Vol 53 No. 1 September 2011 - Toronto Duke Ellington...

Vol 53 No. 1 _______________________ September 2011

The Newsletter of the Duke Ellington Society, Chapter 40, Toronto, Canada is mailed prepaid to members in good standing.

Further information pertaining to the Society’s activities may be obtained from the Editor.

1791 Pattinson Crescent, Mississauga, ON., Canada, L5J 1H6; Phone 905-823-1086; e-mail:[email protected]

Web Site: www.torontodukeellingtonsociety.com

Minutes of the September 13 th

2011 General

Meeting

Martin Loomer opened the meeting at 7:35 p.m. to 30

members and guests. There were several announcements from the floor about upcoming live

jazz events.

Martin advised that the Rex Hotel Jazz Orchestra led

by trumpeter John MacLeod was presenting a concert of music arranged by Rick Wilkins at U of T’s Walter

Hall on September 24 at 8:00p.m. Tickets are $30.00.

It was announced that Mike Daley, who presented to us last year was leading his Quintet in a concert at

Bloordale United Church 4528 Bloor St W on October

28 at 8:00 p.m.

Bill Wilson announced that his Jazz at RY continues this year with a concert by the Richard Whiteman

Quintet on November 6 2011 at 2:00 p.m. at Royal

York United Church 851 Royal York Road.

This being the first meeting of the year Martin

encouraged all members to renew their membership by paying $35.00 for an individual membership to

Treasurer Chris McEvilly.

We are still looking for a volunteer(s) to take the

sound system home after each meeting and to bring it back for the next meeting. John Hornsby would like

some assistance.

Bruce Barton introduced our speaker for the evening,

Harry Nerlich. Bruce said that Harry joined the

society in about 1985 and is currently an Honourary Member. Harry has had held many positions in the

Society, Secretary, Editor of the newsletter 1996-

2008, President 2002- 2004, Programme Co Chair

(with Alan Shiels) and has made several presentations to us including Canadian musicians playing with

Duke, Harry Carney whom he knew, Ellington

clarinetists, Duke and Ella at the Cote D’Azure. This year’s presentation was on Johnny Hodges – Away

from Duke.

Harry said that the musical selections were primarily small groups which Hodges either led or took the role of

featured soloist and he started off by playing On the Sunny

Side of the Street which held the distinction of being the largest jazz selling 78 rpm record for nearly a decade. This

track was taken from the Jazz Ballads album. Hodges grew

to hate that piece because his fans demanded it of him

frequently and because Duke would call it time and again if he felt that Johnny had imbibed too freely.

John Cornelius Hodges was born in Cambridge MA., July 25 1907. He was the second child and only son of John H.

Hodges and Katie Swan Hodges. Shortly after his birth

the family moved to an house at 32 Hammond Street in

Boston where Johnny lived until he moved to New York 17 years later. He was enrolled in a nearby school that

went only to grade Six. For other grades he had to transfer

to another school nearby where he met Harry Carney who was three years younger but with whom he would be

associated for the rest of his life.

Hodges was a self taught drummer and did have some

piano lessons from his mother but he was impressed with

Carney’s ability to play the clarinet and alto sax. He asked

Carney to help him with the rudiments of the soprano sax. He mastered the horn quickly and by the age of fourteen

approached Sidney Bechet for advanced tutelage. At the

time Bechet was playing in a burlesque house in Boston.

For a taste of Hodges playing soprano sax we heard a

recording from June 22 1938 of Pyramid again from Jazz Ballads. He is surrounded by Cootie Williams, Lawrence

Brown Carney, Billy Taylor, Sonny Greer and Duke.

Because Hodges left school before completing grade Eight

he felt uncomfortable in later life with his limited vocabulary and grammar. Nevertheless, the broadening

experience of travels with Ellington enabled him to

become at gourmet and wine connoisseur. Johnny had two nicknames. Harry Carney said that when

he met Hodges he was already known as Rabbit because of

his passion for tomato and lettuce sandwiches that his

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mother packed for him in school lunches. He was usually

referred to as Rab. His interest in comics and Popeye in particular resulted in his picking up another nickname –

The Jeep. The Jeep appeared in several Hodges song titles

such as “The Jeep is Jumpin’” and “Jeep’s Blues”. Rab’s

wife was known as “Tootsie” and their son as John Hodges III. We then heard a composition by Gerry

Mulligan called “Bunny” not Rabbit and features two of

the world’s greatest saxophonists, the composer and Rab. This cut was taken from Gerry Mulligan meets the

Saxophonists album.

In 1924 Hodges moved to New York City and landed a job

playing soprano and alto saxes with Willie “The Lion”

Smith quartet. He moved to Sidney Bechet’s club Basha

located on Seventh Ave and 145th St. where he often played duets with Bechet. He worked with many other

groups before joining Chick Webb’s band in 1927. In May

1928 Hodges joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra which already had Harry Carney in the reed section. Hodges

became a distinct voice in the Ellington book but was

seldom the leader of the reed section. He was a poor sight reader.

When Hodges joined Otto Hardwick held the lead chair;

later the post would be held by Russell Procope, Barney Bigard or Jimmy Hamilton or Ben Webster depending

upon the situation. When Rab left the orchestra Duke

hired Willie Smith, a strong altoist he plucked from Harry James as part of the Great James robbery. Willie became

quickly dissatisfied with not playing lead and was

outspoken about the lack of discipline in the band. He quit

Ellington after a relatively brief tenure.

From The Soul of Ben Webster album Harry played for us

Satin Doll with Hodges accompanied by Billy Strayhorn, Jimmie Woode and Sam Woodyard.

Although Hodges rose quickly to become the highest paid performer in the Ellington Band, he was never satisfied

with his contracts. In later years he would rub his fingers

together after an exceptional solo , suggesting to Duke that

he should be paid more. He put aside the soprano sax in 1940 because he wanted more money to double on alto

and soprano Saxes. Never mind that Harry Carney played

baritone, clarinet, bass clarinet and alto for a single fee and all of the other reed players doubled at least on one

additional horn.

Hodges is listed in discographies as the leader or soloist on over 500 tunes played by non Ellington groups. He also

recorded numerous sides as the leader of Ellington small

groups and in big band charts using the full orchestra some with Duke at the piano, others with Strayhorn or Jimmy

Jones. In total there are well over one thousand Johnny

Hodges tracks in addition to another thousand with Duke.

While in Paris in April 1950, Hodges put together a small

group comprised of some Ellingtonians and some Parisian

jazzers. Harry selected for us Perdido and In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree. Among the soloists are Don Byas,

Harold Baker, Quentin Jackson and Raymond Fol with

Wendell Marshall and Butch Ballard rounding out the rhythm section. These selections were taken from the

Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges in Paris album.

A third source of revenue was provided to Hodges by

saxophone manufacturers. His endorsement fees ranked only second to Gene Krupa who was the face of

Slingerland drums and Zildjan cymbals. In his early years

Hodges played instruments made by the Conn Company. In 1934 he switched to Buescher, doubling his fee. For the

next twenty years he helped design and promote altos for

Buescher and as each new model came out, roughly every four years, one was manufactured to Hodges

specifications. These horns we gold plated instead of

lacquered and had his name engraved on the bell. In the

late fifties he switched his allegiance to the French manufacturer, Leblanc which had just purchased the

Italian maker, Vito. It is believed that this endorsement

fee set an all time high for a jazz musician. The fate of the gold plated horns remains a mystery with the exception of

one which remains in the hands of Frank Wess of the

Basie band who recorded often with Hodges.

Another source of income derived from Rab’s genius for

composition and arranging. Although he did not arrange

extensively for Duke, the Orchestra played many of his compositions or those for which he was given credit in

ASCAP. In the latter group are “I’m Beginning to See the

Light”, “It Shouldn’t Happen to A Dream” and “I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart.” He is credited with more

than one hundred ASCAP compositions.

In November 1960 Hodges teamed up with Ben Webster

to put together a sextet to play in the Cellar Club in San Francisco. From the Ben Webster & Johnny Hodges

album Harry selected for us “Just Another Day”

At this point we stopped for a brief break with

refreshments kindly provided by Norma Humphries.

After the break Harry Nerlich continued his presentation. In February 1951 Hodges left the Ellington Orchestra. It

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was believed that money was the root of the problem. He

took with him Lawrence Brown and Sonny Greer who was kept on the Ellington payroll until Mercer Ellington

stopped payments after Duke’s death. Another Ellington

alumnus, Al Sears, became the featured tenor sax as well a

road manager of Hodges’s new band. The first engagement was on March 9 1951 at the Blue Note in

Chicago where the Ellington orchestra had played

frequently. The band did play at The Colonial Tavern in Toronto later the same year. The band enjoyed moderate

success on records with “Castle Rock” an R & B hit.

Sears became tired of travel and was replaced by a relatively unknown John Coltrane.

By August 1955 Hodges was tired of being a leader and

opted to return to Ellington’s Orchestra. Duke welcomed him with open arms.

Harry said that he could not find many tracks with both Johnny Hodges II and Johnny Hodges III together but he

played the father and son combo under the direction of

Lawrence Brown from Impulsively Ellington – Mood Indigo.

In 1961, while the Ellington orchestra was on a brief

layoff, Hodges teamed up with organist Wild Bill Davis who would go on to arrange Basie band’s biggest

commercial hit, April in Paris. They had never played

together before but so thoroughly enjoyed playing together and were so pleased with the results of their partnership

that over the next seven years they put out seven

successful L.Ps. Moreover, Hodges convinced Ellington

to add Davis to the orchestra.

From a Johnny Hodges and Wild Bill Davis album, Harry

selected Azure Te and Blue Hodge.

In the late 1960’s Hodges health began to decline. On a

flight from Indianapolis he suffered a heart attack. Three hospitalizations followed in short order. Duke hired

Norris Turney to substitute for the hospitalized Hodges

and kept Turney with the Orchestra each time Rab

returned. On May 4 1970 the Ellington Orchestra opened a six night engagement in the Imperial Ballroom of

Toronto’s Royal York Hotel. Harry Nerlich said that he

had dinner with his friend Harry Carney one evening during that engagement and he said that Rab wasn’t well

and not able to play every night. He also said that Turney

was still being carried as a sub. in case of an emergency. When the band packed up on the last night of the Toronto

gig, no one realised that Rab’s golden horn would never be

heard again. He was scheduled to play at a tribute to Sidney Bechet at a recording session on May 12.

Unfortunately that day never came for Johnny Hodges. He

had a fatal heart seizure in New York City dentist’s chair

on Monday May 11 1970. He was survived by his mother Katie who lived a decade longer, his wife Tootsie and his

son John.

For the final musical selection of the evening, Harry called

on the full Ellington Orchestra. It backed Hodges

unparalleled soling on Come Sunday, written by Duke for The Black, Brown and Beige Suite. It was played by Ray

Nance at Hodges funeral and in a recorded version by

Rabbit some four years later at Ellington funeral.

Hodges had been a vital member of the Duke Ellington

Orchestra. Duke’s love and admiration for Rab was aptly

summed up in his eulogy at the funeral. “Never the world’s most highly animated showman or greatest stage

personality, but a tone so beautiful it sometimes brought

tears to the eyes. This was Johnny Hodges. Harry’s presentation was rounded out by a well deserved vote of

thanks proposed by Colin Brown.

The Editor wishes to thank Harry Nerlich for the extensive use of his notes in preparing the report of this excellent

meeting.

Last Post

Mary Birt (nee Nowell) passed away in June 2011 after a

long and courageous battle with cancer.

Mary took the Alice Babs role when Duke and the Orchestra played in Winnipeg " A Concert of Sacred

Music”, accompanied by Winnipeg Choirs on March 27

1970.

Frank Foster, a saxophonist, composer and arranger who

helped shape the sound of the Count Basie Orchestra during its popular heyday in the 1950s and ’60s and later

led groups of his own, died on Tuesday at his home in

Chesapeake, Va. He was 82. Frank Foster arranged

"What Am I Here For" on the famous Count Basie

album "April in Paris", but he was most well known

for his arrangement of his own "Shiny Stockings" on

the same record.

Lil Greenwood – Vocalist with Duke Ellington for a

couple of years 1958 -1960 has died of a heart attack in Pritchard, Alabama. In the late 1950's, Duke Ellington

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heard her sing at the Purple Onion in San Francisco, and

the next week Lil Greenwood was in New York recording with him.

For over 50 years her voice entertained in recordings and

live performances. She was even in the National Touring

Company of Broadway's "Hello Dolly" starring Pearl Bailey.

Upcoming TDES 40 Meetings October 11 – Tim Elliott and Brian Barlow will make a

presentation on Ellington - The Man and his Music. Brian

Barlow will discuss Duke’s music and Tim will discuss, Duke - the Man. This meeting will also be our AGM

though no election of Officers is scheduled for the is year’s

meeting. New Officers will be elected next year.

Attached is the TDES 40 financial statement for the 2010 – 2011 year, prepared by Chris McEvilly.

November 18 – Duke in Canada – Jim Galloway, 7:00

p.m. at the Toronto Reference Library.

December 6 – Holiday Party at the Arts & Letters Club, Music by Nancy Walker Quartet with Pat LaBarbera sax

Kieren Overs bass and Ethan Adelli drums. Judy Shiels

has told me that only 27 tickets remain available as of this printing so I can only recommend that you call Judy Shiels

soon in order to get your tickets, since this event always

sells out.

January 10 2012 - TBA

February 14 - Jack Chambers – The obscure “Girls Suite”

and the famous women it celebrates

March 13 – Jim Northover – Ivie Anderson.

April 10 – TBA April 28 – Scholarship Fundraising Concert – We

anticipate that The Brian Barlow Orchestra will play for

us. Though the arrangements are not yet finalised we hope

to have the former World Tap Dance Champion David Cox and a vocalist provide part of the entertainment.

May 8 - TBA

June 12 – Members’ Choice

Upcoming Events

The 21st International Duke Ellington Study Conference will be held May 23 – 27 in Woking, near London, U.K.

http://www.ellington2012.org/

The Conference will be held in Woking, on the outskirts of

London, where everything is within easy reach. Locally,

the venues and accommodation are within a few minutes walk of each other and of the railway station, along with

many shops, restaurants, cafes and bars. There are

excellent connections to the centre, and to the airports. The

fee is £175, £200 including dining at the banquet. The Founder deposit rate of £40 will continue to be available

for the moment. We will of course need full payment as

soon as possible to enable us to be clear that we can go forward. A minimum of 50 delegates is required

and we will be able to accommodate at least 100.

There are PayPal links on the Webpage to pay a deposit,

the balance and the full amount, as well as to book extra

places at the banquet. Alternatively you can pay by mail.

A Call for Papers is also being made. www.ellington2012.org/#call.

They are looking for formal and informal presentations and panels on any relevant subject but especially on under-

regarded Ellingtonians and the topic "Ellington in the 21st

Century." Additionally, they are naturally accepting

donations of any amount via PayPal or mail. www.ellington2012.org/#donate

Updates will appear on the Webpage.

Meetings are held on the 2nd

Tuesday of each

month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W

Visitors always welcome

Plenty of Free Parking

http://www.ellington2012.org/

http://www.ellington2012.org/#call

http://www.ellington2012.org/#donate

Vol 53 No. 2 _______________________ October 2011




Web Site: www.torontodukeellingtonsociety.com

Minutes of the 2011 Annual General Meeting

In the absence of President Martin Loomer, Alan Shiels

got the meeting underway at 7:30 p.m. There were 27 members and guests in attendance. Bob Hitchcock’s

wife Helen was at the meeting as a welcome guest. The

first part of the meeting was our Annual General

Meeting. No election of officers was called for this year so Alan gave us a brief review of the year’s activities. In

September 2010 our first meeting of the new season was

led off with a presentation by Jim Galloway on the nicknames on some of the Duke Ellington musicians.

This was followed in October by Martin Loomer’s

“Duke Ellington Plays the Music of Others.” In

November Bruce Barton once again provided a video presentation – “On the Road with Duke Ellington”

followed by “Duke Ellington Swing Era”. The

December Holiday party was held at the Arts & Letters Club in Toronto and attended by 92 members and

guests. It was organised by Judy Shiels who deserves

much credit for this high quality event. A delicious dinner was followed by the Richard Whiteman Quartet

with Richard on piano and accompanied by three young

musicians. In January, members Mel Manley and Harold

Swartz presented a 1966 video “Duke Ellington at the Cote D’Azure” with Ella Fitzgerald and Joan Miro.

February saw regular presenter Jack Chambers make his

usual fine professional presentation on “Not Ben, Not Mex – Ellington’s Other Tenor Sax. Players.” In March

Bruce Barton introduced David Basskin of JAZZ-FM.

His topic was the U.S. State Department sponsored tours by jazz musicians in the 1950’s– 1970’s. Dr. Michael

Daley, a music educator and musician, active in Toronto

entertained us with “The Ellington Guitarists and

Banjoists” Jim Kydd, a presenter at our 1987 conference took us on a tour at the May meeting of the

jazz clubs and recording studios of Harlem in New

York. The season closed in June with the Members’ Choice Meeting where we all had an opportunity to play

some of our favourite Duke, Billy and Oscar selections.

The Annual Scholarship Fundraising concert was

another sold out success with The Dave Young – Terry Promane Big Band which featured presentations by

previous TDES 40 Scholarship Winners.

Alan wound up his review by thanking Matt Wood and his telephone committee of Norma Humphries,

Barry Tisdall and Al Basian. John Hornsby, our patient

and indefatigable technical specialist, Jean Humphries

who organizes the refreshments at each meeting and Irene Barton the current Chair of the Programme

Committee were fulsomely thanked for their

contribution to the year’s success. Martin Loomer, President, Chris McEvilly, Treasurer and Jim Northover,

Secretary and Editor of the newsletter and Judy Shiels

who organizes the Holiday party were also thanked for

their efforts.

Chris McEvilly presented the Treasurer’s report that was

distributed in the September 2011 newsletter. A couple of the points that Chris highlighted were that the Holiday

Party did show a profit of $435. Not that the purpose of

the Holiday party was to create a profit but it did at least avoid a loss as we have experienced in the past. We

made a contribution of $500 to the Ken Page Memorial

Trust in memory of John Norris. The Executive

Committee is to meet shortly and will discuss whether or not we will continue with this contribution. Chris also

stated that membership revenues were down 17% vs. last

year representing a loss of 14 members. The money raised by the Fundraising Scholarship concert improved

by $2440 over the 2011 concert so that after giving

$3000 to Humber College and $2000 to York University, the capital account stood at $37,200.

In Stan Schiff’s opinion this amount of money held for

no ostensible purpose should be appropriately

designated and used. Alan Shiels explained that the objective for this amount of money was to build up a

fund that could support scholarships to Humber and

York when the Scholarship Fundraising concert is no longer held. This may not be of immediate concern but

may well be the case in two or three years. Stan Schiff

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requested that the Executive discuss this matter and

present a motion to the general membership for debate.

Brian Barlow suggested that some future meetings be

held at another venue, a bar or similar location, to which

musicians could be invited to play Ellington and Strayhorn music for the members. Tim Elliott has made

similar proposals in the past.

ACTION: If any member is prepared to organize such a meeting, location, band and publicity, please contact Jim

Northover.

Brian Barlow suggested rather than a website which needs constant updating, we prepare a Facebook page

which is much easier to maintain. Brian offered to set

one up for us.

Alan Shiels then offered to bring the AGM to a close to

allow us to move onto the regular November meeting. It

was proposed by Stan Schiff and seconded by Norma Humphries and passed unanimously by the meeting.

There were several announcements for the floor. Bill Wilson reminded us of his Jazz at RY Concert to be held

on Nov 6th at 2:00 p.m. at Royal York United Church

851 Royal York Road. The Richard Whiteman Quintet

will be playing. Brian Barlow indicated that The Tara Davidson Trio will

be playing in his long running Jazz Vespers at Christ

Church Deer Park at 4:30 p.m. on October 16th.

Bob Hitchcock announced that Mike Daley, who

presented to us last year will be leading his Quintet in a

concert at Bloordale United Church 4528 Bloor St W on October 28 at 8:00 p.m.

Alan Shiels then introduced Tim Elliott and Brian Barlow who were to make a joint presentation, Duke

Ellington: The Man and his Music. Tim Elliott is an

Anglican Minister, leadership coach and consultant, author and musician. Brian Barlow has spent much of

his career in the recording studios and is one of

Canada’s most recorded musicians. He has worked in

the studio and on the concert stage with a diverse range of top flight musicians. Tim and Brian are the

cofounders of Jazz Vespers at Christ Church Deer Park,

Toronto now beginning its 13th season. They have made many joint presentations on jazz and spirituality. Brian

is the Creative Director of the Prince Edward County

Jazz Festival.

Tim’s presentation “Duke, The Man” is based on his

presentation Freedom of Expression - The Spirituality of Duke Ellington.

Brian’s presentation: “Duke and His Music” is based, in

part, on his presentation this past August at the Prince

Edward County Jazz Festival “An Evening with Ellington”.

Tim Elliott opened his presentation by asking how can one person, Duke Ellington, be so endlessly fascinating?

Tim said he had served with Martin Loomer as Co-

Program Chair of TDES 40 for several years and they had found that there were always fresh topics presented

and new interpretations of Duke’s life and music to be

appreciated. Tim said that he would try to look at Duke

Ellington through the lens of his friends. Duke was a deeply religious man who devoted much of the last 10

years of his life to Sacred Music.

Duke clearly felt he was gifted, as are we all, he was romantic, practical, demanding, had many girl friends

yet never divorced from his wife. He never ran out of

music or programme ideas. Tim looked at Duke’s friends as outlined in several books which he used as his

sources:

Ellington – A Spiritual Biography – Janna Tull Steed

Duke- A Portrait of Duke Ellington - Derek Jewel Beyond Category - John Edward Hasse

The World of Duke Ellington - Stanley Dance

Who were Duke’s friends? One of course was Billy

Strayhorn who always supported Duke Ellington.

Strayhorn seemed to have a unique understanding of

Ellington when he said that he played the piano but his real instrument was the band.

Dr. Arthur Logan was Duke’s physician, friend and

confessor. When Arthur Logan died on November 25 1973 Mercer Ellington said that “If ever Duke lost a

friend it was Arthur. I saw him affected by Billy

(Strayhorn) but nothing like with Arthur” Ellington told Marian Logan, Arthur’s wife, “I’ll never get over this, I

won’t last six months.” Duke died May 24 1974, not six

months after Arthur Logan’s passing.

Duke had a strong relationship with some members of

the clergy. .John Gensel, Pastor at St. John’s Lutheran

Church in New York was not only Ellington’s friend but pastor to the jazz community at large. He was the only

other person besides Duke’s sister who called him

Edward. Duke included a tribute to John Gensel in his second Sacred Concert – The Shepherd who watches

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over the night flock which Tim played for us with

Cootie Williams soloing. Pastor Gensel was one of the clergy who officiated at Ellington’s funeral.

Duke developed a relationship with Father Norman

O’Connor, the “jazz priest” from Detroit who

commissioned Duke to prepare a jazz mass which was apparently never completed. Father O’Connor also

officiated at Duke’s funeral.

Tim had spoken also to the third priest with whom Duke developed a friendship: Father Gerry Pocock, a member

of our society, currently living in Ottawa, from whom

Tim passed on warm wishes to the society members. Duke used to call Gerry Pocock the end of his working

day, about 3:00a.m. When Duke wrote his third Sacred

Concert he included a piece suggested by Father Pocock,

Is God a Three Letter Word for Love? which Tim played for us, sung with brilliant musicianship by Alice Babs.

Tim started to wind up his comments by saying that he

was intrigued by Ellington, the man. What was his understanding of himself and his place in the world? He

saw himself first as a Christian who challenged the

world with his music and approach to life in the same way that Jesus challenged the status quo.

He felt that he owed God a debt, for his musical gifts

and consequently devoted much of the last part of his

life to composing the three Sacred Concerts. Ellington spent the last few years of his life travelling with his

orchestra with single minded devotion to this music.

Tim handed the presentation over to Brian Barlow who

explained that he was not an Ellington scholar but he

asked “What is it about Ellington’s music that is so

special?” He offered several answers. His tunes, which were so memorable – Solitude, Prelude

to a Kiss Heaven and so on.

The sound of his band which was unique. His musicians came and went, some stayed their whole career, some

stayed but for a short time only yet the band’s sound

remained constant, so clearly the musicians were not the most important element. The music would exist without

specific players. Ellington did bring out the best in his

band members and used each player to his fullest and

best extent. He used his orchestration skills to use the individual talents of his players.

Ellington’s new musical ideas – and as an example of

the new thinking that Ellington brought to his musical arrangements Brian played a 1934 arrangement of

Solitude in which the typical jazz front line of trumpet,

trombone and clarinet roles were switched. In fact, Brian said that Ellington’s musical ideas were so prolific

that he knew of at least six different arrangements for A

Train and seven different arrangements of Solitude which Ellington had recorded. Of course Ellington kept

his orchestra to try out and play his new ideas in music

on a daily basis for fifty years.

Ellington also used his band members in new ways such

as the concerto mode rather than the conventional solo

or ensemble roles that musicians typically filled. This took better advantage of the skills of his players.

Concerto for Cootie is of course the best known example

but there are others. When Jimmy Blanton joined the band in 1939 Ellington emphasized the bass in a much

greater way than had been the convention to that point to

take advantage of Blanton’s unique skills.

As the players came and went not only did the tunes

have to be rearranged in order to accommodate their

skills but also to make them new and interesting for himself and the band. To illustrate this point Brian

played Diminuendo in Blue, one version recorded in

1937, the other recorded at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival showing how the band had changed over that

period and how Ellington had kept current. Ellington

also provided players with parts that were nice to play,

not isolated notes that satisfied the whole but parts that satisfied the players too.

What impact did Ellington have on how we write for big bands these days? Brian said Ellington’s impact was

huge and he had made a bigger impact than any other.

He felt that the emphasis on the sound of the final

product mattered, not the conventional technical details. His approach to the different voices of the instruments

could be conventional but not necessarily. As an

example Brian played Chinoiserie from The Nutcracker Suite in which Paul Gonzalves’s tenor sax sounds

remarkably like a bassoon. An experiment that worked

showing that taking chances often paid off. Brian played for us Volga Vouty, again from The Nutcracker Suite,

swung as Tchaikovsky never intended!

What role did others play in creating the Ellington

sound? Ellington did have, of course, inputs from many of his musicians and others as to musical ideas and

melodies but Ellington was the driving force behind

developing the ideas to completion. Billy Strayhorn had no arranging experience prior to his association with

Ellington. Duke taught and mentored Strayhorn and

took advantage of his musical skills but we’d still have Ellington’s music without Strayhorn. He wrote many

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great songs and made great contributions to the orchestra

but it was still Ellington’s orchestra and sound. We heard the first movement of The River Suite, Spring,

recorded by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as arranged

by Ron Collier from the 1992 recording. We also heard

Giggling Rapids from the same disc. What will be remembered of Duke’s work? His hits of

course. But as Clark Terry has said, even without the hit

songs Duke would still be remembered as one of the great composers of all time. We heard from the

Symphonic Ellington album Night Creature Ellington

left a body of work that is still largely undiscovered by most of us. There is a growing appreciation of what

Ellington has left us. He will always be remembered as

one of our greatest composers. Brian concluded by

playing Lady Mac from Such Sweet Thunder. Patricia Poole moved the formal vote of thanks to both

Tim Elliott and Brian Barlow for their interesting and

challenging co-presentation which we all heartily endorsed.

Upcoming TDES 40 Meetings

November 18 – Duke in Canada – Jim Galloway, Friday, 7:00 p.m. at the Toronto Reference Library. Jim

will talk on the history of the Toronto Duke Ellington

Society and then play music associated with Duke in

Canada. The quartet providing the music will be Jim on reeds, Lawrie Bower on trombone, Reg Schwager, guitar

and Rosemary Galloway, bass.

December 6 – Holiday Party at the Arts & Letters Club, Music by Nancy Walker Quartet with Pat LaBarbera sax

Kieren Overs bass and Ethan Adelli drums. Judy Shiels

has told me that all of the tickets for this event have been

sold.

January 10 2012 – Stan Schiff- Duke Rebuilds: The

Ellington Band March 1951 to August 1955 February 14 - Jack Chambers – The obscure “Girls

Suite” and the famous women it celebrates


April 10 – TBA April 28 – Scholarship Fundraising Concert – We

anticipate that The Brian Barlow Orchestra will play

for us. Though the arrangements are not yet finalized we hope to have the former World Tap Dance

Champion David Cox and Heather Bambrick provide

part of the entertainment. May 8 – TBA


Last Post Grace Heggie – It is with great regret that we

announce the death of one of our members, Grace

Heggie. Grace was a charter member of The Toronto Duke Ellington Society which held its first meeting on

29th April 1959. Grace was a retired librarian of the

University of Toronto and York University. She

was born February 12, 1933 and died on Saturday,

October 9, 2011. Grace worked as the history

collection librarian from the earliest days of York

University. Grace was the former archivist for the

Woman's Musical Club of Toronto and a long

standing member of the Duke Ellington Society

though she appreciated both classical and jazz

music. Grace will be sorely missed by her friends

at The Toronto Duke Ellington Society. George E. Ballard, 92, a Philadelphia drummer died

Saturday, Oct. 1. Mr. Ballard, known as Butch, was

one of the few musicians to play with both Count Basie and Duke Ellington. He recorded with trumpeter

Louis Armstrong, collaborated in Paris with

saxophonist Johnny Hodges, and formed close friendships with many top musicians, including

trumpeter Clark Terry. Mr. Ballard continued playing

well into this century

Meetings are held on the 2nd

Tuesday of each

month

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W


Plenty of Free Parking

Vol 53 No. 3 ______________________ _ _November & December 2011




Web site: www.torontodukeellingtonsociety.co

The regularly scheduled November meeting of the Toronto Duke Ellington Society was pre empted by an

opportunity presented by the Toronto Reference Library.

The Library offered to host, as part of their regular “Programs for the Constantly Curious” series, an

evening with a Duke Ellington in Canada theme. TDES

40 took the opportunity to make our society better

known in Toronto and to recruit new members. Through a lot of work led by Judy Shiels with Bruce and Irene

Barton and Alan Shiels they arranged for a quartet led

by Jim Galloway to play some Ellington music. The meeting was held on November 18th at the Toronto

Reference Library, in the Atrium. After a brief

introduction by the library staff, our President, Martin

Loomer, made a brief introduction and described the Society and its history, aims and activities. We provided

for the attendees a brief history of the society which

forms part of this newsletter. It was written by Jim Galloway and originally published in Whole Note

magazine to both of whom we are grateful for

permission to reproduce it here. Martin then introduced Jack Livesley who had written a poem “Slices”, inspired

by the Scholarship Concert in April 2011. He read it to

us at a previous meeting and today Jack re read his poem

accompanied by the soft chords of a jazz guitar, with his customary zeal and verve. Jack, accompanied by Reg

Schwager on guitar, received a fulsome round of

applause for his rendition. The poem is published, for the first time, elsewhere in this newsletter with kind

permission from the author.

Martin retuned to the microphone to introduce the

Quartet which was to play for us. The Quartet consisted

of Jim Galloway, reeds, Lawrie Bower, Trombone, Reg

Schwager, guitar and Rosemary Galloway, bass. Jim explained that though he had met Duke Ellington he

never knew him well. Duke had appeared in Canada on

many occasions. Jim said that the Ellington associated numbers he had selected for the evening were not the

conventional ones but those more obscure that were not

often heard. Naturally, the numbers were largely

associated with Johnny Hodges in particular. He started off playing the alto sax. with “You Blew Out the Flame

(In My Heart)” written by Johnny Hodges. He followed

this by “Krum Elbow Blues” with Jim playing baritone sax which had been recorded by a small group led by

Hodges. Next was “Take ‘Em Off”, another piece

written by Hodges and recorded by him in the Triple

Play album. Trombonist Lawrie Bower was featured on the beautiful “In My Solitude”. “Caravan” followed

featuring Reg Schwager who played with his usual

fluency and grace. Jim was then featured in Strayhorn’s “Lotus Blossom” which though associated

with Hodges, Jim played baritone sax.. We then heard

one of Ellington’s standard hits, “Drop me Off in

Harlem” featuring a brief bass solo by Rosemary Galloway.

Jim explained that he recorded his next number

“Saturday Night Function” with Buddy Tate, Jay McShann , Terry Clarke and Don Thompson, in a CD of

the same name in 1981. This tune had a special

significance for Jim since it had been used by the noted Toronto journalist and broadcaster, Clyde Gilmour as

the closing number of his long running program,

Gilmour’s Albums. As a final nod to Johnny Hodges,

we heard the quartet play “Fur Piece” which was recorded by Hodges in his 1967 album Triple Play. To

close the evening the Quartet played a rousing version of

Duke’s “C Jam Blues”.

We had no idea how many people would attend but in

the end approximately 400 people were in the audience. The evening was a significant success! The Toronto

Reference Library staff was astonished at the level of

interest shown which is a tribute to both the music of

Duke Ellington and to the playing of Jim Galloway’s quartet. A very large number of people who attended

left their names for future contact.

Many thanks to all who contributed to the success of the

evening, in particular Judy Shiels who took the initiative

2

presented by the Library and who publicized the event

relentlessly.

Annual TDES 40 Christmas Party.

On December 6th 2011, The Toronto Duke Ellington Society celebrated the Season with our annual Holiday

Party. It was held again this year at the Arts & Letters

Club in Toronto. Again, the event was sold out and in fact had been sold out since October. Ninety eight

people purchased tickets. Thanks are due to the many

TDES 40 members who brought friends to the party. It is much appreciated and made the event such a

success. The response has been so heartening that

Judy Shiels has reserved the Arts & Letters club for

next year’s party for December 4th 2012. A cocktail hour was followed by an excellent three

course meal expeditiously served by the efficient staff

of the Arts & Letters Club. We then settled back to listen to two sets of Ellington and Strayhorn music

provided by The Nancy Walker Quartet. The Quartet

consisted of Nancy Walker on piano, Pat Labarbera Tenor Sax., Kieran Overs, bass and Ethan Ardelli on

Drums. The quartet immediately swung into action

with Strayhorn’s 1942 piece, Johnny Come Lately,

giving room for all of the players to solo and demonstrate their “chops” with a strong tenor solo by

Pat Labarbera. Another Strayhorn number from 1941

followed, Chelsea Bridge. For a nice change of pace the band played Strayhorn’s Day Dream from 1940

¾ time. An Ellington long time favourite, Mood

Indigo from 1930 played this time with a samba beat

raised the temperature of the room. The Quartet then played the exquisite ballad by Billy Strayhorn, A

Flower is a Lovesome Thing originally recorded by

Ellington’s band in 1946. An up-tempo version of Isfahan from the Ellington /Strayhorn collaboration

from the Far East Suite led into the set’s closer,

Strayhorn’s Take the A Train in which the drummer, Ethan Ardelli played some nicely restrained drum

breaks.

The second set started with the quartet playing the rarely heard Ellington piece from the Afro Bossa

album, Purple Gazelle followed by Prelude to a Kiss

by Duke Ellington first recorded in 1938. A sprightly version of Billy Strayhorn’s Upper Manhattan

Medical Group followed featuring Kieran Overs on

bass and more tasteful drumming by Ethan Ardelli. To cool things down the quartet played a Duke Ellington

ballad from 1935, In A Sentimental Mood. The set

and the evening was brought to a close by a lively version of Juan Tizol’s Caravan again featuring a

strong tenor solo by Pat Labarbera. A rousing end to

the evening indeed and the quartet was given a well

deserved standing ovation.

*****

Last Post

George “Butch” Ballard – Ellington drummer, died

on October 1 2011. He was 92 years old. Butch was in the band from April to June 1950 and March 1952

to the fall of 1953. He was the drummer on

Ellington’s first piano album, Piano Reflections

recorded in 1952.


January 10 2012 – Stan Schiff - Duke Rebuilds: The

Ellington Band February ‘51 to August ‘55

February 14 - Jack Chambers – The obscure “Girls Suite” and the famous women it celebrates.


April 10 – TBA

April 28 – Scholarship Fundraising Concert – We anticipate that The Brian Barlow Orchestra will play for

us. Though the arrangements are not yet finalized we

hope to have the former World Tap Dance Champion David Cox and Heather Bambrick provide part of the

entertainment.

May 8 – TBA June 12 – Members’ Choice

Live Jazz Events

Jazz at R.Y. – Bill Wilson’s next Jazz at R.Y. event will be on March 25 2012 when the Joe Sealy Quartet will

play at Royal York Road United Church, 851 Royal

York Road, Toronto. For information and tickets contact Bill Wilson at 416-231-1207.

New & Interesting

The newsletter of the London Jazz Society advises that

there is a jazz radio programme in London Ontario,

broadcast by Fanshawe College’s radio station CIXX 106.9 FM. It is hosted by members of the London Jazz

Society, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00p.m. on Sundays during the

school year. Other special programming is heard during

3

vacations on statutory holidays. Of course it can be

heard on the web at: www.1069thex.com

Half Blood Blues – a novel by Esi Edugyan set in

Berlin, 1939. A young, brilliant trumpet-player, Hieronymus, is arrested in a Paris cafe. The star

musician was never heard from again. He was twenty

years old. He was a German citizen. And he was black.

Fifty years later, Sidney Griffiths, the only witness still

refuses to speak of what he saw. When Chip Jones, his friend and fellow band member comes to visit

recounting the discovery of a strange letter, Sid begins a

slow journey towards redemption. From the smoky bars of pre-war Berlin to the salons of Paris, Sid leads the

reader through a fascinating, little-known world.

Alan Shiels has received a copy of this book for

Christmas and we look forward to his review!

***

A new CD has been issued: Duke Ellington & His

Orchestra “At the Crystal Gardens, Salem, Oregon

1952” on the Hep label, a two CD set HEPCD9293. This previously unreleased concert recording features Duke Ellington and his Orchestra at Crystal Gardens,

Salem, Oregon in 1952 with Duke’s reinvigorated

orchestra including Louie Bellson, Willie Cook, Paul Gonsalves, Cat Anderson, Ray Nance, Willie Smith,

Clark Terry, Harry Carney, Jimmy Hamilton, Quentin

Jackson, Britt Woodman and Juan Tizol. Remarkable in

this case is that this edition of the band did not include Johnny Hodges. I have heard a couple of tracks from this

CD package on Lee Farley’s Jazz Explorations radio

programme from KUCR in Riverside, California and it sounds pretty good to me.

***

A new Ellington book is to be published February

2012. This description is from the inner cover of the

book. The Ellington Century is a wonderful journey through the world of music and art. If you are already

an aficionado of Ellington's music, you will enjoy the

author's informative and detailed analysis of the composer's work and musical influences. If you are

less familiar, this book puts Ellington's music in

perspective with the great 'classical' composers of the

twentieth century. David Schiff's remarkable insight into the historical and musical parallels between these

composers is a delight to read and his references are

vast, from Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire and Stravinsky's Agon to television's Sesame Street. Schiff

writes with a sense of humor and an enthusiasm for

Ellington's music that comes out on every page."--George Manahan, Music Director, American

Composers Orchestra.

David Schiff points us forward, observing that 'Ellington's music asks us to see with our ears and hear

with our eyes.' Writing as a composer and scholar, he

has a gift for making complex ideas strikingly clear. His insights move across a huge terrain of twentieth-

century culture, as he builds bridges in his musical and

cultural analysis where many have not seen a connection. Yet each musical work, each artist, is

given his or her equal due. In this sense, he has met the

spiritual and cultural challenge of Ellington's life

work."--Marty Ehrlich, Composer/Instrumentalist, Associate Professor of Improvisation and

Contemporary Music, Hampshire College.

http://www.1069thex.com/

4

The Autobiography of Clark Terry The autobiography of Clark Terry has just been

published, the story of one of the most recorded and

beloved jazz trumpeters of all time. With unsparing honesty and a superb eye for detail, Clark Terry, born in

1920, takes us from his impoverished childhood in St.

Louis, Missouri, where jazz could be heard everywhere, to the smoke-filled small clubs and carnivals across the

Jim Crow South where he got his start, and on to

worldwide acclaim. Terry takes us behind the scenes of

jazz history as he introduces scores of legendary greats–Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie, Dinah

Washington, Doc Severinsen, Ray Charles, Thelonious

Monk, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Coleman Hawkins, Zoot Sims, and Dianne Reeves, among many

others. Terry also reveals much about his own personal

life, his experiences with racism, how he helped break the color barrier in 1960 when he joined the Tonight

Show band on NBC, and why–at ninety years old–his

students from around the world still call and visit him

for lessons.

Last Call for Membership Renewal

There remain a few people who have not yet

renewed their memberships for the 2011 – 2012

Season. Please renew promptly. Dues are $35 for

a single membership and $50 for a family

membership for payments made on or before

October 9th 2011. Payments made after that date

are subject to a $5.00 surcharge to offset bank

penalties for late deposits. Regrettably, further

issues of the Newsletter will be sent to only those

members in good standing as of the meeting date

in January 2012. If you have not already made your payment,

cheques may be mailed to:

Chris McEvilly,

Treasurer, The Duke Ellington Society,

10 Edgemore Drive,

Toronto, ON.,

M8Y 2M8

Be sure to include your name, address, home

phone number and email address.

SEASON’S GREETINGS TO ALL

MEMBERS & FRIENDS OF

TDES CHAPTER 40

Meetings are held on the 2

nd Tuesday of each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W


Plenty of Free parking

Vol 53 No. 3 _____January 2012





Minutes of the January 10th General Meeting

President Martin Loomer opened the meeting at

7:40 p.m. There was been a delay in starting the

meeting due to a technical issue. There were 31

members and guests in attendance.

Judy Shiels announced that due to the great

reception that the 2011 Christmas Party had met

with, there will be one organised for 2012, at the

same location, The Arts & Letters Club in Toronto,

on December 4th. She asked for suggestions for a

trio or quartet to provide the music for the evening.

Alan Shiels announced that tickets for the 2012

Scholarship Concert were selling at a rate a little

behind last year’s. He exhorted us all to find friends

and colleagues who would want to attend this first

rate event. He also asked for suggestions for a band

for a 2013 concert.

Martin Loomer then handed the meeting over to

Stan Schiff who was the presenter for the evening.

His topic was Duke Rebuilds: The Ellington

Band, February ’51 to August ’55.

Stan explained that the band in January 1951

consisted of -Trumpets: Cat Anderson, Shorty

Baker, Fats Ford, Nelson Williams, Ray Nance (and

violin and vocals). Trombones: Lawrence Brown,

Tyree Glenn (Temporary), Quentin Jackson (Valve

Trombone). Reeds: Johnny Hodges (alto), Jimmy

Hamilton (tenor sax. and clarinet), Russell Procope

(alto sax. and clarinet), Paul Gonzalves (tenor),

Harry Carney

(baritone, clarinet and bass clarinet). Bass: Wendell

Marshall. Drums: Sonny Greer. Piano: Duke

Ellington.

Between Early 1951 and mid 1955 the band was in

a state of continuous flux. Stan led us through the

personnel changes that led to the formation of one

of Ellington‘s great units in 1955.

In February 1951 Johnny Hodges, Lawrence Brown

and Sonny Greer left the band and Duke hired Britt

Woodman to replace Lawrence Brown. In March

1951 was perpetrated the so called Great James

Robbery and Duke hired Willie Smith (alto) to

replace Hodges and Louis Bellson to replace Greer.

Incidentally, Willie Smith had previously played for

the Jimmy Lunceford band prior to being hired by

Harry James. He also hired Juan Tizol (valve

trombone), a former Ellingtonian and Quentin

Jackson moved to the plunger trombone chair

vacated by Tyree Glenn. Both fans and critics of

the band felt that the loss of Johnny Hodges was too

great a loss for the band to withstand. The new

personnel brought new talents to the band. Willie

Smith led the reed section as a straw boss in

rehearsal; Louis Bellson was a great showman and

loved to solo while Greer eschewed them. In May

1951 Fats Ford left the band.

To illustrate the quality of the band at this time Stan

played several selections for us. From June 19

1951, Hoppin’s John played by Billy Strayhorn’s

All Stars featuring Jimmy Hamilton and Willie

Smith and from August 7 1951 Rock-Skippin’ at

the Blue Note with Ray Nance soloing.

In November of 1951 Nelson Williams left and

Duke hired Willie Cook and Clark Terry for the

trumpet section, both of whom stayed with the band

for extended periods. In December Duke hired Dick

Vance and Francis Williams for the trumpet section

but only temporarily for some recording dates for

that month.

From December 7 1951 Stan played Bensonality

with solos from Jimmy Hamilton, Clark Terry,

Francis Williams and Paul Gonzalves and from

2

December 11, Vagabonds with solos from

Ellington, Clark Terry, Willie Smith, Jimmy

Hamilton, Harry Carney and Louis Bellson. Also in

December Shorty Baker left the band and Ellington

hired Jimmy Grissom (vocals).

Stan indicated that Skin Deep, a tune written by

Louis Bellson, was featured in the Ellington

Uptown album, recorded in 1952 though we did not

hear it in the interests of time. In March 1952 Willie

Smith left the band due, apparently to discomfort

with the approach to discipline in the band. In April

Duke hired Hilton Jefferson to replace Smith.

We heard Good Woman Blues recorded April 29

1952 featuring Cat Anderson, Jimmy Grissom, Britt

Woodman and Jimmy Hamilton taken from the

West Coast Swing album. We returned to the

Ellington Uptown album to hear The Mooche,

recorded July 1 1952 featuring Procope/Hamilton,

Quentin Jackson, Harry Carney, Hilton Jefferson

(one of his few recorded solos) and Ray Nance.

Eddie Lambert called this version “brilliant”. This

was followed by Perdido recorded on July 1 with

Ellington, Nance Clarke Terry, Wendell Marshall,

Cat Anderson, Willie Cook and Britt Woodman.

Eddie Lambert claims that this recording of Perdido

is one of the most exciting of all of Ellington’s

recordings. Finally, from 1952 Stan played

Sophisticated Lady, recorded on August 13 and

taken from the Live at the blue Note album.

Featured on this recording were Harry Carney (bass

clarinet) Jimmy Hamilton and Ray Nance (violin).

At this point we took a short break. Refreshments

for the evening were provided by Bill and Mary

Wilson and Bob Hitchcock to whom we were all

grateful.

Stan restarted the meeting by describing the

personnel changes in March of the at year. Hilton

Jefferson left and was replaced by Rick Henderson

and Louis Bellson was replaced by Butch Ballard.

In 1953 Ellington returned to record for Capitol

Records. His first recording with Capitol was Satin

Doll, recorded April 6 1953 which Stan played for

us. Eddie Lambert said that this original recording

of Satin Doll, featuring a solo by Ray Nance, was

the best of all of the versions that Duke recorded.

From the same session on April 7th we heard My

Old Flame featuring Gonzalves and Hamilton.

From April 9th a Strayhorn number, Boo-Dah with

solos from Nance, Hamilton and Anderson. The Big

Drag with Ellington, Hamilton, Gonzalves and

Willie Cook soloing, recorded on July 1 1953.

In July of 1953 Butch Ballard left the band and

Duke hired Dave Black to replace him on drums. In

December Juan Tizol left the band only to return

twice more in later years, Ellington hired George

Jean then Alfred Cobbs and then George Jean again

to replace Tizol on valve trombone. To illustrate

the band’s performance at this point Stan Schiff

played for us a driving performance of Stompin’at

the Savoy recorded on December 28 1953 featuring

Jimmy Hamilton, Clark Terry, Harry Carney Paul

Gonzalves and Rick Henderson from the Ellington

’55 album.

In April 1954 George Jean left the band and John

Sanders was hired to replace him on valve

trombone. Sanders stayed with band for five years

finally bringing some stability to the valve trombone

chair. From April 26 of 1954 Stan played for us C

Jam Blues with solos from Ellington, Ray Nance

(violin), Willie Cook, Paul Gonzalves, Quentin

Jackson and Jimmy Hamilton. Eddie Lambert calls

this version from Dance to the Duke album

“superb, one of the very finest on record. All of the

soloists are at their best in a performance also

notable for the vigor of the band playing” We also

heard from June 17 1954 an extended 10 minute

version of It Don’t Mean a Thing with an amusing

vocal by Ray Nance and solos by Ellington, Nance

and Willie Cook trade fours for two choruses as do

Gonzalves and Jimmy Hamilton after they have

each taken a solo. Strangely, Capitol did not issue

this version originally but only in a 2007

compilation of numbers written by Ellington and

performed by others. It is now available on a

Mosaic set and a Definitive Records issue from

Spain.

From May 19 Stan played Once in a Blue Mood

with Ellington playing electric piano with solos

3

from Russell Procope, Quentin Jackson and Ray

Nance. These, along with other recordings made at

the end of Ellington’s Capitol contract were never

issued by Capitol. They can be found on the Mosaic

set of The Complete Capitol Recordings

In January 1955 Duke hired Jimmy Woode on bass

and in July Rick Henderson and Dave Black left.

August saw Johnny Hodges return to the Ducal fold

and Sam Woodyard was hired.

By 1954 the market for contemporary music and big

band music in particular was poor. Ellington was at

his nadir. However the band now consisted of:

Trumpets: Cat Anderson, Clark Terry, Willie Cook,

Ray Nance (and violin and vocals). Trombones:

Britt Woodman, Quentin Jackson, John Sanders

(Valve Trombone). Reeds: Johnny Hodges (alto),

Jimmy Hamilton (tenor sax. and clarinet), Russell

Procope (alto sax. and clarinet), Paul Gonzalves

(tenor), Harry Carney (baritone, clarinet and bass

clarinet). Bass: Jimmy Woode. Drums: Sam

Woodyard. Piano: Duke Ellington.

This band was one of Ellington’s greatest units

leading to Duke’s rebirth at the 1956 Newport Jazz

Festival.

Colin Brown offered a well deserved vote of thanks

to Stan Schiff for this outstanding presentation

noting how much detailed work must have gone into

its preparation. Thank you Stan for a great

presentation once again and for providing the

excellent notes.

*****

Last Post

Ian Bargh. He was born in Scotland in 1935 and

immigrated to Toronto in 1957 where he quickly

became a familiar to audiences at jazz clubs all over

the city, particularly at George’s Spaghetti House.

He was the resident pianist for Jim Galloway’s

Saturday afternoon “Toronto Alive!” sessions at

Toronto’s Sheraton Centre. He also appeared in

jazz festivals across Canada and around the world.

Ian appeared frequently with groups led by Jim

Galloway, often playing with the annual Toronto

Downtown Jazz festival.

Bob Brookmeyer was born Kansas City 19

December 1929 and died Grantham, New

Hampshire 15 December 2011. He was a fine and

creative player of the valve trombone. A wonderful

writer and arranger, he played a major role in the

venerated Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band. Duke

Ellington hired him in 1962 but unfortunately

personal difficulties got in the way so he couldn’t

join the band. Brookmeyer became a founding

member of the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis band before

moving to a variety of gigs both in North America

and Europe.

*****


February 14 - Jack Chambers – The obscure “Girls

Suite” and the famous women it celebrates.


April 10 – TBA

April 28 – Scholarship Fundraising Concert – We

anticipate that The Brian Barlow Orchestra will play

for us. Though the arrangements are not yet

finalized we hope to have the former World Tap

Dance Champion David Cox and Heather Bambrick

provide part of the entertainment.

May 8 – TBA


***

Live Jazz Events

Jazz at R.Y. – Bill Wilson’s next Jazz at R.Y. event

will be on March 25 2012 when the Joe Sealy

Quartet will play at Royal York Road United

Church, 851 Royal York Road, Toronto. For

information and tickets contact Bill Wilson at 416-

231-1207.

***

New & Interesting

The newsletter of the London Jazz Society advises

that there is a jazz radio programme in London

4

Ontario, broadcast by Fanshawe College’s radio

station CIXX 106.9 FM. It is hosted by members of

the London Jazz Society, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00p.m. on

Sundays during the school year. Other special

programming is heard during vacations on statutory

holidays. Of course it can be heard on the web at:

www.1069thex.com

***

Archie Alleyne was named to the Order of Canada

on January 6 2012. Considered one of Canada’s top

drummers he joins an illustrious list of previous

nominees from the jazz world, among them Joe

Sealy, Oliver Jones, jazz vocalists Ranee Lee and

Diana Krall, Jane Bunnett, Terry Clarke, Dave

Young, and the late Oscar Peterson and Rob

McConnell.

Anatomy of a Murder – A new DVD due to be

released soon in both DVD and Blu Ray formats with

many new features including interviews and a booklet

with background information on the original legal

case. The Criterion web site offers more details:

www.crtierion.com

***

The Metro Jazz Society holds its meetings at

Pauper’s Pub, 539 Bloor Street West (Bathurst

Subway) at 2:30 p.m. on the 4th Sunday of January,

February, March, April, may September, October and

November. More information may be found at their

web site www.torontojazzsociety.ca, by emailing

[email protected]. or by telephone at 416-

486-3222.

***

Last Call for Membership Renewal

There remain a few people who have not yet

renewed their memberships for the 2011 – 2012

Season. Please renew promptly. Dues are $35 for a

single membership and $50 for a family

membership for payments made on or before

October 9th 2011. Payments made after that date are

subject to a $5.00 surcharge to offset bank penalties

for late deposits. Regrettably, further issues of the

Newsletter will be sent to only those members in

good standing as of the meeting date in January

2012.

If you have not already made your payment,

cheques may be mailed to:

Chris McEvilly,

Treasurer, The Duke Ellington Society,

10 Edgemore Drive,

Toronto, ON.,

M8Y 2M8

Be sure to include your name, address, home phone

number and email address.

Meetings of the Toronto Chapter of the Duke

Ellington Society are held on the 2nd Tuesday of

each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W



http://www.1069thex.com/

http://www.crtierion.com/

http://www.torontojazzsociety.ca/

mailto:[email protected]

Vol 53 No. 4 _____February/March 2012





Minutes of the February 14th General Meeting

Martin Loomer opened the meeting at 7:30 p.m.

promptly. There were 41 members and guests

attending. It had been planned to hold a discussion

on the motion that- “The Toronto Duke Ellington

Society will make donations to both York

University and Humber College Institute of

Technology & Advanced Learning $20,000.00

each. These funds will be matched by The Ontario

Trust for Student Support which together will

provide sufficient funds for Endowed

Scholarships to provide money to jazz music

students who are in financial need.” It was clear

from reservations expressed by some members

that the Executive Committee needed to deliberate

further. The concerns essentially were

scholarships necessarily the best way to promote

Ellington’s music? There were other suggestions

worthy of consideration. It was moved by Stan

Schiff and seconded by Mel Manley that the vote

on the original motion be deferred until the

executive Committee had time to reconsider and

present the motion or revised one at the March

General meeting. The motion to postpone the

discussion was carried.

Alan Shiels announced that there were only 18

tickets remaining for the April 28 2012

Scholarship Fundraising Concert.

The meeting was then handed over to Jack

Chambers’s presentation on Duke Ellington’s

Obscure Girl’s Suite and the Women it

Celebrates. Ellington wrote The Girl’s Suite in

1961 and though it was recorded in Hollywood

the same year it was not released by Columbia

Records until 1982, twelve years after Ellington’s

death. It was issued in France. The suite was

composed in ten parts:

1. Girls (2:41)

2. Mahalia (3:11)

3. Peg o’ My Heart (2:58)

4. Sweet Adeline (2:48)

5. Juanita (3:16)

6. Sylvia (2:40)

7. Lena (2:22)

8. Dinah (2:32)

9. Clementine (2:47)

10. Diane (2:37)

The suite was performed once, at the Monterey

Jazz Festival on September 23 1966 and then only

in an abbreviated form. Ellington played at this

festival:

An Introduction – (Girls according to Timner)

Sarah – a piano improvisation, according to Eddie

Lambert,

Lena,

Mahalia

Dinah.

None of these compositions was ever played in

public again. Eddie Lambert was quoted by Jack

Chambers – “The result is rather jumbled as a

suite, but the music is superb…. The band is in

fine form, the brass responding with skill and

artistry to Ellington’s demands for a wide variety

of tone colours … That (it) lay neglected on the

Columbia shelves for so many years has no

bearing on its quality. It is full of distinctive and

highly imaginative music.”

Jack played for us “Girls” the introduction to the

suite, which according to Jack, was nice piece of

music that deserved a better fate than to be rarely

2

heard. Jack then played for us Sweet Adeline and

Peg o’ My Heart which though both well worn

stock items were played as well as they could be.

As a contrast Jack played for us Peg o’ My Heart

sung by Josephine Baker from the Mercury The

Inimitable Josephine Baker Album. Juanita and

Sylvia followed to complete the playing of the

four old chestnuts. As a bonus track we listened

to Jo Stafford, clearly one of Jack’s favourite

singers on Ellington’s Just Squeeze Me from her

1960 Jo + Jazz album. Though she was not

accompanied by Ellington the band did include

Ellington alumni Johnny Hodges, Ray Nance and

Ben Webster.

Dinah – a tribute to Dinah Washington was

played from the Suite next and as an example of

her work, which Ellington enjoyed, Jack played

for us Trombone Butter which he took from the

Dinah Washington Sings Bessie Smith album of

1957. This number, written by Fletcher

Henderson, was originally titled Trombone Cholly

but was re-titled for this album since Quentin

“Butter” Jackson was featured.

At this point we took a short break to socialize

and to enjoy the refreshments kindly provided by

Norma Humphries and Matt Wood.

Jack Chambers started after the break by playing

Diane from The Girl’s Suite with the melody and

a solo played by Lawrence Brown.

Jack said that one of the most effective pieces in

the suite was Mahalia. Ellington had great

respect for Mahalia Jackson which is clearly

shown in this part of the suite. Jackson would

sing with no other jazz band than Ellington’s in

her career. The piece from the suite featured Ray

Nance on a plunger muted trumpet. From the

Black Brown and Beige suite we were treated to

the a capella version of Come Sunday sung by

Mahalia Jackson with the occasional prompt from

Ellington on piano. Ellington revisited this part of

the suite in his New Orleans Suite where he used

it in The Portrait of Mahalia Jackson which Jack

played for us, featuring solos by Norris Turney,

Paul Gonzalves and Julian Priester. This was the

only piece of The Girl’s Suite that had a “second

life”.

Lena Horne was the next Lady to be celebrated in

the Suite. We heard the movement which

featured a Paul Gonzalves solo. Lena Horne had

many connections with Ellington. She was hired

as a dancer at the Cotton Club though not while

Ellington was in residence. Ellington was quoted

as saying that “if I were stranded on a desert

island, I would need only two things, - the Holy

Bible and Miss Lena Horne”. As an example of

her work we heard Maybe, a Strayhorn piece and

Do Nothing ‘til You Hear From Me from Lena

Horne’s album We’ll Be Together Again from

1993.

To conclude his review of The Girl’s Suite we

heard Clementine with a solo from Russell

Procope and Johnny Hodges playing the melody.

This was preceded by the Clementine played by

Ellington’s band of 1941 which had no relation to

the Girl’s Suite version other than the name but it

was a good excuse to hear a number from the

exciting Blanton Webster version of Ellington’s

band.

Jack concluded his presentation to a heathy round

of applause from an appreciative audience. Don

Cooper moved the formal vote of thanks.

Many Thanks to Jack Chambers for also preparing

extensive notes which he distributed at the

meeting which are much more informative than

this brief review and from which it was largely

taken. Ed.

***

Minutes of the General Meeting of March 13th

2012

Martin Loomer opened the meeting of 30

members at 7:30 p.m. As had been previously

described, at the Feb. 14th meeting the Executive

Committee had been instructed by the

3

membership to reconsider the motion to provide

money to fund endowments for scholarships to

York University and Humber College. Martin

Loomer explained that the Executive Committee

had met on Feb 22nd to consider the inputs of the

members on the scholarship funding issue. Some

members felt that if TDES 40 provided money for

the endowments then the funds would be tied up

in perpetuity. Further, were there not other

avenues to explore to make better use of the

money in better alignment with the objectives of

the society?

The executive Committee had considered these

opinions at length at its last meeting and though it

had some sympathy for them had concluded that

in light of the facts that:

Alan Shiels did not know if he could continue to

organise many more Fundraising Concerts, we did

not want to miss the opportunity to essentially

double our money by matching by the Provincial

Government which ended on March 31 2012 and

any other initiatives that the society may want to

take to use its funds would require active

participation from members which appeared not

to be forthcoming, then it would be best to fund

the endowments. However, it was noted clearly

that even after funding the scholarships that there

would be significant monies remaining to allow us

to support other activities. As an example we had

been talking to the organizers of the Downtown

Toronto Jazz Festival to arrange for a Concert of

Ellington and Strayhorn music to take place at one

of the free lunch time concerts which are always

well attended. Other ideas in line with the

society’s objectives would certainly be

considered.

After much discussion the original motion was

again put to the membership and was passed by a

significant majority of the members.

We then enjoyed a short break with refreshments

kindly provide by Mel Manley. After the break,

Bruce Barton presented a video of Duke

Ellington in Montreal 1964. This was a black

and white video of a concert during a one-week

engagement at Le Jazz Hot Room in Montreal’s

Casa Loma Club on April 20, 1964. *****

Last Post

Kay Davis died last month at her home in

Apopka, Fla., at age 92. Her name was Kathryn

Wimp but she performed as Kay Davis with

Ellington from 1944 to 1950. Ellington’s two

other vocalists in the lineup at the time were Joya

Sherrill and Maria Ellington (no relation), who

married Nat King Cole. “Kay Davis sang almost

like an opera singer,” said Morris Hodara of New

York City’s Duke Ellington Society. “Her

specialty was really these exotic things that

Ellington wrote, non-lyrical.”

With her death, “There’s almost nobody left who

was with the orchestra,” Hodara said, particularly

from the swing era of the 1930s and 1940s

*****


April 10 – Jim Northover – Ivie Anderson

April 28 – Scholarship Fundraising Concert – The

Brian Barlow Orchestra will play for us. Though

the arrangements are not yet finalized we expect to

have the former World Tap Dance Champion David

Cox and Heather Bambrick provide part of the

entertainment.

May 8 – TBA


***

Live Jazz Events

April 1 - Centennial Park Conservatory will hold an

event with the theme of “Friends, Flowers and

Music”. TDES was approached to suggest

musicians for this event. A trio from Humber

College called the Humber College Jazz Trio will

play throughout the event from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00

p.m.

***

4

Rex Orchestra Plays Ellington set, courtesy

DES:

In February, on the last Monday of the month,

when John McLeod’s Rex Hotel Orchestra

overflows the stage of the old Queen St. watering

hole, the habitués were in for a treat thanks—

inadvertently— to the Duke Ellington Society.

John McLeod opened the first set by announcing

that he had made it “Ellington-heavy” at the

request of a couple of members of the Duke

Ellington Society. He then announced that neither

of those members seemed to be present, a turn of

events that so titillated the packed house that he

repeated it, in saltier terms, three or four times.

Anyway, he carried on with the Ellington-

heavy set. He started with “Prelude to a Kiss” in a

lush arrangement that sounded like Rob

McConnell but was presumably McLeod’s since it

was uncredited. That was followed by “A Poco

Take A Train” by the late Clare Fischer, an

ingenious chart that uses “Take the A Train” as a

kind of thematic echo. Then McLeod called “In a

Sentimental Mood” in an arrangement by alto sax

player Andy Ballantyne that sounded like a work

in progress. And finally, the high point of the set,

McLeod’s arrangement of “It Don’t Mean a

Thing” with a rousing Tricky-Sam solo by

trombonist Alastair Kay.

By then, 35 minutes had flown by. The

remaining 35 minutes of the set were Ellington

light, but no less enjoyable. For four or five years,

John McLeod has filled the first set at the Rex

with the same tunes (the ones he recorded in the

Juno-winning 2011 CD called, pointedly, Our

First Set). Good as they are, it was a treat to hear

different charts for a change. And we have a

couple of anonymous members of the Duke

Ellington Society to thank for it, though they were

apparently tucked snug in their beds while it was

going on. –Jack Chambers

Ted O’Reilly has pointed out that I missed some

recipients of the order of Canada in the last

newsletter. Here is a more complete version of the

item with the additions made. Thank you Ted.

Archie Alleyne was named to the Order of Canada

on January 6 2012. Considered one of Canada’s top

drummers he joins an illustrious list of previous

nominees from the jazz world, among them Joe

Sealy, Oliver Jones, jazz vocalists Ranee Lee and

Diana Krall, Jane Bunnett, Terry Clarke, Dave

Young, Guido Basso, Don Thompson, Peter

Appleyard, Ed Bickert and the late Oscar Peterson

and Rob McConnell.

***

Jack Chambers has pointed out that Nat Hentoff has

written a column for January/February 2012 Jazz

Times magazine in which he endorses a novel

targeted at young teens, in which a 9 year old boy

maneouvers himself into accompanying Duke

Ellington Orchestra on their 1939 European tour. It

is described by Brian Morton of the Penguin Guide

to Jazz as “a ripping good yarn that plunges the

reader into the world of Duke Ellington and the

Europe and America of 1939.” The novel is written

by Mick Carlon and is called Riding on Duke’s

Train. It is now available in book stores.

http://jazztimes.com/articles/29305-ellington-

moves-into-public-school-systems

***

Welcome New Members

We had two new members join in February, Dorothy

De Haas and Roslyn Harris and in March, Michael

and Margaret Flower – Welcome.

***



each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W



http://jazztimes.com/articles/29305-ellington-moves-into-public-school-systems

http://jazztimes.com/articles/29305-ellington-moves-into-public-school-systems

Vol 53 No. 5 April 2012





Minutes of the April 10th General Meeting

In the absence of President Martin Loomer who was

rehearsing his band in preparation for their Trane

Studio appearance on April 15th, Alan Shiels opened

the meeting at 7:30 p.m. to 30 members attending.

Alan announced that the 2012 Fundraising concert

would be his last. The meeting was saddened at this

news but understood that it had been a lot of work

over the last 15 years. David Stimpson said that he

would consider taking over the Fundraising concert

activities which was met with relief from the

meeting at large. Alan also announced that we

should thank John and Kathleen Love and Betty

Waldie for providing the evening’s refreshments.

Alan then introduced Jim Northover who was the

speaker for the evening. He was to discuss Ivie

Anderson. The notes accompanying this newsletter

are not exactly as presented. If anyone would like a

copy of the presentation notes, which consists of the

same material but in a different order, please let the

Editor know and they will be sent to you.

Jim presented a biography of Ivie Anderson

accompanied by videos, music tracks and

photographs.

At the end of his presentation, Stephen Cohen

kindly moved the official vote of thanks.


May 8 – Martin Loomer – Ellington Goes Pop!

June 12 – Members’ Choice. This will be the last

meeting of the season. The first meeting of the

next season will be on September 11

***

Live Jazz Events

June 22 – Opening night of the Downtown Toronto

Jazz Festival. At 5:00 p.m. Brian Barlow’s

Orchestra will perform Ellington and Strayhorn

music in the opening concert at Toronto City Hall.

This event will be partially sponsored by TDES 40

and will give us an opportunity to meet potential

new members as well as enjoying an evening of

great music.

***

Jazz on the “Radio”

Here are a few suggestions for finding jazz on the

“radio”

I had a note from Brian Barlow in which he

describes his radio show on CJLX –FM. He said:

“I’ve been doing this for just over a year now out

of Loyalist College in Belleville. They have a

highly regarded broadcasting school on campus.

They have a big band show, folk, classical and

pop music programs with a focus on the campus

and local community. Much of the programming

during the day is typical of what a college student

might listen to.

The big band show at 9:00 am Saturday mornings

is wonderful and hosted by trombonist (and leader

of the Commodores) Andy Sparling. The show

that I do is called Nightcap and airs Tuesday

2

evenings from 10:00 pm to midnight. The second

hour of the show is rebroadcast on Sunday nights

at 6:00 pm. We feature mainstream jazz from the

late forties on. You can catch it on line

at www.91x.fm”

Brian’s show on Tuesday, April 24 was dedicated

to Duke Ellington. (I listened to it and as well as

playing a lot of great music he made a

complimentary mention of the Toronto Duke

Ellington Chapter – Thanks Brian. Ed.)

KUCR in Riverside California broadcasts excellent

jazz programming from Noon – 6 p.m. EST every

Tuesday which you can get on line at www.kucr.org

The programme – Jazz Explorations, from Noon to

2:00 p.m. is hosted by a Southern California DES

member Lee Farley and is well worth listening to.

He does an excellent Ellington program and Lee

told me that it would be broadcast on May 3rd but I

believe it should be May 1st, a Tuesday. I will

confirm the date as soon as I know.

WKCR in New York City broadcasts jazz

extensively. You will need to refer to their

programme schedule and try the programmes to find

the ones and the hosts that are right for you. They

devote extensive time to one particular jazz artist on

appropriate anniversaries. On April 29 they devote

the full day to Duke Ellington music. You can get

the streamed signal at www.wkcr.org.

On Saturday April 21 AT 8:00 a.m. to noon WCDB

in Albany broadcast its Ellington celebration hosted

by Bill Saxonis, a New York City DES member.

Their stream is available at www.wcdbfm.com.

There is also Colin Bray’s excellent classic jazz

programme, Sugar Foot Stomp, on CIUT which

broadcasts Thursdays from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. We are

able to listen on the original steam radio at 89.5 on

the FM band Of course, the stream is available at

www.ciut.fm. Colin does not do anything special

for Duke Ellington’s birthday but he does play his

music frequently during the regular schedule.

If anyone receiving this newsletter knows of any

other Ellington celebration on the radio in any part

of the world at all, please let me know – Thanks Ed.

New & Interesting

Norman Granz The Man Who Used Jazz for

Justice by Tad Hershorn.

There is a new biography of Norman Granz, jazz

promoter and entrepreneur, by Ted Hershorn. On

the publisher’s web site the book is described:

“Any book on my life would start with my basic

philosophy of fighting racial prejudice. I loved

jazz, and jazz was my way of doing that,”

Norman Granz told Tad Hershorn during the final

interviews given for this book. Granz, who died in

2001, was iconoclastic, independent, immensely

influential, often thoroughly unpleasant—and one

of jazz’s true giants. Granz played an essential

part in bringing jazz to audiences around the

world, defying racial and social prejudice as he

did so, and demanding that African-American

performers be treated equally everywhere they

toured. In this definitive biography, Hershorn

recounts Granz’s story: creator of the legendary

jam session concerts known as Jazz at the

Philharmonic; founder of the Verve record label;

pioneer of live recordings and worldwide jazz

concert tours; manager and recording producer for

numerous stars, including Ella Fitzgerald and

Oscar Peterson.

http://www.91x.fm/

http://www.kucr.org/

http://www.wkcr.org/

http://www.wcdbfm.com/

http://www.ciut.fm/

3

Recent Jazz Events.

Martin Loomer’s Orange Devils made a welcome

return to the Trane Studio on Sunday April 15th.

Several TDES 40 members were in the audience.

The Orange Devils is a thirteen piece big band

featuring the music of black bands of the 1930’s.

The band consists of many of the finest jazz

musicians in the city bringing to life the music of

Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford,

Fletcher Henderson, Andy Kirk and his Clouds of

Joy, Chick Webb and others.

The band played two sets of hard swinging music,

totaling 28 numbers, many of which were Ducal

in nature. Warm Valley, Black and Tan Fantasy

as arranged for Jimmie Lunceford’s Orchestra,

Bojangles, A Lull at Dawn, Grievin’, Solitude,

The Five O’clock Drag and Scattin’ at the Kit

Kat. The band played many other familiar and

memorable numbers such as Sugar Foot Stomp,

Tuxedo Junction, Moten Swing, Christopher

Columbus and Big John Special. The band

played magnificently, spiced by anachronic bee-

bop licks causing consternation to the leader,

amusement to the band members and confusion in

the audience. A super evening of music deserving

a repeat performance soon.

***

The Etobicoke Centennial Park Conservancy asked TDES 40 to arrange for the musical element

of their “Friends, Flowers and Music” event on

April 1st 2012. A very able trio of Edwin Sheard

(sax), Julian Anderson-Bowes (bass) and Patrick

O’Reilly-Fleming (Guitar), all Humber College

students, played an afternoon of Ducal music

reflecting a horticultural theme. They played

three excellent sets and received very positive

feedback from the staff and attendees at the

Conservancy.

The Trio in Action

On Saturday April 28th The Toronto Duke

Ellington Society celebrated Duke Ellington’s 113th

birthday with its fifteenth annual Fundraising

Concert. Brian Barlow’s Big Band was elected to

play. A full house of five hundred packed Walter

Hall in the University of Toronto in anticipation of a

great event.

Our President, Martin Loomer, opened the

proceedings explaining the objectives of the concert

and the Duke Ellington Society and handing the

concert over to Brian Barlow to conduct. Brian

made way for Terry Promane, who is not only a

well known Toronto musician but also Associate

Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of

Toronto. He thanked the Duke Ellington Society

formally, for generously providing the funds to U of

T, Humber College – his alma mater, and York

University for scholarships, now funded in

perpetuity. He singled out Judy and Alan Shiels

whom he recognised for their diligence in

organising these concerts for the past fifteen years,

essentially single handedly.

The concert opened with a rousing version of Take

the A Train with solos by Jason Logue trumpet, and

4

Perry White, alto. Brian Barlow explained that he

had titled this evening’s concert – Ellington’s

World. Ellington was one of the world’s most

prolific composers of a wide variety of music,

popular tunes, musicals, opera, suites, long and

short form compositions of all kinds and Sacred

music. Brian said that it would only be possible to

scratch the surface of the contribution he left us. He

introduced Heather Bambrick, well known jazz

vocalist and radio personality to sing two numbers –

I’m Beginning to see the Light with a short solo

from John Johnson and Nothin’ but the Blues with

Perry White soloing.

At this point, Brian Barlow introduced the members

of his band - John Johnson, Andy Ballantyne, Alex

Dean, Perry White, Bob Leonard (saxophones)

Jason Logue, Dave Dunlop, Charlie Gray (trumpets)

Michele Gagnon (French horn)

Russ Little, Kelsey Grant, Doug Gibson

(trombones)

Robi Botos (piano)

Scott Alexander (bass)

Brian Barlow (drums).

Then in recognition of the Savoy Ballroom, they

played Stompin’ at the Savoy with a strong solo by

Alex Dean followed by Such Sweet Thunder from

Ellington’s Suite of the same name to which Robi

Botos provided a lively solo. Brian Barlow then

made a drum solo introduction to a Latin Jazz

version of Perdido with solos again from Botos and

Charlie Gray on trumpet.

To slow the tempo down a little the band played a

ballad, In a Sentimental Mood, with a tender solo

from Alex Dean on tenor sax. A very nice

performance indeed. In recognition of Duke

Ellington’s many Canadian connections and his

multi faceted commitment to freedom, the band

played Oscar Peterson’s Hymn to Freedom

featuring, of course, Robi Botos.

From the pen of George Gershwin, who was a

contemporary of Duke Ellington, the band played a

multi time signatured version of Gershwin’s

Fascinating Rhythm. David Cox, former World

Champion tap dancer joined the band on stage and

accompanied the band with spirited skill. Andy

Ballantyne joined in with a strong solo on alto sax

prior to a short intermission.

Brian dedicated the next piece, Love You Madly, to

the organizers of tonight’s concert, which featured

solos from Andy Ballantyne, Jason Logue and Scott

Alexander on bass. Jeeps Blues followed with –

John Johnson, Alex Dean, Rich Little, Jason Logue

and Robi Botos each taking a chorus or two. We

then heard Jelly Roll Morton’s King Porter Stomp,

as arranged by Fletcher Henderson for a big band,

with solos by Charlie Gray, Rich Little and Perry

White. Brian Barlow announced his favourite

Ellington number, Mood Indigo, with solo

contributions for Russ Little and John Johnson.

Heather Bambrick once again took the stage to sing

Drop me Off in Harlem with super sax ensemble

work by the reed section. We then returned to the

Such Sweet Thunder suite for a version of Lady

Mac with robust solos by Perry White and Charlie

Gray on flugelhorn.

David Cox rejoined to demonstrate why he was a

world tap dance champion with a version of C Jam

Blues accompanied by Robi Botos.

To conclude the concert, Brian Barlow turned to his

favourite Ellington works, The Sacred Concerts and

had the seldom soloing Bob Leonard play the Harry

Carney part in In The Beginning, God. Heather

Bambrick them concluded the concert with a highly

gospel tinged setting of The Lord’s Prayer. David

Cox joined the stage once again to make an exciting

conclusion to the evening.

A wonderful concert - Thanks Brian!



each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W



Vol 53 No. 6 __May and June 2012



1791 Pattinson Crescent, Mississauga, ON. Canada, L5J 1H6; Phone 905-823-1086; e-mail:[email protected]


Minutes of the May 8th General Meeting

Martin Loomer opened the meeting of 30 members

and guests at 7:35 p.m. he announced that he was

leading tonight’s program – Ellington Goes Pop!

which was going to be a review of two albums

Ellington ’65 and Ellington ’66. These albums

were recorded for Reprise, Ellington ’65 being

recorded in three days in April 1964 and Ellington

’66 recorded May 19 1965 and January 1966, both

clearly commercially dictated projects. For the

most part the charts did not become part of

Ellington’s concert repertoire though some may

have been played in dance dates. The arrangements

were informal, as many Ellington arrangements

were with Billy Strayhorn being heavily involved.

The quality of the arrangements highlights how

good Ellington and Strayhorn were, even with light

weight popular songs written by others. All of the

usual Ellington star soloists are featured throughout

these recordings.

Martin led off with Hello Dolly, from the 1964

musical driven by Sam Woodyard’s shuffle rhythm

with a booting tenor solo from Jimmy Hamilton.

Lawrence Brown was featured on Call Me

Irresponsible and Cootie Williams on Fly Me to the

Moon. So Little Time was arranged by Billy

Strayhorn and featured Paul Gonsalves playing the

ballad as he could do so well. A hard driving

version of Danke Schoen featured solos by Paul

Gonsalves followed by Cootie Williams and finally

Jimmy Hamilton in a number which the TDES 40

members really enjoyed. A Strayhorn arrangement

of More from the sound track of the Italian movie

Mondo Cane had Russell Procope soloing on

clarinet.

Johnny Hodges was featured in Billy Strayhorn’s

arrangement of the ballad, The Second Time

Around. Ellington’s strong reed section was largely

featured on Never On Sunday and had solos from

Jimmy Hamilton and Lawrence Brown’s plunger

muted trombone – a swinging number. Lawrence

Brown was again featured in Strayhorn’s

arrangement of I Left My Heart in San Francisco

with a bluesy solo to conclude by Johnny Hodges.

A tune that no one would have ever expected Duke

Ellington to ever record was Bob Dylan’s Blowin’

in the Wind. Johnny Hodges swings throughout the

piece though it was strange to hear this tune played

by the Ellington Orchestra at all! To conclude the

first half of the meeting and the Ellington ’65

album, Martin played Acker Bilk’s 1961 Stranger

on the Shore which was a feature for Harry Carney

on baritone sax, an assignment in which he excelled.

At this point we took time for our break, with

refreshments supplied by Brad Perkins, Helen Paul

and Lawrence Buchanan.

Martin Loomer got the meeting moving again with

Billy Strayhorn’s chart of Red Roses for a Blue

Lady from the Ellington ’66 album with features for

Hodges and Lawrence Brown. The version of

Charade from the 1963 movie of the same name

was arranged by Billy Strayhorn and had Cootie

Williams playing his plunger muted trumpet. A

dolorous version of People by Billy Strayhorn,

movingly played was a feature for Johnny Hodges.

To change the tone altogether we next heard the

Strayhorn arrangement of the Beatles All My Lovin’

which was followed by a nice feature for Lawrence

Brown playing a refined solo in A Beautiful

Friendship. We returned to the Beatles with I Want

to Hold your Hand which many members of the

audience joined in singing, being contemporaries of

the tune.

2

Paul Gonsalves was again featured in a ballad

arranged by Billy Strayhorn, Days of Wine and

Roses. Originally a Country & Western song

adopted by Ray Charles and finally arranged for

the Ellington Orchestra – I Can’t Stop Loving You

was a great swinging number which excited the

audience. Harry Carney and Johnny Hodges were

featured in A Good Life and Ellington’s 1953

tune, Satin Doll, was included in the pop menu of

this album. A disappointing playing of Moon

River followed with solos by Jimmy Hamilton

and Cootie Williams. The last tune of the evening

was Ellington’66 an Ellington original seemingly

composed for this album which took us out with

its loping swing.

Bruce Barton offered the formal vote of thanks

thanking Martin for a first rate evening’s

entertainment. Everyone was patting their feet,

bobbing their heads and smiling all evening.

Thank You Martin!

Minutes of the June 12th General Meeting.

The June meeting, Member’s Choice, was opened

by Martin Loomer at 7:40 p.m. Chris McEvilly

was deputed to act as D.J. for the evening, ably

replacing the sadly absent John Hornsby.

Chris started the evening by playing a couple of

tracks from the Concert in the Virgin Islands

album, Barefoot Stomper and Fiddler on the

Diddle featuring Ray Nance on violin and “the

greatest sax. section in the history of jazz” and

reflecting Ellington’s interest in the Broadway

season of 1965 referring to Barefoot in the Park

and Fiddler on the Roof. Chris also played the

Asphalt Jungle Theme from the Great Paris

Concert album of 1963. Alan Shiels then offered

selections from the Solos, Duets and Trios

album, Tonk a duet with Billy Strayhorn and an

Ellington solo, Reflections in D. Bruce Barton

played two versions of All God’s Chillun Got

Rhythm the first sung by a 15 year old Judy

Garland, the second by Ivie Anderson with the

Ellington Orchestra in 1937. Bruce also played

Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue, the original

recordings from 1937. Colin Brown stepped up

with selections from the obscure album All

American, the very pleasant If I were You and

Once Upon a Time. To conclude the first half of

the evening, Jim Northover offered Li’l Farina a

pedestrian and dull effort recorded June 1926 and

Ellington’s next recording, East St. Louis Toodle

O from November 1926 a fresh and exciting

original number typical of Ellington’s future

production. He asked what happened between

June and November 1926 that caused this great

change. Jim suggested that perhaps Ellington had

achieved his 10,000 hrs (q.v. Outliers by Malcolm

Gladwell 2008). At this point we took our break

with refreshments provided by Jean Griffiths and

Irene Barton – Thank You!

After the break Mel Manley took from the Carol

Sloane Arbors CD Dearest Duke, In A

Sentimental Mood/Prelude to a Kiss and Just

Squeeze Me. Martin Loomer then presented a

piece of dubious musical quality, The Cowboy

Rumba with a vocal by Woody Herman,

Antidisestablishmentarianismist with Ray Nance

handling the vocal assignment, both from 1947

and Duet featuring Jimmy Hamilton on clarinet

from 1951. This concluded not only the

evening’s entertainment but also the current

season. A great year – Thanks to everyone!

*****


September 11, 2012 – At the first meeting of the

new season we will listen to live jazz presented

by The Humber College Jazz Trio. This is the trio

that did so well at the Flowers, Friends and Music

event at the Centennial Park Conservancy in

April. The meeting will be held at our usual

venue, Montgomery’s Inn, starting at 7:30 p.m.

October 9 – AGM and Ron Woods will present.

The October meeting this year will also be our

AGM. With the exception of Martin Loomer who

can continue to serve for two more years as

President and Irene Barton who can continue to

3

serve as Programme Director, all others on the

Executive Committee need to be replaced.

Volunteers are needed for the positions of Vice

President, Treasurer, Secretary (and Editor of the

newsletter). Please contact Jim Northover if you

would like to serve in any position.

November 13 – Bill Wilson will present Ellington

by Others.

December 4 - Annual Christmas Party to be held

at the Arts & Letters Club, Toronto. The John

Sherwood quartet will play for us. Mike Murley

will be the horn player accompanied by Pat

Collins, bass and Terry Clarke, drums.

January 8 2013 – TBA

February 12 Jack Chambers – Harlem, The

World’s Most Glamorous Atmosphere.

March 12 TBA

April 9 – TBA

May 14 - TBA

June 11 – Member’s Choice

Ivie Anderson update – Gaye Funk of the Southern

California Chapter has forwarded some information

that she found out about Ivie Anderson – “Just did

some checking - there is a no-name female child,

last name Anderson, born 11 Aug 1905 in Santa

Clara County, which is where Gilroy is, mother's

maiden name Kirk. However, her death record says

she was born 10 Jul 1904 in California, father's last

name Smith, mother's maiden name Jones. More

mystery, huh? I can't verify the birth date, as the

index starts with 1905. However, I've found death

records to only be reliable for the date and place of

death, depending on who the informant is. Her last

name at the time of death was Collins.”

Thanks, Gaye.

***

Live Jazz Events

Help us kick off the 26th edition of the TD

Toronto Jazz Festival when the Brian Barlow Big

Band launches opening day on Friday, June 22 at

5pm at Nathan Phillips Square. Performing the

music of Duke Ellington, the Brian Barlow Big

Band will salute one of the greatest names in jazz

history. The TD Toronto Jazz Festival runs from

June 22 to July 1, 2012.

This event is supported by TDES 40 and will

provide an opportunity to meet potential new

members, as well as enjoy an evening of great

music. Volunteers will be needed at the concert

to provide information to prospective new

members and to answer their questions. Please

contact Alan Shiels if you can help.

A number of seats will be set aside in the front of

the audience for members of TDES 40. If you

would like to take advantage of the reserved

seating, please let Judy Shiels know by June 20th

at the latest.

Jazz Festivals:

At the time of writing there have been limited

announcements as to the line ups. I suggest you

refer to the individual web sites for detailed

information as to who is playing.

Ottawa - June 21 – July 1

Toronto – June 22 – July 1

Toronto Beaches July 20 – 29

Montreal – June 28 – July 7

Oakville – Aug 10 – 12

Prince Edward County – Aug 15 - 19

Markham – Aug 16 – 19

Toronto Duke Ellington Society Fundraising

Concert – In view of the success of the April 28

2012 Concert and since several members of TDES

40 have strongly requested, Alan Shiels has felt

buoyed sufficiently to agree to continue to organise

the concert for at least 2013. He will, of course,

need assistance in advertising the event, providing

refreshments and setting up the venue so if you feel

that you can help, please contact Alan. Next year’s

concert will be held on April 27. David Stimpson

has kindly offered to handle the publicity for the

event.

4

Scholarship Update

We were delighted at the May 8th meeting to

welcome long time member but infrequent visitor,

Verna Privitera. Verna with Eileen Ward started to

raise funds for the Scholarships for music students

in 1996. Building on their initiative we have been

able to permanently endow two scholarships at U of

T and one each at York University and Humber

College. The total size of the fund is now

approximately $130,000. Any funds raised in the

future will be directed to the appreciation and

promotion of Ellington’s music. We may, if

circumstances permit, make additional contributions

to the Scholarship funds in the future.

Toronto Duke Ellington Society Banners

We have purchased two banners for use at our

events and those that we sponsor or take part in. If

you would like one or both for an appropriate event

please get a banner from Alan Shiels

***

Welcome New Members

Ann Howard – who was welcomed at the May

meeting, Pip Wedge, Jack Livesley, Phyllis Lowe

and Charles and Elizabeth Bongers.

2012 TDES40 Outreach Events

As has been previously reported in this newsletter,

we have either held or actively participated in

several outreach activities:

The highly successful Toronto Reference Library

concert with Jim Galloway on November 18 with an

audience of over 400.

Friends, Flowers and Music event at the Centennial

Park Conservancy with music provided by a trio of

Humber College Students on April 1, 2012

In addition, we will be partially sponsoring the

opening concert at the Toronto Jazz Festival on June

22 – See above

The objective of participating in these events is to

heighten the profile of our society and to attract new

members. If any member has ideas for any other

outreach activity, please contact one of the members

of the Executive Committee or raise it at a General

Meeting.

New & Interesting

Assault on a Queen – Colin Brown pointed out at

the April Meeting that a Blu -ray disc is now

available for this movie starring Frank Sinatra

with music composed and played by Duke

Ellington. The version I saw some time ago on

TV had a very poor quality sound track and the

Ellington score was barely audible. The review of

the Blu – ray disc says that the “audio fidelity is

generally excellent.”

Have a Safe and Happy Summer. Please get out

and listen to lots of live jazz and we hope to see

you all again in September.



each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W



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Vol 53 No. 1 September 2011 - Toronto Duke Ellington...

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