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About Ray Nance

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Musician

Ray Nance was a multi-talented individual. He was a fine trumpeter who not only replaced Cootie Williams with Duke Ellington's Orchestra, but gave the "plunger" position in Duke's band his own personality. In addition, Nance was one of the finest jazz violinists of the 1940s, an excellent jazz singer, and even a dancer. He studied piano, took lessons on violin, and was self-taught on trumpet. After leading a small group in Chicago (1932-1937), spending periods with the orchestras of Earl Hines (1937-1938) and Horace Henderson (1939-1940), and a few months as a solo act, Nance joined Duke Ellington's orchestra

Article: Live Review

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Play Ellington's Black, Brown, and Beige

by Paul Reynolds
August 2, 2026

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center Ellington's Greatest Masterpiece: Black, Brown, and Beige New York, NY July 23, 2026 Usually dark for the summer, Jazz at Lincoln Center, unusually, presented a concert event this month. Billed as the first performances of the 2026-2027 season for ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

The Duke Ellington Collaborations

by Larry Slater
March 6, 2026

Miles Davis once said, “I think all the musicians in jazz should get together on one certain day and get down on their knees and thank Duke."Duke Ellington often remarked that the Ellington Orchestra was his instrument, but occasionally Duke stepped out of his role as maestro to collaborate with jazz artists in different ...

Article: Book Review

Concerto for Cootie. The Life and Times of Cootie Williams

by Richard J Salvucci
December 4, 2025

Cootie. The Life and Times of Cootie Williams Steven C. Bowie 443 Pages ISBN: #9781496859440 University Press of Mississippi 2025 Benny Goodman, who had employed Harry James and Ziggy Elman in his nonpareil 1937 trumpet section, preferred trumpeter Cootie Williams to them, admiring his “unlimited power." Williams had come ...

Article: Interview

Jack Chambers: Rethinking Duke Ellington

by Jack Kenny
May 20, 2025

Jack Chambers is professor at the University of Toronto and teacher of music and language. His jazz writings include the prize winning biography Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis (Da Capo Press, 1998) and Bouncin' with Bartok: The Incomplete Works of Richard Twardzik (Mercury PR, 2008). Sweet Thunder: Duke Ellington's Music In Nine Themes ...

Article: The Jazz Files

Unearthed & Unforgettable: The Lost Tapes of Just Jazz

by Hank Hehmsoth
May 9, 2025

Rediscovering Just Jazz: A Lost Archive of Jazz Legends Returns Unearthed after more than 50 years, the Just Jazz video archives represent one of the most significant rediscoveries in jazz history. Produced by NEA Jazz Master Dan Morgenstern and originally broadcast in 1970 on WTTW Chicago, these rare recordings capture intimate, electrifying performances by some of ...

Album

Copenhagen 1958

By Duke Ellington

Label: Storyville Records
Released: 2024
Track listing: Take the A Train (Theme); Newport Up; My Funny Valentine; Perdido; Sophisticated Lady; Sonnet to Hank Cinq; What Else Can You Do With a Drum; Rockin' in Rhythm; Prelude to a Kiss; Things Ain't What They Used to Be; El Gato; Hi Fi Fo Fum; Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue; I Can't Get Started; Body and Soul; A Little Blues; Sophisticated Lady; Mood Indigo.

Article: Extended Analysis

The Duke Ellington Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1943

by Chuck Lenatti
November 20, 2024

Duke Ellington was one of the most popular and successful jazz musicians of the first half of the 20th century and according to composer Gunther Schuller and musicologist and historian Barry Kernfeld, “the most significant composer of the genre." Radio broadcasts from his residency at New York's Cotton Club beginning in 1927 extended Ellington's ...

Article: Album Review

Duke Ellington: Copenhagen 1958

Read "Copenhagen 1958" reviewed by Jack Kenny

by Jack Kenny
May 23, 2024

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 ...

Article: Album Review

Johanna Burnheart: Burnheart

by Chris May
October 16, 2020

The violin has an eventful history in jazz. But it is still a niche instrument, despite a line of singular players stretching back to Stephane Grappelli and Stuff Smith (who deserves some bonus points for composing the immortal “If You're A Viper"). There are no schools of jazz violinists, simply a succession of one-off stylists, with ...