams listed is Cootie nor why Ellington sidemen who were not in this special orchestra are named.
• Steven Lasker:

  'In World of Duke Ellington (218), Jimmy Jones offered a vivid recollection of the sessions, his role, and that of DE and BS.'

  Jones:

  'I was just supposed to rehearse some singers but each day I was deeper into it until all of a sudden I was in Chicago! I'm very happy I took it on, because it was a great experience and the band was wonderful. I used to kid Duke about the band, and he'd laugh, but I think he liked it, too. He said it had a different personality!'

• Tom Whaley (quoted in Nicholson p.346 and Lawrence p.358):

  'I used to copy and run out and listen to the show, copy and listen to the show. My People, it was the education of the negro through music. He had the people coming up from the pit, they were in rags, my people, our people in rags coming up and then at the end they were doctors and lawyers and everything. And he developed it and oh, it was beaustiful and the last thing was What is Colour, What is Virtue?'

• Caine reports Strayhorn took three days away (1963 08 26 to 1963 08 28), first going to New York for the annual The Copasetics benefit where his show Down Dere was to be presented, and then on to Washington D.C. to walk in the civil rights March on Washington. He says Jones had to conduct the orchestra without Ellington's score. This is consistent with Haijdu, which spells the name of the Copasetics show Down There, dates it the last Monday in August (1963 08 26) but has Strayhorn arriving in Washington two days before the March, i.e. that same day.

• Instrumentalists ("The Billy Strayhorn Orchestra")
  Past, Current and Future sidemen in the Duke Ellington Orchestra as noted
  • Jimmy Jones, conductor
  • Rudy Powell, Russell Procope (Current), Bob Freedman, Harold Ashby (Future), Pete Clark, reeds
  • Bill Berry (Current), Ray Nance (Current), "Ziggy" Harrell, Nathan Woodard (Future), trumpets;
  • Britt Woodman (Future), John Sanders (Past), Booty Wood (Past amd Future), trombones;
  • Joe Benjamin, bass (Future)
  • Louie Bellson, drums (Past)
  • Juan Amalbert, conga
  • Billy Strayhorn, Jimmy Jones, piano
  • Strayhorn, celeste
    
• Vocalists
  
  • Joya Sherrill
  • Lil Greenwood
  • Milt Grayson
  • Jimmy Grissom
  • Jimmy McPhail
  • the Irving Bunton Singers
• Dancers
  
  • Alvin Ailey Dance
    Theater
  • the Tally Beatty Dancers
  • Bunny Briggs

Recordings

• Live recording

  
  
  Two audio tapes of the recording are known to exist. A reel-to-reel tape obtained by Bill Berry Jr., was transcribed by Charles Harrison to create the score for the 1998 revival, and a cassette in the Mercer Ellington collection, was used by Bjarne Busk and his colleagues to determine the music sequence in the Storyville compact disc.
  
  Bjarne Busk (Storyville booklet):

  'This recording was found on a cassette tape in Mercer Ellington's collection. The sound quality of the tape is very poor and unfit for a commercial release, but the tape is invaluable to document how the show was performed. All numbers on the tape except two were also recorded in the studio ... One missing number is an introduction ... played by Emmanuael Rahim on congas, ending with the Jungle Triangle motif... The other "missing" number is a version of Guitar Amour, known from the 1961 film Paris Blues....It seems to have been added late during the production, probably as music for a dance number. Some pieces...originated in the 1943 suite, Black, Brown and Beige and are heard here in new arrangements. Other pieoes were specfically written for My People and later recycled in other connections..."'

  Taped live performance 1963 08 25 (Sunday) Arie Crown Theatre, Chicago, Ill.
  
  Billy Strayhorn Orchestra et al.:
  Bill Berry, Ziggy Harrell, Nat Woodard, Ray Nance, Britt Woodman, Booty Wood, John Sanders, Russell Procope, Rudy Powell, Harold Ashby, Pete Clark (ts); Bob Freedman, Billy Strayhorn, Joe Benjamin, Louie Bellson, Juan Amalbert, with Joya Sherrill, Jimmy McPhail, Jimmy Grissom, Lil Greenwood and The Irving Bunton Singers
  
  Titles listed in the order performed:
  • Come Sunday
  • Will You Be There? / 99% Won't Do
  • Ain't But The One
  • David Danced
  • My Mother, My Father And Love
  • Guitar Amour
  • After Bird Jungle
  • My Mother, My Father And Love
  • Montage
  • Will You Be There?
  • The Blues
  • Blues At Sundown
  • Walkin' and Singin' The Blues
  • Jail Blues (Workin' Blues)
  • My Man Sends Me
  • Jail Blues
  • I Love My Lovin' Lover
  • Skillipoop (or Jungle Triangle)
  • King Fit The Battle Of Alabam'
  • King Fit The Battle Of Alabam'
  • What Color Is Virtue?
  • What Color Is Virtue?
  
  
  

• Studio recording sessions

  
  The "My People Original Cast Recording" album was recorded in three studio sessions at Universal Studios, Chicago, after the end of the performance day
  - source: Juan Amalbert (Emmanuel Abdul Rahim) at p.4 of the Storyville booklet.
  
  My People recording session - trumpet section not shown
  Courtesy Dan Caine (blog) and Barbara Wright-Pryor (Facebook)
  (The larger group photo was also printed in the Chicago Tribune, 1998-05-11 s.5 p.1)
  Click to Enlarge
  
  
  Jimmy Jones (Dance, p.218):

  When we came to record the cast album, there was a three-man team again. Ellington was staying in the booth and I would conduct. Sometimes, if you wanted to get a particular feeling he would come out and conduct. Then Strayhorn would stay in the booth with the singers and I would go and play piano.

  The studio recording session titles listed here are in alphabetical order by session. While some titles had several takes, this is not a sessionography. For complete discographical information, with details of singers and dancers, consult:
  • The Girvan/Dyson/Chiarelli's on-line discography at https://ellingtonia.com/discography/1961-1970/
  • New Desor(sessions 6362, 6363 and 6365)
  • Ellingtonia, the Recorded Music of Duke Ellington and His Sidemen, fifth edition (Timner),
    or
  • Jazz Records 1942-80 Vol.6 Ellington (Nielsen)

  ---

  First studio session - 1963-08-20 (Tuesday):
  Billy Strayhorn Orchestra et al.:
  Bill Berry, Ziggy Harrell, Nat Woodard, Ray Nance, Britt Woodman, Booty Wood, John Sanders, Russell Procope, Rudy Powell, Harold Ashby, Pete Clark (ts); Bob Freedman, Billy Strayhorn, Joe Benjamin, Louie Bellson, Juan Amalbert, Joya Sherrill, Jimmy McPhail, Jimmy Grissom, The Irving Bunton Singers
  
  
  • Ain't But The One
  • Blues
  • Blues At Sundown
  • Come Sunday
  • David Danced
  • Jail Blues (Workin' Blues)
  • Jungle Triangle
  • King Fit The Battle Of Alabam'
  • Montage
  • My Mother, My Father And Love
  • Strange Feeling
  • The Blues
  • Piano Blues Overture (Jail Blues)
  • Will You Be There?
  • Will You Be There? / 99% Won't Do
  Second studio session - 1963 08 21 (Wednesday):
  Billy Strayhorn Orchestra et al.:
  Bill Berry, Ziggy Harrell, Nat Woodard, Ray Nance, Britt Woodman, Booty Wood, John Sanders, Russell Procope, Rudy Powell, Harold Ashby, Pete Clark, Bob Freedman, Billy Strayhorn, Joe Benjamin, Louie Bellson, Juan Amalbert, Joya Sherrill, Jimmy McPhail, Jimmy Grissom, The Irving Bunton Singers
  
  
  
  • After Bird Jungle
  • Come Sunday
  • Ellington speaks with Irving Bunton
  • King Fit The Battle Of Alabam'
  • Purple People
  • My Mother, My Father And Love
  • My People
  • What Color Is Virtue?
  • Will You Be There?
  • Will You Be There? / 99% Won't Do

  ---

  Third studio session - 1963 08 27 (Tuesday):
  Billy Strayhorn Orchestra et al.:
  Bill Berry, Ziggy Harrell, Nat Woodard, Ray Nance, Britt Woodman, Booty Wood, John Sanders, Russell Procope, Rudy Powell, Harold Ashby, Pete Clark, Bob Freedman, Billy Strayhorn, Joe Benjamin, Louie Bellson, Juan Amalbert, Joya Sherrill, Jimmy McPhail, Jimmy Grissom, Lil Greenwood
  
  
  • I Love My Lovin' Lover
  • My Man Sends Me
  • My Mother, My Father And Love
  • Purple People
  • The Blues
  • Walkin' and Singin' The Blues

Long playing records

• Cohen, p.346:

  'Ralph J. Gleason reported that Reprise refused to release the My People album...'

• The LP record was issued in stereo and mono on Bob Thiele's Contact label. At the time of writing, Discogs.com lists about 25 releases from 1964 to 2012 on long playing records, cassettes, an eight-track tape and compact discs.
• Peter MacHare's archived A Duke Ellington Panorama lists Red Baron AK 52759 dated August 1963, which might be the audio tape of the live performance (not confirmed).
• While Mr. Caine's blog says The first issued recordings were released on a double-LP set on the Contact label in 1965 ..., those LPs listed by Discogs.com appear to be single record albums. He may may be referring to one of the "gatefold" releases with double sleeves that can hold two records. Regardless, the LP track listings are shown below. With minor variations all but one have the same eight tracks (four per side) as per New Desor p.1338. Some tracks include more than one song.
• While New Desor says Contact CM-1 was released in 1963, Discogs.com says 1964. 1964 is supported by The California Eagle 1964-01-23, p.9, which says Contact Records has released the long awaited LP Album 'My People'... In Vancouver, B.C., host Bob Smith was scheduled to play the album during Hot Air, his local CBC 11 p.m. radio show March 16 1964. source: Vancouver Sun, 1964-03-13 p.20. According to The California Eagle's plug, the mono and stereo LPs could be ordered by mail for $4.98 and $5.98 respectively.

LABEL	CATALOGUE NO.	COUNTRY	ISSUED
Contact	CS1	USA	1964
Contact	CMS1	USA	1964
Contact	CS1	Italy	1965
Flying Dutchman	FDS-112	USA	1970
Flying Dutchman	FD 10112	USA	1970
Philips	63 39 400	Spain	1970
Philips	6369 400	UK	1970
Joker	SM3257	Italy	1972
RCA	F 10112	France	1975
Flying Dutchman	LAX-3061	Japan	1975
PGP RTB	P 4360	Yugoslavia	1978
Stateside	SL 10073	UK	-?-
Barclay	84107	France	-?-
Philips	6369 400	France	-?-
Polydor	2425005	Canada	-?-
The Spanish LP cover shows English titles and their Spanish equivalent. It omits Jail Blues and Lovin' Lover. Otherwise, these albums seem to contain the same music: Ain't But The One Will You Be There? (sometimes combined with 99%) 99% Come Sunday David Danced My Mother, My Father (Heritage) Montage - Instrumental My People The Blues Ain't Workin' Blues My Man Sends Me Jail Blues Lovin' Lover King Fit The Battle Of Alabam' What Color Is Virtue?

Other media

• In 1964, the Contact label issued two "not for sale" 7-inch "D J Copy" 45 rpm records:
  • JP-14501: "My Mother, My Father" and "My People"
  • JP-14502: "Workin' Blues" & "Jail Blues" and "The Blues At Sundown"
  (Blues at Sundown was not on the LP.)
• The 8-track Flying Dutchman tape FLY M 8285 (USA, 1970) is organized as four programs with only
  • Ain't But The One
  • Will You Be There?
  • Come Sunday
  • David Danced (spanning two programs)
  • My Mother, My Father (Heritage)
  • Montage
  • My People
  • The Blues Ain't
  • Workin' Blues
  • My Man Sends Me
  • Jail Blues
  • Lovin' Lover
  • King Fit The Battle Of Alabam'
  • What Color Is Virtue?
• Contents of the several releases on cassette tapes and compact discs can be reviewed at www.discogs.com as well.
• Song titles per the Storyville CD
  • The completist Storyville CD follows the sequence of the August 25 recordings on the cassette in the Mercer Ellington materials, except as noted.
    • Jungle Triangle No.1 (see note)
    • Come Sunday
    • Will You Be There? / 99% Won't Do
    • Ain't But No One[recte Ain't But The One]
    • David Danced
    • Heritage (My Mother,My Father And Love)
      (Sherrill vocal)
    • After Bird Jungle
    • Montage
    • My People
    • The Blues Ain't
    • Blues At Sundown
    • Walkin' and Singing The Blues
    • Workin' Blues
    • My Man Sends Me
    • Jail Blues
    • I Love My Lovin' Lover
    • Jungle Triangle No.2
    • King Fit The Battle Of Alabam'
    • King (uptempo instrumental version of preceding number)
    • Purple People
    • What Color Is Virtue?
    • Purple People- Background music
    • Piano Blues Ouverture (not used in the show)
    • Strange Feeling (not used in the show)
    • Heritage (My Mother, My Father And Love)
      (McPhail vocal)

      ---

    • Titles shown in purple were not in the original issue.
    • The revue's opening "Afro dance number" spoken of by Ellington was not found on the studio session tapes, so Storyville substituted an out-take of Jungle Triangle in its place, calling it Jungle Triangle No.1. It says the opening number was not on the first LP releases, but appeared years later on the MFD5 LP set.
    • The CD notes say Jungle Triangle No.2 is Skillipoop from Timon of Athens, that it was not on the Original Cast Recording Album but "appeared years later on a MDF5-LP set."
    Lambert p.250 pans the LP, but mentions:

    'A previously unissued instrumental from these sessions, Jungle Triangle, is included in the five-LP set of Ellington recordings issued by MF Records.'

    This 5 LP set is the 1977 set released in 1977 on the 1977 M.F. Productions, Inc. / M.F. Distribution Co. Inc. album G4RS2536.
  • Stratemann, p.473:

    'At the time, there were reports that the show had been taped for TV and was being offered to potential sponsors by TV-packager Sol Jaffe (New York Journal American: 31.8.63). The existence of such tapes is at present unconfirmed. An audio tape exists from the August 25th performance at the Arie Crown Theater, and commercial recordings of the music were made in sessions on August 20, 21, and 27, the first two supervised by Billy Strayhorn – who also played celeste – the final one by Ellington himself.'

  • Juan Amalbert (quoted by Busk):

    'Tally Beaty [sic] recommended me to The Maestro, to play and write percussion for My People. He [Ellington] came to me personally, and asked me to join the band. There were three recording dates, at night after the performance. We played at day and went to the studio at night. He had Tom Whaley and the pianist Jimmy Jones.
      ...Tom Whaley did the copying of the music, in fact Tom Whaley was the alter ego. He was the man who stayed up all night, rewriting the music or orchesrating it for Ellington for the next day. All of the music for My People was written. On stage he [Ellington] was still writing it. There was a little room with a piano on stage with a curtain. While we were rehearsing the music he was still in there, writing, and Tom Whaley was still around getting the music copied, so we would have it the next day.'