Fra efteråret tilbyder jeg igen undervisning i trombone og andre messinginstrumenter. Undervisningen foregår onsdag eftermiddag/aften på Paarup Aftenskole i Odense. Læs mere, og tilmelding her: https://www.paarupaftenskole.dk/alle-hold/?category=129&course=38770
For nylig udsendte det franske pladeselskab Frémeaux & Associés en boks med 4 CD’er med titlen Duke At His Very Best, med optagelser fra perioden 1940-42. Disse optagelser er blandt de mest kendte med Ellington overhovedet, så det er ikke interessant i sig selv. Musikken har været udsendt mange gange i forskellige indpakninger, fx på 3CD sættet The Blanton-Webster Band (Bluebird) fra 1986. Det som gør boksen interessant, er den usædvanligt gode lydkvalitet.
Lydtekniker Tony Baldwin skriver selv i booklet’en om hans tilgang til lyd-restaureringen: “For the present set I have used, where possible, multiple copies of the 78 rpm discs. I have applied a minimum of filtering and digital processing to the transfers, at the modest expense of a little surface noise and slight occasional distortion. The priority has been to convey the dynamic range and musicality of the Ellington orchestra.”
Resultatet er særdeles vellykket! Lyden er meget detaljeret og dynamisk, og de høje frekvenser bibeholdt. Den tilbageværende støj, som Baldwin omtaler, er minimal og forstyrrer ikke oplevelsen på nogen måde.
Samtlige numre fra det gamle Blanton-Webster sæt er medtaget (hvilket vil sige alle optagelser med det store orkesteret udgivet på RCA-Victor), men organiseret en smule anderledes. Sættet går kronologisk frem, men er delt op i to, således at CD 1-2 indeholder de såkaldte key works, mens CD 3 indeholder de mere kommercielle indspilninger.
Udover de 66 optagelser med det store orkesteret, er der også 28 optagelser med mindre grupper, heriblandt de 4 duetter med Ellington og bassisten Jimmy Blanton. CD 4 indeholder optagelser udgivet i Johnny Hodges, Barney Bigard og Rex Stewart’s navn, typisk med 4 blæsere og rytmegruppe.
Recently, the Danish record label Storyville released a new Duke Ellington CD: Copenhagen 1958, Bonus: After Hours 1950. The amount of Ellington releases they have produced over the last 25 years or so, is quite impressive. This new CD features music recorded at K.B.-Hallen in Copenhagen in 1958, as well as 5 bonus tracks recorded in Copenhagen and Aarhus in 1950. Only 4 tracks have been released before.
The 1950 bonus recordings are definitely the most interesting. First, three tunes recorded at a jam session at restaurant St. Thomas in Copenhagen, featuring Ellington along with Don Byas (ts) and Jimmy Hamilton (cl). Ellington starts out with a beautiful solo piano rendition of the old standard I Can’t Get Started – one of the best tracks on the CD; then Byas and Hamilton join’s him in a 10 minute version of Body and Soul. Interesting it is to note, how Ellington uses unexpected breaks in the music to get people to listen. It starts out as a ballad, and then goes into double tempo. The last jam session tune is the bebob’ish Ellington composition A Little Blues. This is the only recording of that composition as far as i know. The sound quality is surprisingly good.
Following are two great solo piano recordings made at Hammerschmidts Optagelses-Studio in Aarhus. The original record was pressed in only 10 copies, which were used as prizes in a lottery. First Sophisticated Lady and then Mood Indigo, which reminds me of the extended version he recorded with the band in December 1950 (issued on the album Masterpiece by Ellington). Two more pieces were recorded at the same session: I’m Afraid with Ellington on vocal, and I Met a Little Miss with Ellington’s Danish manager Ingvar Blicher-Hansen on vocal, but these aren’t included here.
The first 13 tracks on the album, comes from a concert at K.B.-Hallen in Copenhagen in 1958. Although i find the bonus material the most interesting, there are much to enjoy here as well. The uptempo Newport Up with Paul Gonsalves (t.sx), Jimmy Hamilton (cl) and Clark Terry (tpt). A beautiful rendition of My Funny Valentine arranged by Billy Strayhorn, and featuring Hamilton (cl) and Quentin Jackson (trb), as well as Britt Woodman (trb) and Ray Nance (cor). Johnny Hodges (a.sx) plays Prelude To a Kiss, again arranged by Strayhorn i believe. El Gato features all four trumpets. Interesting it is to observe their hugely different playing style. The last track is Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue with a very inspired solo på Paul Gonsalves.
My only complaint about this new release, is the sound quality on the 1958 material. Two tracks have been released previously on the CD: KB Hallen – Hall Of Fame (Stunt Records) with far superior fidelity, and it is unfortunately that Storyville haven’t had access to the same source material. This is no big issue. The main thing is the music of cause, and there is nearly 80 minutes of Ellington at his best. Highly recommended album!
D. 12. og 13. september har du mulighed for at høre popbandet Folkeklubben sammen med Odense Symfoniorkester. Dette er første gang bandet spiller med symfoniorkester, og jeg har haft den store fornøjelse at skrive samtlige orkester-arrangementer. Læs mere på: https://odensesymfoni.dk/koncerter/folkeklubben-os/
Nearly 50 years after Ellington’s death, Duke’s music still continues to inspire young musicians. One of them is Laura Jurd. For those of you who haven’t heard about her, she is a British award-winning trumpet player, composer and bandleader. Very active on the UK scene, Laura has developed a reputation as one of the most creative young musician in recent years.
There are many similarities between Ellington’s and Jurd’s music. Just as the blues is always a fundamental element in Ellington’s music, Jurd likewise draws on folk music from her heritage. She doesn’t accept boundaries in music either, and her music reaches far beyond so called jazz music.
If you listen through the 8 albums or so she has made so far, and the many recordings available on YouTube, you will find several pieces related to Ellington. One of them is Billy Strayhorn’s composition Absinthe from 1963. She recorded it for the album To the Earth, released in 2020, with her regular quartet Dinosaur, together with 6 of her own compositions.
This new interpretation of this relatively obscure Strayhorn tune, is done with much respect to the original, but at the same time, the four musicians manages to give it a modern touch. It’s also quite remarkable how well Strayhorn’s tune fits in with Jurd’s own compositions.
Like Absinthe, the next track also originates from the Afro Bossa album. It is Ellington’s own composition Purple Gazelle. Jurd recorded a duo version for YouTube in 2020 with drummer Corrie Dick, also af member of the quartet Dinosaur.
There are many similarities between Jurd’s playing and the style of the Ellington trumpets. When you listen, you will notice a lot of growl and plunger work, witch often reminds me of Ray Nance. She also does valve effects, like squeezing the note and making tremolos and trills using alternative fingering, much like Rex Steward did (think of Frantic Fantasy for example).
Like Duke’s musicians, Laura also likes to invent new sounds on the instrument. On Purple Gazelle you will hear a short section (0:43) where she plays with a buzzing sound. This is done by inserting a kazoo into the bell. I have never heard anyone else do that.
In 2021, she made a solo recording of Absinthe for YouTube. Here you can hear her play some pedal notes. Every trumpet player can do that, but it’s rarely used as anything more than a technical exercise. Here she implies these low notes to good effect, with good sound and intonation, and so did Rex Steward occasionally back in the days (think of the cadenza from Boy meets horn for example.)
The last example is Jurd’s own composition Jump Cut Shuffle, written for the Ligeti String Quartet in 2016, and included on the album Stepping Back, Jumping In, released in 2019. The piece is inspired by Ellington and Strayhorn’s The Queen’s Suite from 1959. Here is a short video by Laura explaining the idea behind the piece.
As Jurd states in the video, it is not an arrangement of The Queen’s Suite. Instead, she has taken small sections from Ellington and Strayhorn’s work and used them as a starting point for her own composition. Although not an arrangement, there are several easily recognizable bits of Ellingtonia in the piece. The most obvious, is probably Paul Gonsalves’ break heard several times during the Northern Lights movement. It is first presented solo in the viola (1:35), and later as a canon between all four strings (5:41). The beginning of Lightning Bugs and Frogs is also clearly heard as a cannon (1:07), played pizzicato by all four string players. There are several others. Try for yourself and see how many you can find.
And if you haven’t had enough Laura Jurd at this point, i recommend listening to her latest album, released this september, entitled The Big Friendly Album.
Recommended albums by Laura Jurd:
Webpage: https://www.laurajurd.com/
I dag offentliggør jeg ni etuder for solo trombone, som jeg har komponeret i løbet at de sidste par år. De er tilgængelige herunder i PDF format, og kan frit downloades og deles så meget du vil.
Fredag d. 24. februar 2023 synger Mathilde Falch med Odense Symfoniorkester under overskriften: Indsamlingsgala – fra Beethoven til Gershwin. Jeg har haft fornøjelsen at arrangere fire af hendes sange for orkesteret.
Læs mere på: https://odensesymfoni.dk/koncerter/indsamlingsgalla-fra-beethoven-til-tjajkovskij/
This is the last article in the series about Premiered by Ellington. The little known album recorded in April 1953 for Capitol Records. The recordings from this period is not appreciated very much. Ellington was challenged in terms of popularity and finances, and it is therefore assumed that the music was nothing special either.
Ellington always had an open ear for new trends in music. The idea about revisiting film and show tunes from the 20s and 30s was one of them, and this is exactly what we get here. And if you listen to live recordings from the period, there are many more of these standard tunes, as we call them today. Another thing was the mambo craze, and of cause he had to try that too.
In all periods of his career he recorded pop music. Some more than others, but he always made art music as well. They go hand in hand, and it’s not possible to draw a straight line between the two.
And now to the three last songs…
#6: Stardust is composed by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Mitchell Parish. It was first performed at the Cotton Club in 1927 by Ellington, but curiously enough not recorded at the time. It doesn’t show up in Duke’s discography until 1940 in two concert performances. In 1950 a studio recording by The Ellingtonians with Al Hibbler was made, however, Ellington left the piano to Billy Strayhorn on this particular recording. The 1953 version is the only studio recording by the Ellington band, and I’m pretty sure Strayhorn played piano on this one too.
The first version of Stardust recorded at Hotel Sherman in Chicago in 1940 (released on CD by DESS) features Herb Jeffries on vocal and solos by Barney Bigard on clarinet and Johnny Hodges on alto sax. The recording is unfortunately incomplete, but the almost 3 minutes we get is worth listening to. After Jeffries vocal, there is an orchestral interlude and when Bigard plays the verse. The use of the whole tone scale, in a similar way to Don Redman’s Chant of the Weed, at the beginning and in the transition between Bigard and Hodges solo, is interesting. Also worth noting is Ellington’s Gershwin-esque piano intro.
The second recording, done just a month or two later at The Crystal Ballroom in Fargo, is totally different. This version, unfortunately also incomplete, features Ben Webster and the rhythm section with a simple accompaniment from the orchestra. Not very interesting from an arrangement point of view, but Webster manages very well without a lot of background scoring!
The third version, recorded at Carnegie Hall in December 1943, features Shorty Baker on trumpet as the only soloist. The first chorus is with the rhythm section only. From the second chorus on, the band plays an accompaniment to Baker’s solo scored by his wife Mary Lou Williams. Much of it consist of a repeated figure, but there are some chromatic passages added for variation. From an arrangement point of view this version certainly is more interesting than Fargo, although it get’s a little stiff at times. But from a solo perspective, it’s just the opposite. Here it is Webster who throws himself into an over 4 minute long improvisation where he only hints at the melody. Baker, on the other hand, stays close to the melody most of the time.
The 1953 version, the actual subject of this article, is once again a completely new arrangement. This time the soloist is trumpeter Clark Terry. The 12 bar intro, arranged by Ellington, is based on the A section and played by the saxes in parallel harmonies. The first 8 bars sounds exactly like the first A of the song, but when we get to bar 9 (0:25), we discover that it was actually the intro we listened to. Then Clark Terry enters and plays the whole 32 bar ABAC song, accompanied by beautiful sustained chords from the orchestra. This part of the arrangement is written by Billy Strayhorn. Notice how he switches from chords to unison just at the right moments. And thats all, 12 bars of intro and 1 chorus of the song.
In 1957 the same arrangement was captured live on tape, and later released on the album All Star Road Band. On this occasion, the solo responsibility was left to Shorty Baker instead of Clark Terry who was still in the trumpet section. The arrangement was also expanded with an extra chorus. Baker plays beautifully, and I must admit that I prefer his interpretation to Terry’s. Notice his quote from the verse at the end. This once again shows that an Ellington arrangement was never set in stone, and that he constantly worked on improving his music.
#7: Stormy Weather is composed Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, and was premiered by Ellington at The Cotton Club in 1933 with Ethel Waters on vocal. The same year the band recorded an instrumental version. The song also appeared in the film Bundle of Blues with Ivie Anderson on vocal, and in 1940 she recorded it on disc.Here i will focus on the 1933 instrumental version and compare it to 1953.
Like most of the songs on the album, Stormy Weather is also in AABA form, but with a slight difference. The 2nd and 3rd A is expanded to 10 bars, instead of the usual 8.
Stormy Weather 1933, 1st chorus
| Intro(6 bars) (0:00) | A1(8) (0:15) | A2(10) (0:38) | B(8) (1:06) | A3(10) (1:28) |
| Fanfare Solo piano Saxes | Solo: Whetsel Accompaniment: Saxes | Solo: Williams Acc: Saxes | Solo: Brown Acc: Saxes | Solo: Brown Acc: Saxes |
The 1933 version starts with a short fanfare based on the first phrase of the tune, and then trumpeter Arthur Whetsel enters, playing the melody with solo tone mute. On A2 trumpeter Cootie Williams is playing the melody with plunger mute, and then trombonist Lawrence Brown takes over on B and A3. The second chorus, Ellington skips the first two A’s and jumps straight to B.
Stormy Weather 1933, 2nd chorus
| B(8) (1:56) | A(13) (2:19) |
| Solo: Carney Acc: Brass | Solo: Bigard Acc: Brass and saxes. |
Harry Carney is the baritone sax soloist on B, and on the last A Barney Bigard takes over on clarinet. At the end, the last phrase repeats while the tempo gradually slows down. Sonny Greer’s vibraphone ends the track.
On the first chorus, the soloists are accompanied by the saxophone group throughout, and on the second (half) chorus the accompaniment is by the brass, except for the ending where the saxophones returns. A bit monotonous you could say, but by doing so, Ellington puts the focus on the soloists. What makes the record interesting to listen to, are the soloists and the different variations and colours they add to the song. The contrast between Whetsel’s sweet tone playing and Williams growl trumpet for example, or Carney’s playing on the top of his horn followed by Bigard in the lowest register of the clarinet is huge. I also find it interesting that Ellington chose to have Brown play two sections of the song instead of one like the other soloists. By doing so he avoids monotony just at the right moment. Another more subtle variation is that bassist Wellman Braud switches to 4 beat on the B sections.
Stormy Weather 1953, 1st chorus
| Intro(2bars) (0:00) | A1(8) (0:06) | A2(10) (0:29) | B(8) (0:59) | A3(8) (1:24) |
| Rhythm section | Solo: Carney Sustained chords | Solo: Cook (cup) +unison saxes | Solo: Nance (plunger) Repeated fig. | Solo: Carney Trombones |
The 1953 version, arranged by Billy Strayhorn, takes a similar approach. After the intro, Harry Carney plays the melody on baritone sax. A2 is Willie Cook on cup muted trumpet, and trumpeter Ray Nance plays B with the plunger. Then Carney returns for A3.
Comparing this to the 1933 version, we see that the approach is similar in many ways. The idea of having multiple soloists presenting the tune is the same. Carney is still at the top of his horn, but this time playing the A section. Cook has taken over Arthur Whelsel’s sweet tone role, and Nance is now doing the plunger work, but on the B section instead.
The accompaniment, on the other hand, is quite different. The harmonies are more advanced, and the instrumentation is more varied. It starts with some mysterious sounding chords that grab your attention right away. B is saxes with clarinet lead doing a repeated rhythmic figure behind Nance, and then the trombones takes over on A3. It is also worth noting the transitions from A1 to A2 played by the saxes, and from A2 to B played by Ellington.
Stormy Weather 1953, 2nd chorus
| C(12 bars) (1:49) | A(12) (2:27) |
| Solo: Anderson Tutti | Solo: Anderson Climax |
But what follows now really makes the arrangement stand out from the 1933 version. Here Strayhorn breaks away from the AABA form by introducing a new 12 bar section. It has Cat Anderson playing first in the normal range of the trumpet, and then, on the A section that follows, playing in the extreme high register that he mastered so well. This new section is actually taken from Ethel Waters 1933 recording of the song and appears to be unique for her (to my knowledge at least). Anderson does a great job with the solo, and the accompaniment fits like a glove. The A section that follows is the climax. After that they bring it down, and it all ends with a mysterious Ellington piano solo.
#8: Cocktails for Two is written byArthur Johnston and Sam Coslow and debuted in the film Murder at the Vanities in 1934. Ellington appeared in several films around that time, including the previous mentioned Belle of the Nineties. Coslow was a songwriter at Paramount Pictures, and it was due to him that the Ellington band appeared in Murder at the Vanities. While in Los Angeles they also found time to make commercial recordings of many of the hit songs from the movies, including Cocktails for Two. Here I will focus on that recording and compare it to the 1953 version.
This is yet another AABA song, and Ellington’s 1934 treatment is similar in many ways to the other 30s recordings mentioned in these articles. The song is played 3 times with a 4 bar piano intro, and the melody is present all the time, and played by many different soloists. When studied a little closer, there are of cause some interesting details worth pointing out.
Cocktails for Two 1934, 1st chorus
| Intro (0:00) | A1 (0:08) | A2 (0:23) | B (0:38) | A3 (0:54) |
| Solo piano | Solo: Carney Accompaniment: Muted tpt’s and open trombones | Solo: Whetsel (cup) Acc: Trombones | Saxes and Whetsel | Carney and saxes |
As can be seen from above, the melody is distributed between Harry Carney on baritone sax, Arthur Whetsel on cup muted trumpet and the saxophone section. The accompaniment, on the other hand, is more varied than usual. On A1 Carney is answered by the muted trumpets, but after 4 bars the trombones takes over. On B the melody switches back and forth between the sax section and Whetsel, and on A3 Carney is back with the tune for 4 bars, and then the sax section takes over.
Cocktails for Two 1934, 2nd chorus
| A1 (1:09) | A2 (1:25) | B (1:41) | A3 (1:57) |
| Solo: Brown Acc: Saxes | Brown and saxes | Brass | Brown and saxes |
On the second chorus, trombonist Lawrence Brown is introduced as a new soloist. On A1 he is accompanied by the saxes, and A2 is a dialogue between the two. Then the brass takes over on B, and on A3 we are back to the saxes and Brown’s solo trombone.
Cocktails for Two 1934, 3rd chorus
| A1 (2:13) | A2 (2:29) | B (2:45) | A3 (7 bars) (3:01) | Ending (3:15) |
| Solo: Bigard Acc: Brass | Sim. | Solo: Hodges Sustained brass chords | Solo: Brown Tutti acc. | Orchestral |
On the third chorus, clarinettist Barney Bigard is the new soloist. He plays the first two A’s accompanied by the brass section playing a repeated staccato figure. Johnny Hodges, alto sax, picks up the melody on B, but now accompanied by sustained chords. Brown is back on A3 accompanied by the full band.
On the 1953 version the harmonies are much more advanced, and the soloists depart much further from the melody. The tempo is also slower and the bass has switched from two to four. But the idea of having many soloists adding their personal touch to the song is the same. Walter van de Leur doesn’t list this arrangement in his book, but I don’t think there is much doubt that this is a Billy Strayhorn arrangement.
Cocktails for Two 1953, 1st chorus
| Intro (0:00) | A1 (0:11) | A2 (0:32) | B (0:54) | A3 (1:16) |
| Rhythm section | Solo: Tizol Acc: Tutti | Sim. | Solo: Nance Acc: Saxes | Solo: Nance Acc: Tutti |
Juan Tizol is the main soloist on his C valve trombone, pitched one tone higher than a standard trombone. He plays the melody in legit style, and is answered by some curious double time figures played by the rest of the horns. The juxtaposition between the sentimental melody and the mysterious harmonies is very unusual, but also very enjoyable. On B, trumpeter Ray Nance is the soloist accompanied by sustained saxophones chords. This accompaniment gives him plenty of freedom to play with the song, which he takes good advantage of. On A3 the accompaniment becomes more active again.
Cocktails for Two 1953, 2nd chorus
| A2 (1:38) | B (2:00) | A3(6 bars) (2:22) | Ending (2:39) |
| Solo: Hamilton Acc: Saxes and trombones | Solo: Gonsalves Acc: Bass and drums | Solos: Gonsalves, Tizol Acc: Saxes and trombones? | Rhythm section |
It is common practice to skip the first two A’s on the last chorus, especially on ballads. We heard that in My Old Flame and Stormy Weather. But on Cocktails For Two, Strayhorn/Ellington only skips A1, witch is very unusual. We have two new soloists here, Jimmy Hamilton on clarinet and Paul Gonsalves on tenor sax. On B he is backed only by bass and drums as a contrast to all intricate harmonies. Gonsalves plays B and the first 4 bars of A3, and then Tizol gently enters with the melody again, and the record ends with Ellington’s piano like it all started.
Author: Rasmus Henriksen
Film versions:
My old flame, Belle of the Nineties (1934): https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xull29
Three little words, Check and Double Check (1930): https://youtu.be/nZJB_jdAW7o?t=115
Three little words, The lady refuses (1931): https://youtu.be/bk0qKWEn88M?t=829
Flamingo, Soundies (1941): https://youtu.be/9ZJYAO3ouDg
Story Weather, Bundle of Blues (1933): https://youtu.be/XgPIdTMHN0o?t=99
Cocktails for Two, Murder at the Vanities (1934): https://youtu.be/PGE0VTWkwIM
Playlists:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgxyvAJ7ufD9QWR9pn0Tc-67mH6uEdDq2
Deezer: https://deezer.page.link/APEb37oFhzoGQeav5
Sources:
Uncredited liner notes from Premiered By Ellington (Capitol H440)
Liner notes by Stanley Dance from The Complete Capitol Recordings (Mosaic CD box)
Ted Gioia: Did Duke Ellington and George Gershwin Have a Secret Rivalry? https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/did-duke-ellington-and-george-gershwin?s=r
Walter van de Leur: Something To Live For (Oxford University Press)
John Edward Hasse: Beyound Category (Omnibus Press)
Fred Glueckstein: Murder at the Vanities (DESS Bulletin nr 3, September 2016)
Fred Glueckstein: Belle of the Nineties (DESS Bulletin nr 3, September 2017)
Thanks to Sven-Erik Baun Christensen for helping identifying the soloists.
In the third article in the series about the album Premiered by Ellington, we will take a closer look at three more songs.
#3: I Can’t Give You Anything But Love is composed by Jimmy McHugh with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. It was first played by Ellington from a simple lead sheet in 1928, and later that year it appeared in the Broadway revue Blackbirds of 1928. Ellington recorded the song several times from 1928 and on, and it stayed in the repertoire till the end of his career. Here I will focus on the second recording from November 10 1928, The Blackbird Medley from 1933, and of cause the 1953 version.
The song is written in 32 bar ABAC form. The 1928 version has 4 choruses and a 4 bar intro. It all starts with an introduction very similar to Black Beauty, recorded 7 months earlier. On the first chorus, trumpeter Arthur Whetsel is featured along with the sax section. Both plays fine variations on the song. On the 2nd chorus, Irving Mills vocal is in the spotlight, with Freddie Jenkins doing an improvised obbligato on muted trumpet. The 3rd chorus is split between Tricky Sam Nanton playing the melody and Baby Cox’s scat singing. The last chorus features Johnny Hodges with Barney Bigard ad libbing on top, and a simple repeated accompaniment from the rest of the horns. With the exception of a slightly shaky ending, this is a good and swinging version of the song.
Blackbird Medley from 1933 takes up two sides of a 10″ record, and contains 6 songs total. The first song is I Can’t Give You Anything But Love. Only one chorus is played here plus a half at the end of the medley. The tempo is much slower than the 1928 version, and the harmonies are more advanced. The trumpet soloist, Arthur Whetsel, plays the melody accompanied by sustained chords. The idea of chords in 3 breat groupings that were used on the 1930 version of My Old Flame is also used here. On the B section the trombones takes over the melody, and after that Whetsel is back.
Now we take a look at the 1953 version. It consist of two choruses and a 4 bar intro, and features Russel Procope on clarinet, Ray Nance on trumpet and Quentin Jackson on trombone. These guys was often Ellington’s choice when an imitation of the traditional dixieland line up was needed.
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love 1953, 1st chorus
| Intro (0:00) | A1 (0:10) | B (0:31) | A2 (0:53) | C (1:14) |
| Clarinet, Piano, Bass | Solo: Procope (clarinet.) Sustained chords | Melody: Trombone’s Obbligato: Procope | Melody: Procope and Carney (clarinet + bass cl.) Sustained chords | Sim. Solo: Hamilton (last two bars) |
The cheerful interpretation from 1928 has now completely disappeared in favor of a more melancholic and pensive style, typical of the Capitol period, and the tempo is even slower than the 1933 version. Procope’s clarinet is in the spotlight right from the start. Notice the intro with only clarinet, piano and bass. On A1 he plays the melody accompanied by mysterious sounding chords played by the trumpet section. On B the trombones takes over, very similar to the 1933 version. The way the chords moves around chromatically makes it sounds like they are about to leave tonality. After that Procope and Harry Carney (bass clarinet) plays the melody in octaves in legit style, rhythmically very identical to Whetsel in 1933.
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love 1953, 2nd chorus
| A1 (1:36) | B (1:58) | A2 (2:20) | C (2:41) |
| Solo: Jackson (plunger) Acc: Clarinets and tenor | Sim. | Solo: Nance Acc: Clarinets and tenor | Dixieland ending Trombones plays the melody. Procope & Jackson ad lib. |
The 2nd chorus consist of two solo’s and a dixieland ending. Jackson get’s the longest solo (16 bars.) The first 4 measures he plays the melody completely straight, and then he begins to vary it both rhythmically and melodically. He uses the plunger to good effect. Nance only gets 8 bars and his solo is completely improvised. They are both accompanied, very interestingly, by a trio consisting of clarinet, bass clarinet and tenor sax. The trio plays 3-part harmony in open position with Hamilton on top, Paul Gonsalves in the middle and Carney on the bottom. It is quite impressive how well Gonsalves manages to blend with the clarinets. On C the remaining two trombone’s plays the melody in the background in legit style, with Procope and Jackson (open horn this time) ad-libbing in typical dixieland style.
#4: Liza is composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn. Ellington and the band appeared on stage in Florenz Ziegfeld’s musical Show Girl in 1929, and Liza was the shows biggest hit. Despite that, the song doesn’t appear in Ellington’s discography until 1939 in a live recording as part of a medley. The 1953 recording is the only studio version. A few live recordings from 1953-54 has also survived, but after that it wasn’t captured on tape again.
Most of the songs on Premiered by Ellington were recorded immediately after their release in film, musicals or the like, so why didn’t they record Liza? In a 1935 interview, Ellington showed dislike for Gershwin new jazz opera Porgy and Bess, and this has led to the conclusion that he didn’t like Gershwins music in general. If that is true, it is certainly not audible in the 1953-54 recordings that i have heard. At least half of the 8 tunes on Premiered by Ellington was arranged by Strayhorn, but my guess is that Liza was arranged by Ellington.
Liza 1953, 1st chorus
| Intro (0:00) | A1 (0:11) | A2 (0:22) | B (0:33) | A3 (0:44) |
| Piano & bass duet | Inst. 1(4 bars) Inst. 2(4 bars) | Inst. 1(4) Solo: Terry (4) | Solo: Gonsalves + background | Inst. 1(4) Solo: Terry (4) |
Liza is also in 32 bar AABA form. After the 8 bar dialog between Ellington and bassist Wendell Marshall, the tune is stated by two different types of instrument combinations. I have named them Inst.1 and 2. Inst.1 is, from what I can hear, the saxes with Ray Nance’s plungertrumpeton top. Inst. 2 is a 4 part tutti ensemble. Both Ellington and Strayhorn wrote 4 part harmony on one staff, and then the copyist distributed the notes to the individual instruments according to a specific formula. A technique that was used a lot.
The 2nd chorus is a trombone solo by Britt Woodman accompanied by the rhythm section with occasional backgrounds by the three lowest saxes. The 3rd chorus is Jimmy Hamilton on clarinetand Poul Gonsalves on tenor sax playing a bebop line in octaves. It’s one of the highlights in the arrangement, so much that they actually played it twice at a concert recorded just 3 weeks later! A similar line was also part of the arrangement of Perdido on the Ellington Uptown album.
Liza 1953, 4th chorus
| A1 (2:22) | A2 (2:33) | B (2:44) | A3 (2:55) |
| Solo: Carney (4) + ensemble shout. Solo: Ellington (4) | Sim. | Solo: Henderson | Hamilton + Gonsalves in octaves. Ensemble shout |
As you can see above, the arranger often divides the 8 bar sections into two, thereby creating a call and response effect. Sometimes between two instrument combinations, sometimes between the band and a soloist, and also between two soloists. On B we get a rare solo from Rick Henderson. He was one of the be-bop inspired musicians that Ellington hired in the beginning of the 50s. He only stayed a couple of years and didn’t play many solos with the band. On A3 Hamilton and Gonsalves are back playing in octaves accompanied by a shouting ensemble.
#5: Flamingo is written by Ted Grouya with lyrics by Edmund Anderson, and first recorded by the Ellington band in December 1940. They recorded the tune again several times the following year, most notably for Standard Radio Transcription in September, and later that year, a film version for Soundies was made. In all instances the singer was Herb Jeffries. Flamingo was a regular part of the repertoire well into the 50s, and even shows up in the discography as late as 1972. Here I will focus on the 1940 version and compare it to 1953, both by the way, arranged by Billy Strayhorn.
First we take a look at the the 1940 version. Like most of the songs discussed here, Flamingo is also in AABA form, but Strayhorn expanded the last A to 14 bars. Here is an overview of the first chorus.
Flamingo 1940, 1st chorus
| Intro(8 bars) (0:00) | A1(8) (0:22) | A2(8) (0:40) | B(8) (0:58) | A3(14) (1:16) |
| Rubato, Tutti. Trb solo: Tizol | Vocal: Jeffries Brass: off beat staccato chords. Saxes: sustained chords Piano: Strayhorn Key: Db major | Sim. | Saxes more active. Sustained brass chords | Sim. to previous A’s Modulation. |
It all starts with Tizol playing the first three notes of the song, answered by a trumpet as an echo. After that, the whole band enters very dramatically and then brings it down to make room for Jeffries vocal. Notice, just before the vocal enters, the brass plays a few staccato chords. This is the basic idea for the brass section the whole first chorus. By introducing this idea before the chorus starts, Strayhorn creates a smooth and coherent transition into A1.
The whole song is basically two times AABA with an intro. But the transition that Strayhorn has created between the two is the work of genius. From bar 7 in A3 (1:31) Jeffries sings, technically speaking, a downward sequence of major and minor thirds with a minor seconds in between. It is no coincidence that these are the intervals that Strayhorn has chosen, because they are very prominent in the song, and that is one of the reasons why it works so well. At the same time, the arrangement is in the process of modulating to another key. It’s a slow modulation starting in Db major, going through A major and finally ending in Ab major at the start of the second chorus (1:50).
Flamingo 1940, 2nd chorus
| A1(8 bars) (1:48) | A2(8) (2:06) | B(8) (2:24) | A3(14) (2:43) | Ending(2) (3:14) |
| Bar two and three repeated by different sections. Trb solo: Brown Modulation continues. Key: Ab | Brown cont. Key: F Modulation continues. | Alto solo: Hodges Key: D (or F) Modulation continues. | Vocal: Jeffries Key: Db | Trombones Piano: Strayhorn Key: Db |
At this point, one would expect the new key to be fixed. But Strayhorn continues to modulate. On A2 we are suddenly in F major, and shortly before the B section we are in D major. But when we get to B, we are suddenly in F major. This leads me to another point. The song itself points in many directions tonally right from the start. At the beginning (1st chorus) it is clearly in Db major, but already in measure 3 it sounds more like Db minor. On the B section it passes E major and then back to Db major (and minor) on A3. When Hodges begins his solo on B (in the 2nd chorus) we are in D major, but it sounds like F major because the song itself modulates at this point, and that was the key we were in on A2. When it modulates back to Db major on A3 where Jeffries are back on the vocal. So all the way from the 7th bar of the first A3 (1:29) until Jeffries re-enters on the second A3 (2:43), Strayhorn creates a constant flowing tonality. This is just one aspect of the arrangement that makes it so special.
The attentive reader may have noticed that Strayhorn consistently modulates in minor thirds in the second chorus. According to Walter van de Leur’s book Something To Live For, it was something he often did. I like to call this technique “the circle of minor thirds,” and he probably got this idea through studying modern classical music.
Another thing worth pointing out, is that the shape of the song, like the tonal center, is also blurred at one point. In the first chorus the saxophones clearly signal the transition from one section to the next. But the transition from A3 to A1 is different, because A3 has no clear end. The 6 extra bars that Strayhorn has added is one part of the explanation. Another is the fact that Jeffries sings “fla-min-go” on A1. But instead of singing another chorus, he sings it as an ending. Then the muted trumpets continues the melody answered by two trombone, and after that Lawrence Browns solo starts. On the 2nd bar of A2 Jeffries sings “fla-min-go” again.
The 1953 version is a very attractive one. Quite different in many ways, but there is also many similarities if we look a little closer. The main difference is, that it’s an instrumental version. The tempo is also slower and it has that melancholy, reflective sound, typical for the Capitol era.
Flamingo 1953, 1st chorus
| Intro(2 bars) (0:00) | A1(8) (0:05) | A2(8) (0:26) | B(8) (0:47) | A3(14) (1:09) |
| Orchestra | Pno. solo: Ellington Sustained chords accompaniment. Clarinet trio. Key: F major | Sim. | Sim. | Solo: Gonsalves Modulation |
In the first chorus, Ellington has taken the lead role that belonged to Jeffries. Here accompanied by sustained chords from the orchestra. A clarinet trio is heard now and then. A3 is also expanded to 14 bars and contains a slow modulation, but it’s not the same. The arranger here modulates up a forth instead of a fifth.
Flamingo 1953, 2nd chorus
| A1(8 bars) (1:47) | A2(8) (2:08) | B(8) (2:31) | A3(11) (2:53) | Ending (3:24) |
| Solo: Nance (viol.) Sustained chords Key: Bb | Sim. | Melody: low ensemble. obbligato: Nance Key: A (or C) | Solo: Gonsalves Key: Ab | Solo pno: Ellington Key: F |
Then Ray Nance plays a beautiful violin solo based on the song with his typical dry sound. I sometimes wonder if he uses a mute to help getting’ this special sound? On B we have a very unique sounding low tutti ensemble. The key is now A major, but sounds like C for the same reason previously explained, and then Gonsalves are back on A3. It all ends with a mysterious piano solo by Ellington.
Author: Rasmus Henriksen
The 2nd article about the little known Duke Ellington album Premiered by Ellington, and the following two, will focus on the music itself. Part 1, written by Ulf Lundin, is an introduction to the Capitol period in general. If you haven’t read it, it is available here: https://ellington.se/2023/01/14/premiered-by-ellington-part-1/
Premiered by Ellington consist of 8 songs, none of them written by Ellington or his associates. Instead we get new arrangements of familiar pop songs that were all introduced to the public by Ellington. It’s quite an impressive collection of tunes that is still well known today.
The following is an attempt to analyse the tracks one by one and compare them to previously recorded versions by Ellington. I do not have access to the original scores, so all is done by ear. To make it easier to follow, I have made charts that shows the overall form of the arrangements. It’s not possible, of cause, to put an Ellington recording into a simple chart, but they serve the purpose of giving you, the reader and listener, a general overview of the recording.
The music has been embedded into the articles for easy access, but is also available as playlists on YouTube and Deezer. The album itself has never been reissued on CD in it’s original form, but is available on the streaming services. Be aware that this version has the songs in the same order as the french pressing of the LP. I have decided to follow the original US release in this article. Happy listening.
#1: My Old Flame is composed by Arthur Johnston with lyrics by Sam Coslow, and was first performed by Mae West in the film Belle of the Nineties from 1934. Apart from being the main actress, she also wrote the original story that the film was based on. According to Fred Glueckstein’s article in the DESS Bulletin, it was also West who insisted on having the Ellington orchestra accompany her, instead of a white studio orchestra with colored actors faking on the screen.
In February and March that year, the band was in Los Angeles to record the music. On the same occasion, they also recorded music for Murder at the Vanities, which I will return to later. In May they were in LA again for more film recordings. On that occasion, a recording for RCA-Victor was also made, this time sung by Ivie Anderson.
Comparing the versions from 1934 with the 1953 recording, the first thing you notice is how much Ellington has developed in those 19 years! It is by no means just a simple remake of the song, but rather a completely new and much more modern interpretation. The changes that jazz went through in those years are clearly audible, both in the orchestra’s playing style and in the arrangement itself. The same can be said about all the other songs on the record, although there are also many similarities as we will discover along the way.
My Old Flame is a standard 32 bar AABA song. The Mae West version has a very simple two bar piano introduction, and then she sings one chorus, with Barney Bigard on clarinet and Lawrence Brown ontrombone, either ad-libbing behind her or doubling the melody. As an ending, the orchestra plays the A section again, this time in 3/4 time and at a faster tempo.
Ivie Anderson‘s version of the song is much more subtle. The introduction is based on the ending from the Mae West version, but here adapted to work in 4/4 time. After that, Ellington plays a short piano transition, and then Ivie Anderson enters. This time the ad-libbing is done by Lawrence Brown alone. Notice also that the saxes doubles the melody, while at the same time providing an interesting countermelody now and then.
The first two A sections in the 2nd chorus (1:46) is a duet between Cootie Williams on trumpet and Johnny Hodges on alto sax. On the B section and the last A the saxes plays the melody in unison accompanied by the brass. Basically this version is just the AABA form played twice with an intro on top.
The 1953 version is not as straight ahead. Here is an overview of the first chorus. The arrangement is, according to Walter van de Leur’s book: Something To Live For, written by Billy Strayhorn.
My Old Flame 1953, 1st chorus
| Intro (5 bars) (0:00) | A1(0:16) | A2 (0:42) | B (1:09) | A3 (1:35) |
| Duet between Hamilton and Carney | Solo: Gonsalves Sustained chords background. Key: Bb major | Sim. | Sim. Saxes plays countermelody | Tutti, Hamilton ad-lib (4 bars) Gonsalves returns (last 4) |
The introduction, much more harmonically advanced than in the previous versions, is a duet between Jimmy Hamilton on clarinet and Harry Carney on baritone sax, accompanied by the orchestra. Then tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves enters with the melody, phrasing much more freely than the singers did. The band supports him with sustained chords. Such a background could easily get boring. What makes it work in this situation, is first of all Strayhorns unique harmonic language! These mysterious sounding chords that instantly grab your attention and make you want to listen more. But also listen how he varies the instrumentation, adds a few rests at unexpected moments and varies the rhythm slightly.
On A3, the full band plays a variation on the melody, suddenly changing the dynamic from soft to very loud. Hamilton is soloing again, and then Gonsalves plays the last 4 bars.
My Old Flame 1953, 2nd chorus
| B (2:02) | A (2:28) |
| Melody: Hamilton Tutti accompaniment (4), trombones (4) Key: Bb | Tutti dbl. time feel Key: Db modulating back to Bb |
In the 2nd chorus, Strayhorn breaks the AABA form by going straight to the B section. This time, Hamilton is playing the melody accompanied by some very advanced harmonies! Then the trombone sections takes care of the accompaniment for the last 4 bars.
But Strayhorn has more tricks up his sleeve. After the unexpected B section, he modulates up a minor third from Bb major to Db for the last A section! This time the melody is stated by the trumpets accompanied by the orchestra. After 4 bars he goes into double time feel for the climax, and then brings it down with Hamilton and Gonsalves ad-libbing, ending in the key of Bb where it started.
It’s quite interesting that Strayhorn chose to change the texture and dynamic so radical at A3 in the first chorus. When combined with the removal of A1 and A2 in the 2nd chorus, A3 now sounds more like the first A in the 2nd chorus. In other words, it feels more like: “AAB, ABA” instead of the usual “AABA, BA” that is often used for ballads.
#2: Three Little Words is composed by Harry Ruby with lyrics by Bert Kalmar, and was premiered in the film Check and Double Check in 1930. In the movie, we see the Ellington orchestra performing with the three trumpet players doing the vocal part. According to the discography, it was actually played by a studio orchestra with The Rhythm Boys singing. Ellington did record the tune for the movie, but it ended up being used in the film The Lady Refuses (1931) instead. He also recorded the song on disc several times in 1930, but I will focus on the one from august 26 with The Rhythm Boys on vocal.
The song is also written in the standard 32 bar AABA form, but apart from My Old Flame, there are many similarities between the two versions of Three Little Words. A detail worth pointing out about the melody itself, is that the last phrase in each section is constructed in such a way, that it leads to the next section. This makes the AABA structure less clear, but instead gives the song a sense of constant momentum.
Three Little Words 1930, 1st chorus
| Intro (4 bars) (0:00) | A1 (0:07) | A2 (0:18) | B (0:29) | A3 (0:41) |
| Solo piano | Low clarinets in harmony | Muted trumpets | Saxes | Saxes |
After the piano intro, the theme is stated in legit style by the three low clarinets playing in harmony. The melody is, very interesting, in the middle voice most of the time. On A2, muted trumpets takes over, and on B and A3 the saxes takes the lead.
Three Little Words 1953, 1st chorus
| Intro (8 bars) (0:00) | A1 (0:12) | A2 (0:25) | B (0:37) | A3 (0:50) |
| Piano and bass | Muted trombones Countermelody: Saxes | Sim. | Saxes | Sim. to previous A’s |
The 1953 version also begins with a piano intro, but much more harmonically advanced. Then the muted trombones states the melody on the first two A’s, also in legit style, and with the two beat feeling preserved. The saxes adds an unison countermelody, and then takes over the melody on the B section with the bass in 4.
Three Little Words 1930, 2nd chorus
| A1 (0:52) | A2 (1:03) | B (1:14) | A3 (1:25) |
| Muted trumpets Bigard answers | Sim. | Sim. | Saxes with baritone lead. Brass plays bell-chords |
On the 1930 version, the tune is stated again for the second chorus. Muted trumpets on AAB with fills by Barney Bigard on clarinet, and then the saxes takes over on the last A. Notice the baritone sax lead, and the bell-like chords in 3 beat groupings. The third chorus is sung by The Rhythm Boys with only the rhythm section and Bigard.
On the 1953 version, we get a beautiful trumpet solo by Willie Cook on the second chorus (1:03), accompanied by the rhythm section. The third chorus (1:53) is a tenor sax solo by Paul Gonsalves, heavily backed by a shouting brass section on the first two A’s. On B, Gonsalves is alone with the rhythm section, and then the brass returns on A3 for the ending.
The 1930 version has a fourth chorus (2:20), and it is a very interesting one. It’s the climax of the arrangement with the full band doing variations on the tune. Here, Ellington finally loosens up the rather rigid rhythmic interpretation of the song he has stuck to until now. Also notice how drummer Sonny Greer prepares this final chorus using only the hi-hat.
To sum it up: The first chorus of the 1953 version is quite faithful to the 1930 version. The very simple rhythmic interpretation of the melody played in parallel harmonies is preserved, along with the two beat feeling. The countermelody by the saxes add’s a modern touch to the arrangement. Apart from this, the two versions are very different. The 1930 version sticks to the melody all the way through, and only in the last chorus does Ellington vary the rhythmic interpretation of the song. In the 1953 version, the theme is only stated in the first chorus, and instead we get two choruses of improvised solos.
Author: Rasmus Henriksen