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Dave Burrell / Sam Woodyard: The Lost Session, Paris 1979
by John Sharpe
A lot of hoohah gets thrown around about legendary lost dates, but few live up to the billing. But The Lost Session by pianist Dave Burrell and drummer Sam Woodyard assuredly does. During the summer of 1979, Burrell had a three-month stand at the Campagne Premiere Club in Paris, which allowed him to fully explore and refine the series of pieces that would ultimately comprise his solo masterpiece Windward Passages (Hat Hut, 1980). But here he did so in the ...
Continue ReadingDave Burrell / Sam Woodyard: The Lost Session, Paris 1979
by Mark Corroto
Listeners would be hard-pressed to name another artist besides Dave Burrell who commands such mastery across jazz's entire timeline, from its ragtime origins to its most adventurous avant-garde territories. The pianist, born in 1940, brings equal authenticity to Jelly Roll Morton's classic compositions and completely free improvisation. His discography spans the works of Thelonious Monk, Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington, while his versatility extends across calypso, reggae, stride piano, blues, bebop and opera. Burrell made his mark in ...
Continue ReadingDuke Ellington's Concert of Sacred Music
by Chuck Lenatti
In 1964, Dean D.J. Bartlett and the Reverend John S. Yaryan invited Duke Ellington and his orchestra to present a concert to consecrate the renovated Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill in San Francisco during a year-long festival of Grace. At first, Duke demurred. In his autobiography, Music Is My Mistress (Da Capo, 1976), Ellington explained why he changed his mind: It has been said once that a man who could not play the organ or any ...
Continue ReadingDuke Ellington: Copenhagen 1958
by Ken Dryden
Duke Ellington left a formidable discography at his death at the age of 75 in 1974, and it has expanded greatly with the number of concerts that have been uncovered and issued since then. This CD is drawn from two 1958 concerts at KB Hallen in Copenhagen, though they are not sourced from the original, long lost broadcast tapes, but dubs evidently made by a fan. What makes this a valuable find is that the band is in top form ...
Continue ReadingDuke Ellington: Copenhagen 1958
by Jack Kenny
Duke Ellington hated flying so, in 1958, Ellington and Co sailed into Southampton UK to prepare for a tour of Europe. Before going on to Copenhagen, Ellington completed a tour of the UK, taking in Leeds where he met Queen Elizabeth, an event which eventually resulted in the “Queen's Suite." Earlier in the year, his strange obsession with royalty had produced a piece for Princess Margaret, “Princess Blue'" The band was particularly strong in this part of its ...
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