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Jazz: Cultural Diplomacy, Art or Show Business?
by Anastasia Bogomolets
There is a firm belief among scholars that jazz and the American Jazz Ambassadors programme played an important role during the Cold War era. Extensive literature explores the significance of jazz in shaping global post-war relationships. The world has changed dramatically since then. On one hand, music, including jazz, has become increasingly commercialized; on the other, unlimited access to free streaming platforms has significantly reduced governments' ability to influence musical preferences. Do you think we are entering another historical period ...
Continue ReadingThe Jazz Men: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Count Basie Transformed America
by Richard J Salvucci
The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America Larry Tye 416 pages ISBN: 035838043X Mariner Books 2024 In 1986, a guy walked into a Post Office in South Texas--no, this is not the opening line of a joke. He lined up to buy some stamps. Big deal, right? But there was a bit of an altercation up front. Things moved more slowly than usual. When the customer got to ...
Continue ReadingThe Duke Ellington Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1943
by Chuck Lenatti
Duke Ellington was one of the most popular and successful jazz musicians of the first half of the 20th century and according to composer Gunther Schuller and musicologist and historian Barry Kernfeld, “the most significant composer of the genre." Radio broadcasts from his residency at New York's Cotton Club beginning in 1927 extended Ellington's orchestra's national exposure and a parade of hit records, from “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" in 1926 to “C Jam Blues" in 1942, among many ...
Continue ReadingDuke Ellington: Copenhagen 1958
by Ken Dryden
Duke Ellington left a formidable discography at his death at the age of 75 in 1974, and it has expanded greatly with the number of concerts that have been uncovered and issued since then. This CD is drawn from two 1958 concerts at KB Hallen in Copenhagen, though they are not sourced from the original, long lost broadcast tapes, but dubs evidently made by a fan. What makes this a valuable find is that the band is in top form ...
Continue ReadingDuke Ellington: Copenhagen 1958
by Jack Kenny
Duke Ellington hated flying so, in 1958, Ellington and Co sailed into Southampton UK to prepare for a tour of Europe. Before going on to Copenhagen, Ellington completed a tour of the UK, taking in Leeds where he met Queen Elizabeth, an event which eventually resulted in the “Queen's Suite." Earlier in the year, his strange obsession with royalty had produced a piece for Princess Margaret, “Princess Blue'" The band was particularly strong in this part of its ...
Continue ReadingDuke Ellington: Isfahan
by Ian Patterson
Part of Duke Ellington's Far East Suite (1967), “Isfahan" took its inspiration from a visit to the city of Isfahan, Iran, in 1963. Of the ancient city Ellington wrote: “everything is poetry," a sentiment transferred beautifully to this most moving of Strayhorn/Ellington compositions. Curious too, to see Ellington holding the sheet music for soloist Johnny Hodges. The same tour also took the Duke Ellington Orchestra to Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, among other stops. Will such an itinerary ever ...
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