A festival produced by Strathmore heralding the incomparable artistry of Duke Ellington
Discover
February 2012
ELLINGTON Strathmore Performance Guide
Welcome to Discover Ellington, a Strathmore festival celebrating America’s most prolific composer, Duke Ellington (1899–1974). Defying categories, Ellington created more than 1500 works and led one of the world’s greatest jazz ensembles through his 50-year career. In recent years, the world has gained even greater understanding and appreciation of this maestro’s depth and his enormous contribution to America’s culture. The three-week festival offers a rare opportunity to get to know Ellington through performances, lectures and interactive activities. This performance guide is designed to introduce you to the Duke and his music and help you make the most of your festival experiences.
Part of Strathmore’s year-long celebration of American composers
Meet the Duke In the Beginning The story begins in 1899, when Edward Kennedy Ellington was born in Washington, D.C., to parents Daisy and James. Daisy doted on the youngster, took him to church regularly and exposed him early on to music and piano lessons (though at first he preferred sports and drawing). His father, who sometimes worked as a butler, introduced his son to the need for manners, charm and good dress. It wasn’t long before his refined manner earned Edward the nickname “Duke.”
Music Calls Although he was talented at drawing, it was music that truly caught Ellington’s attention as a teenager. He began picking up piano-playing tips at the pool hall, sight-reading help from his high school sweetheart (and later, wife) Edna, and composition ideas from other musical talents around town. His first band played everywhere from dance halls to embassy dinners and highsociety balls. In 1923, Ellington moved to New York City and was leading his own band, The Washingtonians. He started composing (without formal training) to provide music for their gigs. After a few years, they got their big break when the famed Cotton Club nightclub hired them as the house band. Weekly radio broadcasts brought Ellington’s music to a national audience.
Learn More Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington (1995) by John Edward Hasse Duke Ellington’s America (2010) by Harvey G. Cohen The Ellington Century (2012) by David Schiff Duke Ellington: His Life in Jazz (with 21 Activities) by Stephanie Stein Crease Riding on Duke’s Train by Mick Carlon (fiction for young readers) Jazz: The History of America’s Music www.pbs.org/jazz Duke Ellington’s Washington www.pbs.org/ellingtonsdc Smithsonian Jazz, www.smithsonianjazz.org (choose “Explore”)
Notice how Ellington and his band are dressed? No matter what the performance, the ensemble always dressed in suits, which showed—before they even played a note—that they held themselves to a high standard.
Creating America’s Music From there, Duke Ellington and his orchestra rose to fame. Over the next five decades, Ellington would write more than 1500 works—compositions including three-minute songs, suites, scores for stage and film, and longer concerts of religious music. He excelled as a pianist, bandleader, orchestrator and composer and created one of the greatest big bands in history. And he introduced America and the world to a brand new art form, jazz music, which he preferred simply to call “America’s music.”
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Duke Ellington’s Washington Duke Ellington was born and raised in Washington, D.C., one of the best places for African Americans to live at the turn of the century. Even before the Civil War, a majority of Washington’s black residents were free, and after the war many saw the city as a haven from the racial discrimination and violence of the American South. Because of federal government jobs and other work and education opportunities, Ellington’s neighborhood (now Shaw) consisted of a proud middle class that thrived even though, like the rest of the country, the city was segregated. The nation’s capital served as a good launch pad for Ellington. It’s here where, Ellington said, his teachers taught students to command—rather than beg for— respect as African Americans. It is also here where he learned to play the piano and perform for diverse audiences. These are lessons he carried through life. On this page you can take a mini tour of some of the Washington landmarks that played a role in Ellington’s early days. The Howard Theatre—This full-sized theater—the nation’s
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The Pioneer Here Comes Jazz
The Ellington Sound
In the early 1900s, Duke Ellington started playing and writing just as jazz music was emerging. Many jazz elements trace back to New Orleans, Louisiana, a seaport city home to people of diverse backgrounds and musical traditions. Those traditions included ragtime (voices and instruments playing syncopated, or “off-beat” rhythms) and blues (which evolved from African American spirituals and work songs and features flatted notes called “blue notes”). Ellington and other artists took these traditions and blended them with big brass or classical music sounds.
Even as he experimented with new musical ideas, Ellington created a distinct sound in his work. Here are some common features: • Improvisation—This technique of making up music on the spot is a defining trait of jazz. Ellington typically did not write the parts for piano (which he or his collaborator Billy Strayhorn would play) or percussion, so they were mostly improvised. Ellington also left openings in some songs for different soloists to improvise. • Virtuosity—Ellington’s musicians were outstanding experts (virtuosos) on their instruments. Their skill and creativity brought new musical possibilities to their instruments, and they contributed significantly to the band’s unique sound. For example, Bubber Miley’s “growling” effect on his trumpet helped define the band’s early jazz works, and later the dazzling rhythms of duo Jimmy Blanton (bass) and Ben Webster (tenor saxophone) did the same. (Check out Bubber Miley’s playing on “Black and Tan Fantasy” from 1927.) • Voices—Rather than write music for instruments as a section (such as brass), Ellington wrote for individual instrument “voices” (like trumpet or trombone). That freed the sound to be more expressive, versatile and surprising. Ellington also treated the human voice as an instrument, employing the growing technique of scatting (singing nonsense syllables) to great effect by having his vocalists scat in styles mimicking instruments like the trumpet. (Hear this on “Creole Love Call” from 1927.) • Instrumentation—Ellington combined instruments in unusual and creative ways. For example, he was the first bandleader to employ three trombone players. Each had a very different playing style and sound that Ellington skillfully employed in both solos and section playing. Ellington would also sometimes arrange music so that instruments played against expectation, like having the higher pitched clarinet play more of the lower notes in a song (an example is “Mood Indigo” from 1930). • Rhythm—Ellington used complex rhythms to create groove and momentum in both fast and slow songs. His buoyant swing rhythm style is showcased in the 1932 hit “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If it Ain’t Got That Swing).” During the Discover Ellington Festival, listen for these elements in the music.
“We’ve always been pioneers in everything we did.” 4 D i s c o v e r E L L I N G T O N F e s t i va l
—Duke Ellington
The Maestro A Composer and Bandleader
A Sound Partner
Duke Ellington the performer played the piano. But for Duke Ellington the composer, his instrument was his whole orchestra. He wrote music specifically for his players and their individual strengths and talents—and they would be the ones to play it, sometimes the very same night! That synergy became part of the band’s signature sound. Over the years, the ensemble included piano, drums, trumpet, trombone, saxophone (tenor, alto and baritone), clarinet, and the double or string bass. At times, Ellington also incorporated vocals, cornet, tuba, banjo, guitar, valve trombone and violin.
Even if you don’t know it by name, you’ve heard the jazz standard “Take the ‘A’ Train” (1941), which was a big hit for the Ellington Orchestra and became its theme song for many years. Although often attributed to Ellington, the credit for composing this song goes to Ellington’s close collaborator for more than 30 years, Billy Strayhorn.
Seeing the Music, Hearing the Picture Many of Ellington’s compositions depict a specific story, experience, image, place or mood—another signature of Ellington’s style. The song “Daybreak Express” musically creates a picture of a speeding train. His early hit, “East St. Louis Toddle-O,” tells the story of an older man walking home, exhausted from a day’s hard work but anticipating sitting down to a hot dinner. During the performances, try to “see” the pictures or stories in the music.
Higher Standards Many of Ellington’s works are so beloved that they have been performed and recorded countless times by jazz and popular artists. Such songs that have become a permanent part of America’s musical repertoire are called “standards” or considered part of “The American Songbook.” Some of Ellington’s many standards include “Sophisticated Lady,” “Solitude,” “Mood Indigo” and “In a Sentimental Mood.”
Forging Ahead Duke Ellington was always taking on new challenges. He wrote music for stage, shows, television and film. He also wrote music that reflected his international travels (such as The Far East Suite), wrote pieces that reinterpreted classical European works like The Nutcracker Suite and wrote music (Such Sweet Thunder) that evoked characters from Shakespeare’s plays. In what he called his most important work, he created three concerts of sacred (religious) music featuring spiritual songs like “Come Sunday.” These concerts brought new sounds (including percussion!) to churches and synagogues. He was working on an opera when he died.
Duke Ellington’s original score for “Caravan”— which features a melody created by trombonist and Puerto Rico native Juan Tizol—demonstrates how he wrote music with individual players in mind. For example, instead of labeling the trumpet part, he labeled it “Cooty” (for trumpeter Cootie Williams). This piece also brought new Latin American rhythms to the band. Duke Ellington Collection, National Museum of American History Archives Center
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The Diplomat For His People Duke Ellington lived through turbulent times in American history. His band played through world wars and the Great Depression. And the predominantly African-American band faced day-today challenges in an America that was segregated and in many regions, openly hostile to them simply because of the color of their skin. Although civil rights protesters were marching in the streets, as an artist, Ellington preferred expressing his pride in his culture and heritage through his music. Throughout his career, he wrote music embracing African American musical traditions and illuminating African American experiences in America, bringing these ideas to a wider audience. Such works include Black, Brown, and Beige and Jump for Joy. He also commanded respect. In just one example, when Ellington and the orchestra toured the American South, they faced the problem that African Americans would not be served at most hotels and restaurants. Ellington knew they deserved better and decided to travel “like the President”—he rented Pullman rail cars that the band could ride and sleep in for the tour. It not only enabled them to rise above racial inequality but also garnered them positive attention. By refusing to be limited by categories in music and in life, Ellington helped change the way people viewed African Americans.
For His Country In the 1960s, as America struggled with civil rights at home and Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union abroad, the U.S. State Department believed cultural ambassadors could show the world positive aspects of American life and artistry and spread values like freedom of expression. Among these ambassadors were Duke Ellington and his orchestra, sent on a three-month tour in 1963. The ensemble gave concerts and lectures in Afghanistan, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Syria. Between 1971 and 1972, Ellington and his orchestra visited dozens more nations—including the Soviet Union—on behalf of the State Department. During these travels, audiences and the media abroad warmly received Ellington and America’s jazz music. In service to his country, Ellington once again helped break down barriers and cultural divides. 6 D i s c o v e r E L L I N G T O N F e s t i va l
In 1963, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. awarded Duke Ellington a plaque celebrating “his contribution to American society through music.” In turn, Ellington presented King with a manuscript of music from Ellington’s show My People, written to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Chicago History Museum/Getty Images
Paying Tribute Duke Ellington left the world tremendous gifts. With more than 1500 compositions, more than 10,000 recordings, and a 50-year career leading one of the best big bands of all time, Ellington created a musical legacy unrivaled by any other American composer.
You Can Thank the Duke for… • Creating an original, American form of classical music • Elevating jazz to a nationally and internationally celebrated American art form • Composing the jazz standards now part of The American Songbook and the many compositions people love today • Pushing the art of blending musical styles and sounds to new heights • Using music and strength of character to dissolve both musical and cultural boundaries • Expressing African American experiences through music • Proving that great musical composition could happen beyond the realm of classical music and symphony orchestras • Helping break the stereotype that African Americans could excel only in typically African American musical genres • Leading the innovation in musical sounds that would pave the way for other genres like rhythm and blues and rock and roll
Duke Ellington won 11 GRAMMY Awards and was nominated for an Oscar for best music scoring for the 1961 film Paris Blues, among many other distinctions. But perhaps one of his highest honors came on the occasion of his 70th birthday, when he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the nation’s highest civilian honor) from President Richard Nixon at the White House, above. Nixon said, “In the royalty of American music, no one swings more and
Listening to Ellington
stands higher than the Duke.”
Given Ellington’s expansive career, where do you begin if you want to sample the scope of his many musical creations? You might start by checking out Duke Ellington’s very first composition, the “Soda Fountain Rag” (1913), also known as “The Poodle Dog Rag.” Although Ellington never recorded a full version himself, you can catch a clip on YouTube or hear other artists’ renditions. Written when he was just 14, the tune showcases stride piano playing, a form of ragtime with more swing and complexity.
© Bettmann/CORBIS
After that, you could listen to some of the works mentioned throughout this guide. As you become familiar with Duke Ellington’s music through your own listening and through performances, start your own list of essential Ellington works and your reasons for including them. Share and discuss these ideas with others.
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“I am trying to express American music as I hear it and know it.”—Duke Ellington
Discover
ELLINGTON
Please join us throughout the month of February to discover new aspects of Ellington’s work and enduring contributions to American culture. Events at Strathmore’s Discover Ellington festival include: • Ellington Standards, Chris Vadala Trio, February 3, 11am
About Strathmore Strathmore, located in North Bethesda, Maryland, nurtures art, artists and community through creative and diverse programming of the highest quality. A cultural destination, Strathmore hosts world-class performances by major national artists of folk, blues, pop, jazz, show tunes and classical music. At the local level, Strathmore works to present and preserve the rich music and fine art traditions of the Washington, D.C., region. And through education programs for all ages, Strathmore helps all engage in creating and experiencing fine art and music.
• “The Duke,” Multi-Media Lecture by Rusty Hassan, February 13, 7:30pm
• Mostly Ellington, Robert Glasper, piano, February 16, 7:30pm • Levine Presents Channeling Duke Ellington, Karine Chapdelaine and Bob Sykes, February 17, 7pm • Brian Stokes Mitchell Sings the Ellington American Songbook, February 17, 8pm
• Discover Ellington: Panel Discussion, February 18, 5pm FREE EVENT • Big Band Ellington: Duke Goes Latin, February 18, 8pm • Ellington: A Sacred Concert, February 19, 4pm • Discover Strathmore: Duke Ellington, February 20, 11am–4pm FREE EVENT
Please contact us at www.strathmore.org or (301) 581-5100 for details and tickets.
Discover Ellington is Produced by Strathmore Eliot Pfanstiehl, Chief Executive Officer Monica Jeffries Hazangeles, President Shelley Brown, Vice President, Artistic Director Georgina Javor, Director of Programming Lauren Campbell, Development and Education Manager Betty Scott, Education Program Coordinator A special thanks to John Edward Hasse, author of Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington and curator of American Music at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History; David Schiff, author of the new book The Ellington Century; and Davey Yarborough, musician and educator at Duke Ellington School of the Arts, for their help with background for this performance guide. www.strathmore.org
Festival Extra! Free Ellington Scores Available for School Jazz Bands In support of the Discover Ellington festival, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History has generously donated Duke Ellington’s scores and band parts for “Daybreak Express,” “Take the ‘A’ Train” and “Sepia Panorama” for distribution to school jazz bands. We have a limited number of packets available; please contact Lauren Campbell at lcampbell@strathmore.org soon if you’d like one.
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Strathmore is supported in part by grants from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County.
Strathmore would like to thank the following sponsors for their generous support of DISCOVER ELLINGTON Delia and Marvin Lang Strathmore Artistic Initiatives Fund Strathmore Jazz Society
Linoleum print by Peter Bodge, Duke Ellington Collection, Division of Culture and the Arts, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Copyright © 2012 Strathmore
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