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Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington's Concert of Sacred Music

The orchestra recorded an instrumental version of "Tell Me It's the Truth" on Feb. 21,1966, at England's Coventry Cathedral, which was rebuilt after being destroyed in the blitz during the Second World War. Lawrence Brown is on trombone, along with Hodges on alto sax.

Second Sacred Concert

Ellington's Second Sacred Concert debuted in New York on Jan. 19,1968, at Saint John the Divine, a 7,500-seat cathedral just a couple of subway stops from the original location of the Cotton Club in Harlem. No live recording of the concert at Saint John's has surfaced, but Second Sacred Concert (Prestige, 1968) was recorded at Fine Studios in New York and was repeated and recorded at several other venues.

Duke composed virtually an entirely new book for his Second Sacred Concert. He also shuffled the vocalists around to give the concert more show-biz pizzazz. Brock Peters, Esther Marrow and Jimmy McPhail were replaced by Tony Watkins, Roscoe Gil and Swedish pop singer Alice Babs. The orchestra remained mostly intact, though Sam Woodyard and Steve Little took over on drums, with Jeff Castle on bass.

In his review of Ellington's "Second Sacred Concert" for "AllMusic," Richard Ginelli wrote: "This time, the material is fresh, not a patchwork of old and new like the first concert and in an attempt to be as ecumenical as possible, Ellington reaches for novel techniques and sounds beyond his usual big band spectrum."

Introducing Alice Babs

During a 1963 tour of Europe for the State Department, Sweden asked Duke to record an album with European musicians. Culling through the recordings of artists who were suggested, Ellington came across Babs, regarded as the Swedish Julie Andrews, and something clicked.

Ellington and Billy Strayhorn backed Babs on a lovely album called Serenade to Sweden (1966, Reprise), which was recorded in Paris in February and March 1963. If there were any doubts whether "Babsie" (as Strayhorn titled one of their songs together) could handle Duke's repertoire, performances like this one, recorded by Swedish Television, put them to rest.

Here's Babs and Ellington performing Strayhorn's "Take the A Train" in February 1963.

These next video clips are from a performance of Ellington's "Second Sacred Concert" recorded at the Gustaf Vasa Church in Stockholm, Sweden, on Nov. 6, 1969. The synergy between Babs and Ellington and his orchestra was magical.

Johnny Hodges accompanies Babs on "Heaven."

Cootie Williams has the solo in "The Shepherd Who Watches Over the Night Flock."



Babs, Russell Procope, Duke, the orchestra and the choir combine for "Almighty God Has Those Angels."

At the conclusion of "Freedom," sung by Tony Watkins, Babs and the choir, Duke delivers a moving eulogy to Billy Strayhorn, whose loss on May 31, 1967, affected Ellington deeply.

Third Sacred Concert: "The Majesty of God"

Ellington's "Third Sacred Concert," which premiered at Westminster Abbey in October 1973, was sponsored by the United Nations.

In his essay on the "Third Sacred Concert," Gary Giddins wrote:

The 'Third Sacred Concert' is revealing, moving, and on occasion inspired. Performed at Westminster Abbey after hasty rehearsals, it is illuminating not least for showing how Ellington coped with the insoluble problem of having outlived his band. Of the major Ellington interpreters, only Harry Carney and Russell Procope were present. Cootie Williams did not make the trip and Paul Gonsalves, who did, was taken ill at the last minute; his solos were given to Harold Ashby, the last of the saxophonists called upon to retain the Ben Webster sound in the Ellington palette. The fine Swedish singer Alice Babs was recruited, however, and the maestro predictably focused the new work on her, Carney and the piano. The orchestra, a shadow of its predecessors, was relegated to the background. Most of the music acquits itself admirably on its own terms.

In this audio from Westminster Abbey, Babs sings "Is God a Three-Letter Word for Love."

Third Sacred Concert in Barcelona

The Third Sacred Concert was repeated at the Basilica De Santa Maria Del Mar in Barcelona on Nov. 10, 1973, and was one of the last times Ellington staged his show. Because of a miscommunication, there was no choir on hand for the Barcelona performance, though Babs did her best to compensate. Vocalist Anita Moore was one of many new faces on stage since the Second Sacred Concert.

After Moore, Babs and Tony Watkins sing "Somebody Cares," the Barcelona concert concludes with a prayer sung by Babs in Swedish, a prayer spoken in English by Ellington, an unaccompanied solo on recorder by Art Baron, "Ain't Nobody Nowhere Nothin' Without God" sung by Watkins and "Praise God and Dance."

Ellington introduced his sacred concerts 60 years ago at Grace Cathedral as an aspirational celebration of faith, freedom and hope, and concluded them some eight years later in an exuberant and joyous Gospel revival in Catalonia, Spain. As the excitement peaked near the end of the performance, singers Gil, Watkins and Moore crashed through the "fourth wall" separating performers from the audience and gleefully strutted down the aisle boogying with the congregation as if moved by the spirit of the Holy Ghost.


Ellington died on May 27, 1974, six months after his last Sacred Concert performance.