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Perfection: Dave Brubeck - The Duke

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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Dave Brubeck first recorded his composition The Duke during a live performance at New York's Basin Street East on October 13, 1954. His quartet at the time consisted of Paul Desmond (as), Dave Brubeck (p), Bob Bates (b) and Joe Dodge (d). The song has a wonderful swing feel and the melody and bass lines are sensual and hip. When I interviewed David for JazzWax in 2010, I asked him about his song: JazzWax: How did you come to write ...
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Duke Ellington at 125 Years Young

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JazzWax by Marc Myers
April 29 marked the 125th anniversary of Duke Ellington's birth in 1899. Catching the Ellington bug over the weekend, I figured what better way to kick off the week than with seven celebratory video clips and a bonus album: Here's Ellington conducting the Dick Cavett band on August 8, 1969. Bill Kirchner sent this one along. The band included Duke Ellington (p); George Duvivier (b); Bobby Rosengarden (d,leader); Joe Wilder and Ernie Royal (tp); Boomie Richman (b-cl,ts); Harvey Estrin (lead ...
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Duke Ellington at Grinnell College, 1957

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JazzWax by Marc Myers
On January 10, 1957, during a snowy Thursday evening, the Duke Ellington Orchestra played a concert at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. The performance was taped by the school with sophisticated gear, and the subsequent LP was released in limited supply. As a result, it has always been a highly sought-after album. Last week, Carl Woideck emailed with news that all the tracks were up on YouTube. Which is great to hear, since copies of vinyl copies very hard to ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Duke Ellington

Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Duke Ellington's birthday today!
By the time of his passing, he was considered amongst the world’s greatest composers and musicians. The French government honored him with their highest award, the Legion of Honor, while the government of the United States bestowed upon him the highest civil honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He played for the royalty and for the common people and by the end of his 50-year career, he had played over 20,000 ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Duke Jordan

Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Duke Jordan's birthday today!
Duke Jordan was a pianist whose work with the saxophonist Charlie Parker endures in the jazz pantheon. Jordan was regarded as one of the great early bebop pianists, the sound that he helped to create in the postwar era was something new, and it remains a cornerstone of jazz. Irving Sydney Jordan was born in New York in 1922, and began his formal piano studies at the age of eight.He continued ...
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The Hollywood Jazz Orchestra Performs Duke Ellington's "Nutcracker Suite" at the Dunbar Hotel on December 9th

Source:
David W Payne
Following their hugely successful SOLD OUT concert at Catalina's in Hollywood last month, The Hollywood Jazz Orchestra are performing Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite" at the historic Dunbar Hotel on Central Avenue. Michael Ellington, the Duke's great grand nephew, will be hosting the event. The Honorable Jan Perry, the Councilwoman responsible for the recent renovation of The Dunbar will also be in attendance. The Hollywood Jazz Orchestra (HJO) are going into the Recording Studio at the end of March. LAJO have ...
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The Hollywood Jazz Orchestra Perform Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite At The Dunbar On December 9

Source:
David W Payne
The Honorable Jan Perry, who recently ran for Congress in November, has arranged for The Hollywood Jazz Orchestra to perform Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite at the historic The Dunbar Hotel on Central Avenue, Los Angeles on December 9th, During the 1930's and 1940's The Dunbar Hotel hosted many prominent Musicians traveling to perform in Los Angeles, including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Josephine Baker, Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway and Paul Robeson. (All Ghosts are welcome). Jan Perry, ...
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Willard Jenkins Presents A Collection Of Reflections About Jazz, Journalism, And Race With 'Ain't But A Few Of Us,' To Be Published Dec. 2 By Duke University Press

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Terri Hinte Publicity
Washington, DC-based jazz journalist, broadcaster, presenter, and advocate Willard Jenkins presents a literary panorama of the lives and works of African American jazz writers with his edited volume Ain’t But A Few of Us: Black Music Writers Tell Their Story (Duke University Press). As the title suggests, Jenkins gathers the relative handful of Black scribes who focus on jazz music—from A.B. Spellman and Greg Tate to Anthony Dean-Harris and Angelika Beener—and gives them space to relate their perspectives in their ...
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Count, Duke, Stan, Harry, Gerald and Tubby in '65

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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Thought to be over and done in 1965, big bands staged a comeback. Most of their acclaim came on tours in Europe and and on TV, but the truth is that bands led by top names were undergoing a renaissance. With their kids in college or out of the house and rock starting to dominate, many older listeners in the U.S. began paying attention again to artists who had shaped their youth. Abroad, a generation of young adults marveled at ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Duke Ellington

Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Duke Ellington's birthday today!
By the time of his passing, he was considered amongst the world’s greatest composers and musicians. The French government honored him with their highest award, the Legion of Honor, while the government of the United States bestowed upon him the highest civil honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He played for the royalty and for the common people and by the end of his 50-year career, he had played over 20,000 ...
read more
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