th. 2015 General -...

Vol. 57 No. 1 September 2015

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 September 8th. 2015 General

Meeting.

or our opening meeting of the year we had a

rare treat – Richard Whiteman’s Trio

playing Ellington music. This concert was

made possible by the City of Toronto which had

selected Etobicoke as a Cultural Hot Spot for 2015.

The City generously provided the funds to allow us

to hire a fully professional band this year for our

opening concert. The trio comprised Richard

Whiteman piano, Pat LaBarbera on tenor sax and

Neil Swainson on bass. There were sixty eight

members and guests in our usual venue,

Montgomery’s Inn. Alan Shiels opened the

meeting and thanked everyone concerned who had

helped make this intimate concert happen.

The trio’s fist set consisted of Satin Doll, In a

Mellotone, In a Sentimental Mood, Do Nothin’ ‘til

You Hear from Me, All too Soon and the set closer,

It Don’t Mean a Thing…Each number gave all of

the musicians ample room to stretch out. The

second set comprised Perdido, Prelude to a Kiss,

Sultry Serenade, I got it Bad and That Ain’t Good,

UMMG, a piano solo – Lotus Blossom , Just

Squeeze Me, and the concert closer of A Train.

An excellent concert which held us all rapt with the

selection of familiar war horses.

Pat LaBarbera, Neil Swainson and Richard

Whiteman playing at Montgomery’s Inn Sept 8,

2015. Thanks to Bruce Barton for the image.

Upcoming Events and TDES 40 Meetings:

October 13 – TDES Annual General Meeting.

Since officers of the Society are elected for a two

year cycle there will be no election this year. There

will be brief reports from several officers.

Regrettably, there was no one who came forward

to coordinate refreshments for our meetings after

the unfortunate resignation of Jean Griffiths. Until

someone steps forward, tea and coffee will be

provided, as it has been and for a charge of $2.00

per meeting per member to pay for the services of

Tom, the always cooperative Montgomery’s Inn

staff member who does the work behind the scenes.

There will be no cakes, goodies and savory snacks.

After the AGM Jim Northover will make a brief

presentation – Ellington Rarities and

Obscurities.

F

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Oct 23 2015 Bloordale United Church will be

sponsoring a concert with the Richard Whiteman

Quintet with Terra Hazelton, The concert will be

held at Bloordale United Church, 4258 Bloor

Street West, Etobicoke, North side, 2 blocks West

of Hwy 27. Start time 8:00 p.m. Tickets may be

obtained fro Bob Hitchcock at 416-626-7365 and

cost $25, $20 for students.

November 10 – TDES General Meeting

Brian Barlow and Tim Elliot will discuss Ellington

and Strayhorn’s Nutcracker Suite.

November 15 – Bill Wilson has announced

another Jazz at RY concert featuring a Gene

DiNovi quartet including Mike Murley. Net

proceeds to Refugee Support Fund. Concert starts

at 2:00 p.m. Royal York Road United Church is at

851 Royal York Road (3 blocks south of Bloor

Street/Royal York subway). Tickets $20.

December 1 2015 – Holiday Party at the Arts &

Letters Club. The John Sherwood Quartet will

provide the music. This event is now sold out and

there is a waiting list.

December 17 2015 – Brian Barlow’s Big band

will be performing Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker

Suite at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four

Seasons Centre from Noon until 1:00 p.m. a free

noon hour concert. TDES is sponsoring the event.

There will be very limited reserved seating for us

since these concerts are always full so please arrive

very early if you want to get a seat. There is direct

stair and elevator access into the building via the

southeast exit of Osgoode Subway Station.

April 30 2016 – The Annual Spring Fundraising

Concert will be held in Walter Hall as usual,

starting at 7:30 p.m. with John MacLeod’s Rex

Hotel Jazz Orchestra.

New & Interesting:

I recently saw a copy of the DESUK journal, Blue

Light. Their motto appears to be Nil significat nisi

pulsatur!!

The next in the Duke Ellington Treasury Series,

album number 20 will be issued in early 2016. It

contains two June 1946 broadcasts with Mood to

be Wooed, Johnny Come Lately and A Flower is a

Lovesome Thing, Main Stem, and BB&B excerpts.

There’s also a Harry Carney feature - Strange Love

- that is not recorded elsewhere.

Duke Ellington Conference. The New York

conference scheduled for 2016 does not seem to be

getting off the ground. There is another event,

which though not originally part of the

international series of conferences, is certainly

worth considering. The upcoming

Ellington/Strayhorn event will be held at Reed

College, Portland Oregon November 6-8 2015.

There will be presentations by Walter van de Leur,

Harvey Cohen, Lisa Barg, Luca Bragalini, and Carl

Woideck and a concert (Friday night) with Matt

Cooper, Rebecca Kilgore and Darrell Grant in a set

of Strayhorn songs, and four Ellington songs for

clarinet and piano, played by David Shifrin and

Darrell Grant. Willie Ruff will also be in

attendance.

The University of Toronto schedule of concerts is

now available. There are many jazz events which

you can explore at: http://www.uoftjazz.ca/events

These are very high quality events and are well

worth looking into.

The University of North Texas has made their

Willis Conover Collection available to the public

and more will become accessible as it is digitized.

There is an interview with Johnny Hodges

currently available. To explore further go to:

http://digital.library.unt.edu

http://www.uoftjazz.ca/events

http://digital.library.unt.edu/

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The excellent Nighlights web site announced that

Mosaic Records is preparing an 8-CD set of

Lester Young recordings that will cover the

saxophonist’s career from his debut on record with

Count Basie in 1936 to the late 1940s. It will

include all of Young’s Decca recordings with

Basie (regardless of whether Young soloed or not),

all of Young’s recordings for the Keynote and

Commodore labels, both sessions that he recorded

with Nat King Cole, all of his Aladdin recordings,

and sides made with Benny Goodman as well as

pianists Sammy Price and Una Mae Carlisle and

trombonist Dickie Wells.

The set will also include three previously

unreleased alternate takes from that legendary

1936 Jones-Smith Inc. date with Basie that

introduced the ethereal cool of Young’s sound–a

sound that influenced countless saxophonists who

followed in his wake–to the world. The booklet

will be written by Loren Schoenberg, who has

authored numerous, superlative liner notes for

Mosaic before, including their previous 4-CD set

of Lester Young-Count Basie recordings. It’s safe

to say that this will be the most comprehensive

portrait of Prez in his prime that’s ever been

released.

Jeff Healey Park

The Lilac that we donated to the City of Toronto

Parks department has been planted. We are

anticipating a celebratory dedication ceremony in

the spring of 2016

The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts was

founded by Duke’s granddaughter, Mercedes

Ellington, to preserve and further the legacy of

Duke Ellington.

The mission of The Duke Ellington Center for the

Arts is to preserve and advance into the 21st

century and beyond, the creative and philosophical

legacy of legacy of one of America's most prolific

geniuses through performance and education.

Web site : www.thedukeellingtoncenter.org

and now has a Facebook page:

www.facebook.com/TheDukeEllingtonCenter

Image of the Duke Ellington Statue at Central

Park, NYC.

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

Visitors always welcome

Plenty of Free Parking

http://www.thedukeellingtoncenter.org/

http://www.facebook.com/TheDukeEllingtonCenter

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Annual Dues

The TDES 40 financial year runs from

September 1st through August 31st of the

following year. In order to meet the Society’s

obligations for Montgomery’s Inn, rentals,

postage, printing and expenses in a timely

fashion, it is imperative that annual dues be paid

as early in the year as possible. Those who

joined the Society subsequent to the annual

concert in April 2015 are exempt from dues

payment for the current year.

Dues are $35 for a single membership and $50

for a family membership for payments made on

or before October 12th 2015. Payments made

after that date are subject to a $5.00 surcharge

to offset bank penalties for late deposits. If you

have not already made your payment, please

mail your cheques:

Chris McEvilly, Treasurer,

The Toronto Duke Ellington Society,

10 Edgemore Drive,

Toronto, ON.,

M8Y 2M8

Be sure to include your name, address, home

phone number and email address.

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL

MEETING

In accordance with its By –laws, the Annual

General Meeting of the Duke Ellington Society,

Toronto Chapter 40 will be held at 7:30 PM,

Tuesday October 13th, 2015, in the meeting room

at Montgomery’s Inn 4709 Dundas Street West,

Ontario, Canada.

There will not be an election of new officers

since they are elected to serve for two years and

the current officers were elected at last year’s

AGM.

The purposes of the meeting are:

(1) To receive reports of the President

and Treasurer in respect of the

Chapter’s 2014 – 2015 fiscal year

and

(2) To deal with any business carried

over from prior meetings, or

properly introduced at this time.

Any paid up member may bring before the

meeting any matter of business properly

pertaining to the manner on which the affairs of

the Society are conducted or suggest ways of

improving the Society for the benefit of all.

Vol. 57 No. 2 Nil significat nisi pulsatur!! October 2015





Minutes of October13th. 2015 Annual General

Meeting.

President Alan Shiels opened the meeting

promptly at 7:30 p.m. with 24 members and guests

attending. Since this was the Annual General

Meeting Alan gave us his annual report:

He said that the TDES is in a healthy state of affairs

with a few new members joining us to enjoy the

music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. We

have continued to meet since 1987 at

Montgomery’s Inn on the second Tuesday of each

month except July and August and December when

we hold our Holiday party. Prior to 1987 we met

in members’ homes since 1959 when we were

formed.

The year 2014 – 2015 provided enjoyable

programmes under the leadership of Irene Barton

who is the program organizer. Generally Bruce

Barton acts as our DJ and Video operator. Thank

You to the Bartons.

We got the year off to a fine start with a concert at

Montgomery’s Inn provided by the young vocalist

Lydia Persaud and her Trio in September

Last October Martin Loomer presented Ellington

and the Bal Masque. In November in lieu of our

regular meeting we attended Bill Wilson’s Jazz at

Royal York to enjoy The Richard Whiteman

Quartet playing a concert with a Ducal theme.

Early in December we held our Holiday Party at

the Arts & Letters Club in Toronto which swung to

the music of Nancy Walker’s quartet. 96 people

attended - a full house!

At the first meeting of the New Year, 2015, we

enjoyed a video programme culled from the Ken

Burns Jazz series put together from Bruce Barton’s

rich collection. In February the stalwart Jack

Chambers entertained us with “Ben Webster Plays

Ellington for 37 years”. In March Bruce Barton

took the stage once again with his topic “1941 Year

of Joy and Sorrow”. Rob Fogle’s “Ellington by

Canadians” and “Alone and Together: Woody

Herman and Errol Garner playing Duke Ellington”

put together from his vast personal collection of

recordings entertained us in April.

April 25 was our Annual Fundraising Concert with

the Brian Barlow Big Band – some said it was the

best of our concerts ever. Brian put a special

emphasis on Billy Strayhorn since it was his

centennial year. In May Stephen Cohen

recognized the 100th anniversary of Billy

Strayhorn’s birth with a wonderful selection of

Strayhorn’s music. At our June Meeting

“Members’ Choice” took over and provided an

enjoyable season closer.

This past September the first meeting of the new

2015/16 season was part of the City of Toronto’s

Cultural Hot Spot celebrations and we enjoyed the

Richard Whiteman Trio with Pat LaBarbera on

tenor and Neil Swainson on bass playing two sets

to an audience of 70 people in Montgomery’s Inn.

The City of Toronto generously contributed $400

to help cover the costs.

Thank you to all of the members and friends who

presented programmes and supported our

activities. Our 2015 Fundraising Concert was once

again fully sold out so a big thank you to all of the

members who bought tickets and helped advertise

the event. Every year we lose thirty or more people

off our concert mailing list for one reason or

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another so we must always be finding new people.

The 2016 concert will be held on April 30th and

will feature John MacLeod’s Rex Hotel Orchestra.

An Ivory Silk Lilac tree has been planted in the Jeff

Healey Park by TDES in honour of Jeff Healey.

This was done under the Commemorative Tree

Program. We are still working on the wording for

the plaque which will be in English and Braille.

We are planning a ceremony in the spring.

Three of our long time members passed away

during the year, Norma Humphries, Colin Brown

and Jim Galloway. We will miss them all very

much. TDES donated $500 to the Ken Page

Memorial Trust in honour of Jim Galloway. We

also contribute $500 in memory of John Norris.

Jean Griffiths did a marvelous job of coordinating

refreshments but she has decided to retire after 13

years – Thank You Jean. Mel Manley has offered

to take over and he will be asking for volunteers to

provide refreshments for the meetings. If no one

volunteers then we will provide tea and coffee

only. Last November 30 Jack Chambers was on

the air. JAZZ_FM presented our member as host

of an hour of Ellington – called 55 Years with Duke

Ellington a tribute to 50 years of Chapter 40

celebrating the Music of Duke Ellington. A very

limited C.D. edition of the program was made for

those who were unable to listen to it.

Alan wanted to thank the expertise and energy of

our Treasurer Chris McEvilly and Secretary Jim

Northover who kept us on track and and with a fine

monthly newsletter to make our mark in the jazz

world.

Thanks also to Matt Wood and his telephone

committee of Mel Manley, Allan Jones and Barry

Tisdall and to David Stimpson who placed Concert

flyers in appropriate spots in Yorkville.

Lastly thanks to Judy Shiels for all her efforts to

spearhead the Holiday Party, the Jeff Healey

Commemorative tree and plaque and Alan’s

Executive Assistant for the Spring Concert and for

anticipating the needs of Chapter 40.

Chris McEvilly made his Treasurer’s report which

is attached or enclosed.

Jim Northover made a plea to members to renew

their memberships promptly. He reminded us that

the constitution states that “Annual dues are

normally collected in the first month of the new

fiscal year.” i.e. at the September meeting.

Further, the Constitution states that “All members

who have not paid their dues within four months of

the start of the new fiscal year will be removed

from the Membership List.” Jim said that he did

not want to be Draconian on this matter but last

year one member renewed at the last meeting of the

year. Jim will tell those people who have not

renewed their membership by December that the

December newsletter will be their last.

Curtis Smith, who is the Director of the Etobicoke

Jazz Festival, announced the dates of November 6

-8 for the first ever Etobicoke Jazz Festival. Go to

their web site www.etobicoke jazz.com for a full

description of the events planned. Of significant

interest to Ellingtonians is Richard Whiteman’s

concert at The Squire Pub on Saturday November

7th at 3:30 p.m. Richard will be playing “A Tribute

to Duke Ellington.” The Squire Pub is at 3335

Bloor St W at Islington. The closest subway

station is Islington.

Baird Knechtel announced that he has volunteered

to perform the advertising function for the Society

with the goal of attracting new members and

enhancing our profile throughout the city. He will

be making announcements in WholeNote,

Kingsway Magazine, SNAP and The Etobicoke

Guardian. Please let Baird know of any additional

organs that may be appropriate vehicles for getting

our message wider distribution.

After the announcements and reports we took a

short break with refreshments provided by Mel

Manley.

After the break, Alan Shiels introduced Jim

Northover who was to speak on Ellington

Oddities and Rarities.

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Jim explained that there was little to hold the

presentation together – a collection of Ellingtonia

held together by the thin thread of rarity and oddity.

Rarity meant that the number was recorded only

once or once commercially. The oddities would be

explained as Jim went through his presentation.

Jim said that he wanted to dedicate this

presentation to Jack Chambers who would

understand why. He started with two early tracks.

Stevedore Stomp recorded May 7 1929 and The

Duke Steps Out recorded September 16 1929.

Both excellent numbers and strange that they were

recorded once only yet other contemporary tunes

such as Birmingham Breakdown or East St. Louis

Toodle Oh were recorded many times. Eddie

Lambert called these recordings jazz performances

of the highest quality5.

In contrast to these early pieces Jim than played a

very modern piece, Afrique, from the so called

Conny Plank Session a new album with two

previously unreleased tracks and several alternate

takes. He didn’t know whether the session was a

rehearsal or a recording session intended for the

“stockpile”. The other piece was Alerado which

Jim said that he has heard but didn’t like much.

The sound is great though. “Afrique,” one of the

pieces, from the 1971 Afro Eurasian Eclipse

album. The piece begins with a drum intro by

Rufus Jones and organ solo work by Wild Bill

Davis, some vocalese by an unknown voice and a

tenor saxophone solo. Paul Gonsalves and Harold

Ashby are on the date, but the solos aren’t credited.

Recorded before the Afro Eurasian Eclipse album

in 1970.

Jim then played Tip Toe Topic 1. The only known

time this was played according to Sonny Greer. A

trio of Ellington, Oscar Pettiford and Greer. March

28 1946.

We then heard Gathering in a Clearing1

Recorded by Ellington only this once. A vehicle

for Cat Anderson’s growling trumpet. Includes a

riff by Al Sears who said there was no preacher in

the band until he turned up. Cootie Williams might

disagree. July 10 1946.

Jim announced that in a previous presentation on

Ivie Anderson he wanted to play the following

number but could not find it. I’m Checkin’Out,

Goombye2, which shows the interplay between

Anderson and Rex Stewart and his “talking

trumpet”. She did a lot of “business” onstage, in

particular with Sonny Greer but no recording of

any quality remains which is a pity. Recorded for

a V Disc in November 24 1939, Jim thought.

Blue Lou1 followed, again a number recorded once

June 9 1947 with a strong bass line played by Oscar

Pettiford.

Though the title of his presentation was Oddities

and Rarities, Jim explained that it was inevitable

that a couple of Ellington’s perennial favourites

would creep in. He played Take the A Train4, its

first recording from a January 15 1941 radio

transcription with Ray Nance’s trumpet solo

almost perfectly formed but not quite the final

polished solo played on the first formal recording

of February 15th 1941.

Jim returned to the early days of Ellington’s

recordings with Jungle Nights in Harlem.

Recorded only once June 4 1930. The epitome of

the “Jungle Style”. Astonishing that the most

sophisticated and creative music of the time was

referred to as “Jungle Music”.

We then heard Jennie1 Composed by Harry

Carney in honour of his mother and the only known

commercial recording. March 28 1946.

Jim then allowed himself a little self-indulgence

and played Happy Go Lucky Local 1 Parts 1 & 2

clearly from a 78 rpm recording. The concluding

movement from The Deep South Suite premiered

at the Chicago Concert of November 10 1946 and

the only part subsequently recorded commercially.

Selected as an oddity since it runs for a delicious 6

mins and 20 secs. Jan 7 1947.

Jim returned to an Ellington favourite with once

again Take the A Train 3. Ray Nance played Take

the A Train at Billy Strayhorn’s memorial service

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accompanied by Billy Taylor on piano. A

recording is not available. He subsequently

recorded the same arrangement commercially in

the album Body & Soul with Roland Hanna in

which he plays only violin. Like no other A Train

you have ever heard. A dirge. May 1969.

On April 29 1939 on Duke Ellington’s 40th

birthday, he found himself in Sweden playing a

concert at The Konserthuset which was recorded

for radio broadcast. Nothing remains of this

concert or broadcast except three pieces, Serenade

to Sweden, In A Red Little Cottage and Rockin’ in

Rhythm. Jim played Serenade to Sweden6 which

was subsequently recorded formally on June 6

1939 and Rockin’ in Rhythm6 with Rex Stewart

providing the cornet pyrotechnics.

1 The Uncollected Duke Ellington 5 LP set or Duke

Ellington - The “Collection” ’46 – 47 Recordings.

Hindsight. 2 Duke Ellington V Disc 3 The Complete Standard Transcriptions - Soundies 4 Body & Soul. Mighty Quinn. (Offered for $50

on Amazon!) 5 Eddie Lambert: Duke Ellington – A Listeners’

Guide 6 Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club - Storyville


Oct 23 2015 Bloordale United Church will be

sponsoring a concert with the Richard Whiteman

Quintet with Terra Hazelton, and is at 4258 Bloor

Street West, Etobicoke, North side, 2 blocks West

of Hwy 27. Start time 8:00 p.m. Tickets may be

obtained from Bob Hitchcock at 416-626-7365 and

cost $25, $20 for students.

November 10 – TDES General Meeting

Brian Barlow and Tim Elliot will discuss the

Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker Suite.

November 15 – Bill Wilson has announced

another Jazz at RY concert featuring a Gene

DiNovi quartet including Mike Murley. Net

proceeds to Refugee Support Fund. Concert starts

at 2:00 p.m. Royal York Road United Church is at

851 Royal York Road (3 blocks south of Bloor

Street/Royal York subway). Tickets $20.

November 28 2015

Bill Saxonis, member of the New York DES,

Chapter will co-host a radio programme from 8:00

a.m. to noon on WCDB-FM, celebrating Billy

Strayhorn’s centennial. Since this radio station is

the SUNY Albany campus’s station it is unlikely

we will receive their FM signal so go to

http://wcdbfm.com/

December 1 2015 – Holiday Party at the Arts &

Letters Club. The John Sherwood Quartet will

provide the music. This event is now sold out and

there is a waiting list.





noon hour concert. TDES is co-sponsoring the

event. There is very limited reserved seating for

us. Since these concerts are always full please

arrive very early if you want to get a seat. There

is direct stair and elevator access into the building

via the southeast exit of Osgoode Subway Station.

February 9 2016

Jack Chambers returns with “The River”: Three

Excursions. Duke’s 1972 ballet suite, orchestrated

by Ron Collier, with Duke’s piano and orchestra

sketches of the movements.



starting at 7:30 p.m. with John McLeod’s Rex

Hotel Jazz Orchestra. Tickets will be available at

the General meeting on November 10



each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn 4709 Dundas St. W



http://wcdbfm.com/

Vol. 57 No. 3 November & December 2015





Minutes of November 10th. 2015 General

Meeting.

lan Shiels opened the meeting of 30 people

at 7:40 p.m. After several announcements

he introduced Brian Barlow who was

going to talk about Ellington and Strayhorn’s

Nutcracker Suite. Brian apologized for the absence

of his co presenter, Tim Elliott, who had moved to

Stratford, ON and was unable to make the journey.

Brian started out by giving us a brief history of The

Nutcracker. Originally a story The Nutcracker

and the Mouse King written by E.T.A. Hoffman

in 1816. Alexandre Dumas revised the story and

published his work in 1844. This was the version

that was choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev

Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

The ballet was given its première at the Mariinsky

Theatre in St. Petersburg on Sunday, December 18,

1892.

Though the original production was not a success,

the ballet has enjoyed enormous popularity since

the late 1960s and is now performed by countless

ballet companies, primarily during the Christmas

season.

The Ellington version was completed in 1960 and

took six months to work out. Ellington and

Strayhorn must have listened to the score countless

times in order to get to know the work well enough

to write their own version of it. This period

coincided with other crucial times in Ellington’s

career. He was, of course, reborn at Newport in

1956, many of the members of the orchestra who

had left the band for one reason or another had

returned and Billy Strayhorn had resolved his

dispute with Ellington concerning lack of

recognition.

The Nutcracker Suite was reimagined by Ellington

in nine movements. Strayhorn wrote and arranged

six, he collaborated with Ellington on two and

Ellington was responsible for one movement only.

The purpose of the work was to translate the music

into the idiom of Ellington’s band without

destroying its character (Lambert). Brian Barlow’s

opinion was that The Nutcracker is among the best

work of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Brian

played all of the movements for us, with each

prefaced by the original played by The Kirov Ballet

Orchestra.

The Nutcracker Suite was first recorded by the

Ellington band in May and June of 1960 in Los

Angeles for the Columbia label. Notably the

original cover for the 1960 big band album, “The

Nutcracker Suite,” presented three people as the

authors, all with equal font size and inhabiting the

same line: “Ellington. Strayhorn. Tchaikovsky”

and both Ellington’s and Strayhorn’s pictures

appear. The first time that Billy Strayhorn’s

contribution had been acknowledged.

The work opened with Strayhorn’s version of the

Overture which when played by the Kirov

Orchestra was light and airy with strings and

woodwinds while Strayhorn’s version begins with

heavy brass and trombones with Paul Gonsalves,

Booty Wood and Ray Nance soloing.

The next movement was Dance of the Reed Pipes

which Ellington renamed Toot Toot Tootie Toot.

Ellington took the responsibility for renaming all

of the pieces. Strayhorn’s arrangement featured

reed duets between Jimmy Hamilton and Russell

Procope and Paul Gonsalves and Harry Carney’s

A

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clarinet extensively with elements of dissonance

but still retaining the original structure. All of the

¾ time signatures were arranged in 4/4 to promote

the swing.

Tchaikovsky’s March was renamed Peanut

Brittle Brigade. The original used woodwinds and

French horns for the initial melodic statement.

This piece, arranged solely by Ellington used the

full brass section with Ray Nance and Jimmy

Hamilton soloing as well as Ellington providing

one of his few piano appearances of the whole

work. The piece ends with a solo by Paul

Gonsalves playing over the whole orchestra.

The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies followed

with the celeste featured in Tchaikovsky’s original

version. It was renamed Sugar Rum Cherry for

Ellington’s suite and was arranged by Billy

Strayhorn. Sam Woodyard introduces the piece

leading to Paul Gonsalves and Harry Carney

playing the melody in place of the celeste. An

unlikely transposition.

Tchaikovsky wrote no Entr’acte for The

Nutcracker but Ellington did, based on material

from the Overture. It gave room for Gonsalves,

Hodges, Carney, Lawrence Brown and Jimmy

Hamilton to shine.

One of the many dances, it was a ballet after all,

was Russian Dance which was renamed Volga

Vouty and was a joint effort between Ellington and

Strayhorn. It features a high brass introduction and

although the melody remains intact it is heard

beneath the soloists.

Tchaikovsky’s Chinese Dance was arranged by

Billy Strayhorn and Ellington and called

Chinoiserie. It features a duet between Paul

Gonsalves and Jimmy Hamilton with brief piano

dissonances and chords by Ellington.

Waltz of the Flowers with its original harp solo was

renamed Dance of the Floreadors. It was one

of the ¾ pieces rearranged in swinging 4/4 time

and features trumpet work by Ray Nance and the

trombones of Booty Wood, Lawrence Brown and

Britt Woodman.

Finally we heard the Ellington version of

Arabesque called Arabian Dance, arranged by

Strayhorn and Ellington adding more mystery to an

already mysterious piece of music. Russell

Procope is featured on piccolo flute, Juan Tizol

plays the tambourine and Sam Woodyard, Aaron

Bell, Harry Carney, Jimmy Hamilton, Willie Cook

and Johnny Hodges are all featured.

Brian Barlow is playing this material at one of the

Canadian Opera Company’s Noon Hour Concerts

on December 17, details below.

Roslyn Harris offered the formal vote of thanks to

Brian for his outstanding presentation. Thanks

Brian. Thanks are also due to Marilyn Stix and Liz

Strathdee for providing the evening’s

refreshments.

ecember1 saw us, once again, at the Arts

& Letters Club in Toronto for our annual

Holiday Party. Alan Shiels welcomed all

104 members and guests and let us enjoy a

delicious meal of Bocconcini salad, roast breast of

chicken with a Chevre farce and a dessert of a

citrus cake with a strawberry compote.

The music for the evening was provided by the

wonderful John Sherwood Quartet, with John on

the piano, Mike Murley on tenor sax, Steve

Wallace, bass and Terry Clark drums. We could

not have wished for a better band. The band played

selection of favourite Ellington and Strayhorn

pieces starting with Things Ain’t What They

Used to Be, followed by the ballad, I Got it Bad

and That Ain’t Good. The band then went into I

Let a Song Go Out of My Heart and a sensitive

version of Prelude to a Kiss. John Sherwood told

us that the arrangement of Mood Indigo they were

about to play was done by Rick Wilkins for the

Peter Appleyard album, Sophisticated Ladies.

Carol McCartney provided the vocals on the album

for Mood Indigo. It was a rollicking ¾ time

arrangement. To finish the set we heard Just

Squeeze me.

D

3

After the break John Sherwood reminded us that

November 29 was the 100th birthday of Billy

Strayhorn. In celebration the quartet played

Strayhorn’s Chelsea Bridge inspired by either

J.M.W. Turner’s or James McNeil Whistler’s

sketches of Battersea Bridge. They followed that

with an up tempo version of Perdido with a

tasteful drum solo by Terry Clark. Another ballad,

Sophisticated Lady, was then followed by the set

and evening closer, Cottontail, referred to by John

Sherwood as “one of the rhythm pieces.”

Throughout there was plenty of room for Mike

Murley, John Sherwood and Steve Wallace to solo

at length freely.

It was a great evening’s entertainment and many

thanks are due to Judy Shiels who carried the full

load of making the arrangements. Thank You Judy.

Alan Shiels announced that the Arts & Letters Club

had been booked for the Holiday Party next year,

2016 for December 6. Band, price and other details

to follow.






noon hour concert. TDES is co-sponsoring the

event. There is very limited reserved seating for

us. Since these concerts are always full please

arrive very early if you want to get a seat. There

is direct stair and elevator access into the building

via the southeast exit of Osgoode Subway Station.

January 12 2016 - Reminiscences of Alistair

Cooke by Allan Jones

February 9 2016

Jack Chambers returns with “The River”: Three

Excursions. Duke’s 1972 ballet suite, orchestrated

by Ron Collier, with Duke’s piano and orchestra

sketches of the movements.

March 8 2015 – TBA




Hotel Jazz Orchestra. Tickets are $35. Please

contact Alan Shiels to purchase.

May 10 2016 – TBA

June 14 2016 – Members’ Choice.

Bring a selection or two of Ellingtonia for the rest

of us to enjoy.

December 6 2016 – Annual Holiday Party at the

Arts & Letters Club. Band to be announced.

Welcome New Members

A warm welcome back to Karen Morris and Jack

Livesley who have rejoined and to Gerry and

Jessica Stewart, Charles Coupal and Jim and

Marjorie Paradine who have joined our society.

Welcome to all!

Newsletter Update

The Editor puts this newsletter together and it

seems to reflect his views and outlook. There is

room for others to contribute – PLEASE. If you

have any material you wish to contribute or suggest

please send it to the Editor.

The Editor and Staff of this

newsletter and members of the

TDES 40 Executive Committee

wish everyone a wonderful Holiday

Season and Best Wishes and Good

Health for 2016.

4

In Honour of Billy Strayhorn’s Centennial the

Editor thought that Duke Ellington’s Eulogy for

Strayhorn would be appropriate:

Poor little Swee’ Pea, Billy Strayhorn, William

Thomas Strayhorn, the biggest human being who

ever lived, a man of great courage, the most

majestic artistic stature, a highly skilled musician

whose impeccable taste commanded the respect of

all musicians and the admiration of all listeners.

His audiences at home and abroad marveled at the

grandeur of his talent and the mantel of tonal

supremacy that he wore only with grace. He was a

beautiful human being, adored by a wide range of

friends, rich, poor, famous and unknown. Great

artists pay homage to Billy Strayhorn’s God-given

ability and mastery of his craft.

Because he had a rare sensitivity and applied

himself to his gifts, Billy Strayhorn successfully

married melody, words, and harmony, equating the

fitting with happiness. His greatest virtue, I think,

was his honesty, not only to others, but to himself.

His listening-hearing self was totally intolerant of

his writing-playing self when, or if, any

compromise was expected, or considered

expedient.

He spoke English perfectly and French very well,

but condescension did not enter into his mind. He

demanded freedom of expression and lived in what

we consider the most important and moral of

freedoms: freedom from hate, unconditionally;

freedom from self-pity (even throughout all the

pain and bad news); freedom from fear of possibly

doing something that might help another more than

it might himself; and freedom from the kind of

pride that could make a man feel he was better than

his brother or neighbor.

His patience was incomparable and unlimited. He

had no aspirations to enter into any kind of

competition, yet the legacy he leaves, his oeuvre,

will never be less than the ultimate on the highest

plateau of culture (whether by comparison or not).

God bless Billy Strayhorn. – Duke Ellington

Final Notice – PLEASE READ.

This will be the final newsletter sent to those who

have not renewed their membership for the 2015 –

2016 season. If you have not already done so,

please renew now. If you have renewed, many

thanks.

Dues are $35 for a single membership and $50 for

a family membership for payments made on or

before October 12th 2015. Payments made after

that date are subject to a $5.00 surcharge to offset

bank penalties for late deposits. If you have not

already made your payment, please mail your

cheques to:

Chris McEvilly, Treasurer,

The Toronto Duke Ellington Society,

10 Edgemore Drive,

Toronto, ON.,

M8Y 2M8

Be sure to include your name, address, home phone

number and email address.



each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm




Nil significat nisi pulsatur

Vol. 57 No. 4 January & February 2016



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


o get the Christmas Season off to a great start,

Brian Barlow’s Big Band played a free concert at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre of the

Canadian Opera Company at noon on December

17. An over capacity full house of 250 with a goodly

number of TDES members attended the performance of

The Ellington and Strayhorn Nutcracker Suite.

Thanks to Bruce Barton for the image of the band.

A number of free jazz concerts are held in this location

every year. The next one of great interest is on Tuesday

April 12 2016 when a Humber College Jazz Ensemble,

led by Denny Christianson will play a concert titled Strayhorn @ 100. If you choose to go please get to the

door early as these concerts are fully attended.

Minutes of January 12th.

2016 General Meeting.

lan Shiels opened the meeting to 26 members. Irene Barton introduced Allan Jones who was going to talk

on Reminiscences of Alistair Cooke.

Allan pointed out that Alistair Cooke was a BBC

broadcast journalist and is best known for his weekly

“Letters from America”. Many of these letters are now

archived on the BBC web site and Allan played the

Letter dated May 31 1974, just seven days after Duke Ellington’s death. Alistair Cooke attended the funeral

service at St. John The Divine Cathedral and wrote his

“Letter from America” commemorating Duke’s life.

Allan Jones carefully selected music to illustrate many of the points made in Alistair Cooke’s piece. His first

selection was Tell Me It’s the Truth from Ellington‘s

First Sacred Concert. Allan then launched into a brief biography of Ellington and selected Scott Joplin’s

Solace and Junk Man Rag composed and played by

Harvey Brooks to reflect Ellington’s early influences. We then heard Ellington’s first composition, Soda

Fountain Rag firstly as played by Ellington from the

album “Live at the Whitney” and then a longer version

played by Shelly Berg. Allan then returned to the text of Alistair Cooke’s Letter

from America in which were reflections on the

difficulties of life on the road for a jazz man – Allan selected Irving Berlin’s All Alone played by Earl Hines

in Benny Carter’s quartet followed by Ellington’s

Caravan played by Muggsy Spanier with Earl Hines.

Allan told us that Alistair Cooke reported that he knew

all of the records of Ellington’s Cotton Club years and

played Creole Rhapsody from 1931, Duke’s fist extended work. Allan then approached the end of the

War years and played Ellington’s I’m Beginning to See

the Light from 1944 but in this case played by the Sheffield Barbershop Harmony Club. In the last

months of the war Ellington composed Esquire

Swank, part of the Magazine Suite. This number was

recorded several times and the one Allan selected was from the DETS Vol #8, written January 1954 and

recorded July 21 1945. We then heard, from the same

period, Magenta Haze.

Alistair Cooke remarked in this Letter that several of

the members of Ellington’s band stayed with him for many years, such as Harry Carney. We heard Black

and Tan Fantasy recorded October 26 1927 featuring

T

A

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Carney on baritone sax. Harry Carney started with

Ellington in June of 1927 and stayed with him and from

October 6 of 1927 we heard Carney’s very first recording with Ellington’s Orchestra, Washington

Wobble. From his first recording with Ellington in

1927 he remained with him until the very last concert given in Sturgis, Michigan on March 22 1974. At that

concert A Train was played and Alan played the

version found in the 1942 movie Reveille with Beverley

in which Carney appears in the singing trio! Cooke reminded us that Ellington was very sick indeed

in his last few months and Allan Jones selected, with

reference to that sad time, Is God A Three Letter

Word for Love?

Towards the end of his letter, Alistair Cooke observed

that Ellington left us with a huge output of his music, extending from his twenty eighth birthday to his

seventy fifth. Allan suggested that these birthdays

might be considered as bookends of a remarkable career. The Duke’s first recording session was on

February 3rd 1927 as leader of the Kentucky Club

Orchestra and one of the numbers recorded at that session was New Orleans Low Down. The closing

bookend that Allan chose was Meditation from Duke’s

very last recording, in Eastbourne U.K.

To conclude his presentation Allan Jones played The

Majesty of God from the Third Sacred Concert as a

tribute to Ellington’s developing spirituality but played by the orchestra of the Music Conservatory in Pesaro,

Italy and sung by Sara Jane Ghiotti.

Many Thanks to George Davis and Judy Shiels for

providing the refreshments for the evening and to Joan

Fulford for thanking Allan Jones on behalf of us all.

Ed. Note – Allan Jones’s notes were very long and I

have taken great liberties in editing them down to fit in

this newsletter. If you would like a full transcript of his presentation, which I would recommend, please contact

Allan Jones directly at [email protected].

Minutes of February 9th

2016 General Meeting.

lan Shiels opened the meeting promptly at 7:30 p.m.

to 25 members and guests. He announced that only 25 tickets remain unsold or unassigned for the Spring

Fundraising Concert. Alan told us that the

refreshments for his evening were provide by Mel Manley and Baird Knechtel. Irene Barton then

introduced our speaker, Jack Chambers whose topic for

the evening was Duke Ellington’s Three Trips down

“The River”.

Jack opened his talk by telling us that there were

essentially three recordings of “The River”: piano

sketches from the Piano Player album issued by Storyville in 2005, big band sketches from the Private

Collection Volume 5, The Suites, recorded in 1970 but

issued in 1987 and the symphonic score as played at the

Ontario Science Centre, Toronto by the CJRT Orchestra on the occasion of Ellington’s 75th birthday April 29

1974. The score was orchestrated and conducted by

Ron Collier for this concert and produced by Ted O’Reilly.

Early in 1970 Ellington and Alvin Ailey were

commissioned by the director of the American Ballet Theatre to compose a ballet to celebrate the company’s

30th anniversary and approached Alvin Ailey to

choreograph it. Ellington conceived the ballet in twelve movements; Ailey had too little time to choreograph all

of the movements. Only seven of the twelve

movements were presented at the premiere on 25 June 1970. The ballet was a great success as described by

several critics of the time.

Ellington described the scenario of the movements of “The River” in detail in Music is My Mistress (MiMM)

and gave a shorter description to Whitney Balliett

which he published in his Collected Works 2002 (<WB).

There have been a few additional recordings made of “The River “–

1972 – Warsaw Symphony Orchestra conducted by

Mercer Ellington conducted by Mercer Ellington. (8

movements). 1983 – Louisville Orchestra conducted by Akira Endo

(8 movements).

1993 – Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi (7 movements).

2012 – Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by

JoAnn Falletta (5 Movements).

Jack read excerpts from Duke Ellington’s description of

the movements and then illustrated each movement by

playing the piano sketch and /or the big band version and the orchestration by Ron Collier.

A

mailto:[email protected]

3

The movements were:

The Spring - Ellington (MiMM) – starts as the Spring,

which is like a newborn baby. He’s in his cradle... pouting, spinning, wiggling, giggling, making faces

…turning, tossing and tinkling all over the place. Jack

played The Spring from the piano sketches and Ron Collier’s orchestrated version.

The Run-Ellington (<WB) – The River starts out like a

spring and he’s like a new born baby, tumbling and spitting and one day, attracted by a puddle he starts to

run… (MiMM) although he can hardly walk, he now

feels compelled to march like his little toy soldiers) which Jack illustrated by playing the big band sketch

from the Private Collection Volume 5 (The Suites).

The Meander - Ellington described the Meander (<WB): He scurries and scampers and wants to get to

the marsh, and, after being followed by a big bubble, he

does, and at the end of the run he goes into the meander. We heard two recordings, one by the CJRT Orchestra

and the big band sketch version from The Suites.

The Giggling Rapids – Ellington (MiMM) – The

Giggling Rapids … he races and runs and dances and

skips and trips all over the backyard… Jack Chambers

illustrated the Giggling Rapids with Ellington on piano from the piano sketches and from Ron Collier’s CJRT

Orchestra. This piece is also known as GRAP

(Giggling Rapids) and Jack played a version of the big band sketches as played in a Radio Denmark broadcast

of 15 June 1970 (Courtesy John Hornsby).

The Lake - Ellington (MiMM) – He relaxes and rolls

down to …the lake. The lake is beautiful and serene. It

is all horizontal lines that offer up unrippled reflections.

There it is, in all its beauty, God-made and untouched. This was portrayed by playing The Lake from

Ellington’s piano sketches and by Ron Collier and the

CJRT Orchestra.

The Falls – Ellington (MiMM) The Falls always looks

(sic) the same at the top and always sound the same at

the bottom. You can always hear the voice of the spirit that has gone over the Falls into the whirlpool, yelling

and reaching back up the Falls to regain the place of

serenity that is the lake. The Falls was represented by versions from Ellington Symphonies played by the

Warsaw Symphony Orchestra and from the Suites,

Private Collection Vol 5.

Vortex – Ellington (<WB): Then he goes over the Falls

and down into the Whirlpool, the vortex of violence, and

illustrated by The Vortex by Ron Collier and the CJRT Orchestra and from the Private Collection titled The

Whirlpool.

The River – Ellington (MiMM) From the Whirlpool, we

get into the main train of the River, which gallops

sprightly and, as it passes several inlets, broadens and

loses some of its adolescence, becoming ever more mature even noble, it establishes a majestic wave of

monumental cool as it moves on with rhythmic

authority. Jack portrayed The River by playing the version from the Suites, and RIBA by Ron Collier and

the CJRT Orchestra. Mercer Ellington claimed some

credit for the section known as Mainstream or Riba

which was borrowed directly from one of his compositions. “All in the family”, he said. Jack

Chambers played Taffy Twist by Mercer Ellington

from The Feeling of Jazz album (Black Lion 1988) to illustrate.

The Delta - Ellington (MiMM) At The Delta, there are two cities, one on each side, and there is always

something on one side of the river that you cannot get

on the other. Sometimes it’s bootleg booze or hot

automobiles or many other things. The two cities were Stud (Neo-Hip-Hop Kiddies Community) and Village

of the Virgins. Stud was represented by playing the

piece from the piano sketches and the Village of the Virgins from the Suites.

Her Majesty The Sea -Ellington (<WB) The River passes between them and romps into the mother – Her

Majesty the Sea – and of course is no longer a river but

this is the climax, the heavenly anticipation of rebirth,

for the sea will be drawn up into the sky for rain and down into wells and into springs and become the sea

again. Mercer Ellington said that by 1970 his father’s

mind was much more on spiritual values, so he turned the whole thing into a kind of religious allegory that

dealt with the cycle of birth and rebirth. The final

movement was Her Majesty the Sea for which Jack

played the version from The Suites.

To conclude the evening’s outstanding presentation

Jack Chambers spun Ron Collier and the CJRT Orchestra playing The Village of the Virgins. Jack

finished his remarks by thanking Ted O’Reilly who had

been able to provide a recording of the CJRT Orchestra, led by Ron Collier, from his private collection. Stephen

Cohen thanked Jack Chambers on behalf of us all.

4

Many thanks to Jack Chambers for providing the notes

for this report and for the corrections he made to my

inadequate report.

We hope that we can get Jack Chambers to repeat this

presentation so that a wider audience may be able to hear it. It is far too important to not try to make it

available.


March 8 2015 – Rob Fogle will be welcomed back with

a musical talk on JAZZ PIANISTS PLAY DUKE'S MUSIC From Fats Waller to Cecil Taylor.

April 12 – At The Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre of

the Canadian Opera Company at noon, a Humber College Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Denny

Christianson will play a concert – Strayhorn @100.

April 12 2016 – TDES General Meeting – Bruce

Barton will entertain us with a video presentation.


Concert will be held in Walter Hall as usual, starting at

7:30 p.m. with John MacLeod’s Rex Hotel Jazz

Orchestra with special guest vocalist, Jackie Richardson. Tickets are $35. Please contact Alan

Shiels to purchase.

May 10 2016 Martin Loomer will give us his unique

musician’s take on selections from Duke Ellington

Dance Performances. These recordings can be found in the five volume Laserlight set (15 783 – 787) of Happy

Birthday Duke. April 29 1953 and 1954 at McElroy’s

Ballroom in Portland Oregon.


Bring a musical selection or two of Ellingtonia on CD

to play for the rest of us to enjoy. Also, if you have any books, records, CDs etc. that you wish to dispose of

please bring them to sell at this meeting. We plan on

devoting the first part of the meeting, from 7:00 p.m. to

about 7:30 p.m. to a sale of members’ unwanted pieces of their collections as we all plan our downsizing

activities.

December 6 2016 – Annual Holiday Party at the Arts

& Letters Club. The music will be provided by a

Richard Whiteman lead quartet.

Welcome New Members

New members who have just joined us: Mark Guilbeault and John and Rosemary Powell- Welcome.

Laurie Bower Dead at 88.

It is with great sadness that I pass on the news that

Toronto Trombone great, Laurie Bower passed away on January 19. A multitalented musician Laurie Bower

was a mainstay of Toronto’s jazz scene. He was a

cofounder of the versatile Spitfire Band and also made music with the

choral group the Laurie Bower Singers. There is an

excellent obituary in the Globe and Mail of February

10, 2016 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/multitale

nted-musician-laurie-bower-was-a-mainstay-of-

torontos-jazz-scene/article28683071/

We also have to report the sad news that Kira Payne

passed away on January 2nd. TDES members are most familiar with her as a member of Martin Loomer’s

Orange Devils. Far too soon. An obituary appeared in

the Toronto Star on January 4th which you can still

access through their web site. http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2016/01/

05/dr-kira-payne-toronto-jazz-trailblazer-dies-at-

50.html


Ellington Society are held on the 2nd

Tuesday of each

month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm




Nil significat nisi pulsatur

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/multitalented-musician-laurie-bower-was-a-mainstay-of-torontos-jazz-scene/article28683071/



http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2016/01/05/dr-kira-payne-toronto-jazz-trailblazer-dies-at-50.html



Vol. 57 No. 5 March & April 2016





,Minutes of the March 8 2016 General Meeting:

Irene Barton introduced to our meeting audience of

26 members and guests our speaker for the

evening, Rob Fogle. Late of “Experiences in Jazz”

once presented on CHRY – FM Rob has presented

to us on two previous occasions, May 2014 and

April 2015. He was warmly welcomed back. His

topic for the evening was Jazz Pianists Play Duke

Ellington, from Fats Waller to Cecil Taylor. Rob

leavened the music he played with anecdotes and

reminiscences of the pianists since he knew many

of them personally, either through interviewing

them for his radio show or through his professional

capacity as a music promoter and agent. Rob

played the pieces in chronological order of

composition.

Dick Hyman from his Plays Duke Ellington album

of 1992 – Jubilee Stomp. It was Dick Hyman’s

89th birthday today, March 8.

From Thelonious Monk’s Plays Duke Ellington

album of 1955 accompanied by Oscar Pettiford and

Kenny Clark - It Don’t Mean a Thing…

We then heard and failed to identify Duke

Ellington playing Lots of Fingers or Fast and

Furious, a piece of pianistic bravado, from a 1932

recording.

Art Tatum then soloed on Sophisticated Lady

from a 1933 recording session.

Fats Waller played Ring Dem Bells from 1941,

followed by Teddy Wilson playing In A

Sentimental Mood/It Don’t Mean a Thing… . In

contrast we then heard Bill Evans accompanied by

Marty Morrell and Eddie Gomez playing In A

Sentimental Mood.

We then took a step up to hear Cecil Taylor play

Azure.

Rob Fogle then played two versions of Caravan,

one played by the late French pianist Bernard

Peiffer followed by the astonishing Errol Garner

from his Concert By The Sea album.

The final tunes before the break was Prelude to a

Kiss again presented in contrast played by Horace

Silver with Art Blakey and Curley Russell and

then by George Shearing.

Rob started off the second half of his concert with

Keith Jarrett playing I Got it Bad and That ain’t

Good… from his 1999 album, The Melody the

Night, With You. We then heard two other versions

of the same piece, one by Ahmad Jamal into which

he tossed quotes from other Ellington and

Strayhorn pieces and finally we heard Oliver Jones

‘s version from his 1984 album The Many Moods

of Oliver Jones.

Nat “King” Cole then played from his Live at the

Circle Room album with Oscar Moore and Johnny

Miller, C Jam Blues. Do Nothin’ ‘til You Hear

from Me was played by Hank Jones and followed

by Marian McParland’s Everything but You

accompanied by Bill Douglas on bass. Dave

Brubeck was then presented with Just Squeeze

Me.

From Gene DiNovi’s album of 2003 Gene DiNovi

plays Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn Live,

with Dave Young we heard Tomorrow Mountain

from Ellington’s unsuccessful musical of 1947,

Beggar’s Holiday.

Oscar Peterson then played Satin Doll

accompanied by Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen. The

evening’s last presentation was Kenny Barron

playing Single Petal of a Rose, which we did hear,

from Barron’s 1994 But Beautiful album with Joe

Locke on vibes.

2

Rob then played the piece that he found which he

felt was interesting to end the evening on; Dave

Brubeck playing Take the “A” Train with Billy

Taylor from the Legends of Jazz PBS TV series

hosted by Ramsey Lewis.

Bruce Barton thanked Rob Fogle on behalf of the

Toronto Duke Ellington Society. Thanks are also

due to Mel Manley who provided the refreshments

for the evening.

Minutes of the April 12 2016 General Meeting.

Alan Shiels opened the meeting of 27 members and

guests and announced that all tickets for the April

30 concert had been sold. There is now a waiting

list so if there any tickets that may be unused,

please contact Alan to return them for resale.

Bruce Barton then introduced the program for the

evening – a video of Duke Ellington: Live at the

Tivoli Gardens Concert recorded in 1971. The

video consists of two concerts played a few days

apart. It shows Duke Ellington and his band

members still energetic though clearly at the end of

their careers. It would all be over in a couple of

years.

Matt Wood thanked Bruce on behalf of us all.

Refreshments for the evening were provide by Mel

Manley and Baird Knechtel.


April 29 - Humber College Student Awards

Program. Please contact Alan Shiels if you wish to

Attend.




Hotel Jazz Orchestra with special guest vocalist,

Jackie Richardson. Tickets are $35. Alan Shiels

announced that the concert is essentially sold out

with a waiting list. However, tickets do become

available before the date of the concert so if you

would like to attend, please contact Alan Shiels.

May 10 2016 Martin Loomer, at our next general

meeting, will give us his unique musician’s take on

selections from Duke Ellington

Dance Performances. These recordings can be

found in the 5 volume Laserlight set (15 783 – 787)

of Happy Birthday Duke. April 29 1953 and 1954

at McElroy’s Ballroom in Portland Oregon.


Bring a musical selection or two of Ellingtonia on

CD to play for the rest of us to enjoy. Also if you

have any Books, records CD’s etc. that you wish to

dispose of please bring them to sell at this meeting.

The first half of the meeting, from 7:00 p.m. to

about 7:30 p.m. will be devoted to the sale.

September 13 2016 – Our first meeting of the new

season. Again, a live performance held at

Montgomery’s Inn at 7:30 p.m. Band to be

determined.

December 6 2016 – Annual Holiday Party at the

Arts & Letters Club. Band to be determined.

Recent Jazz Events:

St. Philip’s Jazz Vespers

On Sunday April 2 St Philip’s Church held a Jazz

Vespers in which a quartet of Mike Murley, Brian

Dickinson, Pat Collins and Barry Elmes played a

Tribute to Duke Ellington. An image from the

concert, taken by Bruce Barton appears below.

Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre Free Noon

Hour Concert Series;

On Tuesday April 12 The Humber Studio Jazz

Ensemble played selections of Billy Strayhorn

compositions in celebration of his centenary in a

concert titled Strayhorn @100. This is a really

great band.

Jim Galloway’s Wee Big Band directed by

Martin Loomer made a welcome return at The

Garage on Bathurst St. on April 14. Presenting a

3

musical tribute to Jim Galloway, Kira Payne,

Gordon Evans and Laurie Bower who have

recently left us. The band is expected to make an

appearance at the Toronto Jazz Festival in July 1st

Canada Day at 12:30 p.m. in Nathan Phillips

Square. A return engagement at the Garage is

being considered for September.

Mike Murley: Jazz Vespers at St. Philip’s

Welcome New Members

New members who has just joined us: Mark

Guilbeault and John and Rosemary Powell-

Welcome.

Correction:

I had reported that Laurie Bower was 88 years of

age at his death. Baird Knechtel corrected me;

Laurie was 82.

Duke Ellington Birthday Radio Broadcasts –

There are many events scheduled to celebrate Duke

Ellington’s birthday on Friday April 29th. Many

radio stations schedule special programming on or

around this date to mark the occasion. Here are a

few suggestions for finding jazz on the “radio”. If

there are any changes to this schedule, I will advise

you by email.

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 program – 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 a very good

Ellington program which I expect to be broadcast

on April 30 this year.

WKCR in New York City now, unfortunately no

longer streams its excellent programming.

On Saturday April 23 from 8:00 a.m. to noon

WCDB in Albany will broadcast its Ellington

celebration hosted by Bill McCann with guest Bill

Saxonis, a New York City DES member. Their

stream is available at www.wcdbfm.com.

Carl Woideck who broadcasts Wednesdays from

7:30 – 10:00 p.m. his Soul of Jazz program on

KLCC in Oregon, and I expect he will broadcast

his Ellington celebration on his April 27

program. You can catch him at klcc.org 10:30

p.m. to 1:00 a.m.

The New England Public radio service broadcasts

a daily jazz program, Jazz a la Mode, hosted by

Tom Reney and heard from 8:00 ‘til 11:00 p.m.

This year Tom will host a celebration program on

Ellington on April 29th which, this year, can be

heard as a podcast for one week. The stream may

be heard at www.nepr.net

http://www.kucr.org/

http://www.wcdbfm.com/

http://klcc.org/

http://www.nepr.net/

4

On the BBC Geoffrey Smith’s weekly jazz

program regularly plays an Ellington Celebration

around April 29. There are several other jazz

programs of interest on the BBC which you can

explore here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/programmes/genres/

music/jazzandblues/player

There is also Colin Bray’s excellent classic jazz

program, 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 and occasionally a

special Ellington program during the regular

schedule. One can listen to Colin’s program for a

week after its original broadcast date as a podcast

accessible through the CIUT web site.

Jeff Healey has posthumously returned to the

airwaves on JAZZ-FM reprising some of his My

Kinda Jazz shows on Wednesdays at 9:00 to 11:00

p.m.

Some of the broadcast times may be inconvenient

for "live listening” and there may be some

overlapping so you may want to record some of

these programs for listening at your convenience

later, unless of course, a podcast is available. All

times quoted above are local Toronto times.

If you would like to listen to any of these radio

broadcasts but find the timing inconvenient or just

miss the opportunity, please let me know.

Miscellany

Martin Loomer learned of an interesting quote that

appeared in The Jazz Review, Volume one,

Number One, November 1958. Walter Page’s

Story as told to Frank Driggs:

“In 1934, I remember Duke coming through on his

way west that year. They were playing the Main

Street Theatre and some of the boys in Duke's band

wanted to go to hear Basie. Braud was in the band

and he acted big- gety, didn't want to go, said,

"What's he got?" We were playing at the Sun Set

Club and finally Duke and the rest crept around the

scrim and started sitting in. I was playing right on

top of Duke and he told Basie he was going to steal

me out of the band. Basie told him I owed him

$300.00 and that's how I didn't get to join Duke

during all those good years he had. It was the

smartest move Basie ever made . . .

I could have been doing the same thing that

Blanton did with Duke in 1939 because Duke

explored his men and if they had anything to offer,

he'd spot them, which Basie didn't do. Now that I'm

doing it, they say I'm copying Jimmy, and I say I'm

playing Walter Page. But here's something, I love

Basie . . . all I want is credit where it is due me.”

As Martin pointed out, imagine what Duke’s band

might have been with Walter Page on bass in the

1930’s.

Barry Tisdall has pointed out that a book was

published in November 2015. Colour Me Jazz –

The Archie Alleyne Story, as self-published

personal history of the great Toronto drummer.

Available at A Different Booklist bookseller at 746

Bathurst St. just south of Bloor St.

The New York Chapter of the Duke Ellington

Society has a new web site. Go here to check it

out: www.thedukeellingtonsociety.org



each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm




http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/programmes/genres/music/jazzandblues/player

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/programmes/genres/music/jazzandblues/player

http://www.ciut.fm/

http://www.thedukeellingtonsociety.org/

Vol. 57 No. 6 May and June 2016





2016 Annual Fundraising Concert.

his year our concert was held on April 30th with

John MacLeod’s Rex Hotel Jazz Orchestra once

again playing to a sold out house of five hundred

Duke Ellington fans in Walter Hall. The organizer of the concert, Alan Shiels, made some opening remarks and

thanked several people who had helped him organize the

concert. He noted that some people had attended all

eighteen of the concerts and made a strong appeal to the

audience that our society always needed fresh blood and

we were keen to attract new members.

Alan then introduced the band which led off the

proceedings with Isfahan from the Far East Suite

featuring Mike Murley on Tenor sax. From the

Shakespearean Such Sweet Thunder Suite the band

played Half the Fun with Andy Ballantyne soloing. John MacLeod created a “mash up samba” of O'Pato (Jayme

Sylva and Neuza Teixeira) and Take the “A” Train

(Strayhorn) called O’Pato Takes a Train which featured

Mike Murley extensively. This was followed by a rare

feature for Bob Leonard on Alto and Baritone Saxes with

Sophisticated Lady. Jackie Richardson then joined the

band on stage with Come Back To Me followed by Blues

for Weepers. The set concluded with the up tempo

Perdido.

Throughout the performance John MacLeod introduced the members of his band who were:

John MacLeod: Leader (trumpet and Flugelhorn), Alex

Kundakcioglu, Dave Dunlop, Chase Sanborn, Brian

O’Kane (trumpets), Andy Ballantyne, Bob De Angelis,

Mike Murley, Perry White, Bob Leonard (saxophones)

Alastair Kay, Rob Somerville, William Carne, Colin

Murray, (trombones), James McDonald and Erik Szaba

(French horns), Joey Goldstein (guitar), Anthony Panacci

(piano), Jim Vivian (bass) and Ted Warren (drums). A

couple of images of the band and Jackie Richardson follow.

Many Thanks to Bruce Barton for providing them

Jackie Richardson:

The second set started with a bossa version of Prelude to

a Kiss with the bass and guitar of Jim Vivian and Joey

Goldstein featured. John MacLeod entertained us with

his vocal rendition and cornet solo on Tulip or Turnip

which often featured Ray Nance. Alistair Kaye on

trombone was featured on Mood Indigo arranged by

another trombone player, Terry Promane. Jackie

Richardson returned to the stage and sang New York, New

York arranged for her by Andy Ballantyne in the Ellington style and featuring Perry White on Tenor. Jackie then

sang a heartfelt rendition of Come Sunday for which the

audience gave her a well-deserved standing ovation. John

MacLeod then announced his version of Just Squeeze Me

which was essentially transcribed from the Ed Bickert

version playing with Paul Desmond. The set ended with

It Don’t Mean a Thing if it ain’t got that Swing in which

all of the trumpet section was featured, one by one and

Bob De Angelis on tenor rounding out the number. The

band then played us an encore of Star Crossed Lovers,

from the Such Sweet Thunder Suite and showcased Andy Ballantyne on alto. The concert was a complete success

with everybody enjoying every minute of it.

T

2

Our thanks are due to Alan and Judy Shiels for, once again,

organizing such a successful event, including the

unexpected challenges.

The John MacLeod Rex Hotel Orchestra.

Minutes of the May 10 2016 General Meeting:

lan Shiels opened the meeting to 34 members and guests and introduced our speaker, Martin Loomer

whose topic for the evening was April 29 1953 and

1954 Birthday Sessions. These recordings are available on

the 5 volume Laserlight set (15 783 – 787) of Happy Birthday

Duke. April 29 1953 and 1954 made at McElroy’s Ballroom

in Portland Oregon by Wally Heider. The band had lost

Cootie Williams, Johnny Hodges and Lawrence Brown and

had, as replacements Willie Cook, Rick Henderson and Britt

Woodman. The drummer was now Butch Ballard, replacing

Louis Bellson. Martin explained that recordings made at

dance dates offered the musicians an opportunity to not be

constrained by the 3 minute limit on commercial 78 rpm recordings.

The first few recordings Martin played were from the

beginning of the 1953 dance date, before Ellington had made

it to the bandstand. Harry Carney led the band in Lullaby of

Birdland followed by Time on My Hands with a solo by

Jimmie Hamilton on clarinet, and the Willie Cook, trumpet,

featured on Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me. At this point Ellington

makes it to the stand and introduces himself with Take the

“A” Train with a solo by Ray Nance. Ellington then makes a

three chorus introduction to Liza. With the band now warmed up and everyone in place we heard Creole Love Call,

Strayhorn’s Boodah and Stomp Look and Listen. To

conclude the first half of the concert Martin played Happy Go

Lucky Local.

We took a short break with refreshments provided by Mel

Manley, Roslyn Harris and Matt Wood.

Martin started the second half with George Gershwin’s

Summertime followed by Warm Valley with Paul Gonsalves

ably standing in for the departed Johnny Hodges. Britt

Woodman then dazzled with Sultry Serenade. At this point

in the concert, Ellington is moved to play the blues and gives

us Hy-Ah Sue with a down and dirty Jimmie Hamilton on

tenor sax as opposed to his sophisticated clarinet work. We

then moved on to the inevitable medley which, this time, was

composed of I Let a Song Go out of My Heart and Don’t get

Around Much Anymore. Ray Nance was featured in the next

two numbers, Just Squeeze me in which he provides the vocal

and Caravan in which he is featured on violin.

Martin then brought the proceedings to a halt as we had run

out of time, however leaving sufficient material remaining

for at least another session. John Hornsby provided the vote

of thanks,

Minutes of the June 14 2016 General Meeting.

Prior to the meeting we were invited to offer for sale to other

members material from our collections and accumulations

which we no longer needed. Quite a number of people took

advantage of the opportunity and it was successful enough to warrant a repeat at next year’s final meeting.

The meeting was opened to 30 members and guests promptly

at 7:30 as it was our annual Member’s Choice. The

proceedings were opened by Liz Strathdee with Billy

Strayhorn’s Blood Count played by a quartet of Stan Getz,

Kenny Barron, Victor Lewis and Rufus Reed. Baird Knechtel

played two pieces from tape, Transblucency with the

wordless vocal Kay Davis recorded in 1946 and a personal

recording from a 1997 Northview Heights Secondary School

Music Night Concert of a Martin Loomer arrangement of Bakiff. Matt Wood selected Sophisticated Lady played by

Denny Christianson’s Big Band from a Justin Time

compilation Ellingtonia – A Tribute to Duke Ellington.

Oscar Peterson was featured in Patricia Poole’s choices, two

version of Rockin’ in Rhythm from Oscar’s Duke Ellington

Songbook. Allan Jones offered two selections during the

evening, Dave Brubeck playing The Duke and the Canadian

Jazz Quartet playing Come Sunday from their Street of

Dreams album. David Stimpson selected Mobile Bay from

the Sackville album, New Orleans, That’s our Home played

by Bob Barnard on trumpet, John Sheridan, piano and Don Vickery, drums.

At this point we took a social break refreshments provided by

Harold Swartz, Sheila Northover and Irene Barton.

After the break, John Hornsby chose Stan Kenton to play A

Train from the Complete Integrated Sunset Ridge Concert of

1976. Bill Wilson gave us Perdido played by The Duke

Ellington Legacy Band from the Thank You Uncle Edward

album of 2008. Stephen Cohen selected Johnny Hartmann

singing My Little Brown Book and a vocal version of Warm

Valley. Barry Tisdall chose Old Folks sung by Al Hibbler. Mel Manley chose Black Beauty played by Cootie Williams

and His Rug Cutters from June 22 1939 and available on the

A

3

Mosaic Duke Ellington Small Groups set. Jim Northover

chose Birmingham Breakdown played by the remarkable

Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks. To wind up the

evening Bruce Barton played Johnny Come Lately from the

1989 Ralph Peterson Presents the Fo’tet album.

Thanks to Bruce Barton for being the gatekeeper for the

session and for his technical prowess on the sound system.

Thanks to everyone for an excellent evening’s entertainment of Ducal music, a wide variety was presented from every era

to a larger than expected audience.


September 13 2016 – Our first meeting of the new season.

An outreach event featuring a live performance held at

Montgomery’s Inn at 7:30 p.m. with the music provided by

Don Thompson, Neil Swainson and Reg Schwager.

Members and guests must reserve with Judy Shiels prior to

the meeting as there is limited seating. If people who have

registered to attend and find that they cannot, please advise Judy Shiels at 416-239-2683 so that the seats may be

reallocated.

September 15 2016 – The Second appearance of Jim

Galloway’s Wee Big Band led by Martin Loomer at the

Garage, 720 Bathurst Street. Bathurst Station is the closest

subway.

December 6 2016 – Annual Holiday Party at the Arts &

Letters Club. A Quartet, led by Richard Whiteman on piano

will provide the music. Members may purchase tickets starting at the September 13 general meeting. Each member

may invite one guest. After the general meeting on October

11 nonmembers may purchase tickets. Nonmembers are

encouraged to let Judy Shiels know of their intentions as soon

as they can as a waiting list will be constructed. Nonmembers

will be accommodated on a first come first served basis

Jazz Events:

Don’t forget Marin Loomer’s Orange Devils at the Monarch

Tavern 12 Clinton Street, on the second Monday of each

month.

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 22 – July 3

http://ottawajazzfestival.com/

Toronto – June 24 – July 3. The Brian Barlow Big Band will

play a concert of Ellington music celebrating the 60th anniversary of Ellington’s rebirth at the 1956 Newport Jazz

Festival. This will be a free event in Nathan Phillip’s Square

starting at 12:30 p.m. on June 27.

The Wee Big Band led by Martin Loomer will perform a free

concert at Nathan Phillips Square on July 1st starting at 12:30

p.m. also.

http://torontojazz.com/

Brian Barlow’s Big Band will be presenting a Jazz Vespers

at Christ Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St on Sunday June

26 at 4:30p.m. (St Clair is the closest subway stop)

Toronto Beaches July 10 – July 26

Festival of the Sound – Parry Sound. July 15 – August 7

Saturday, July 23 Classically Ellington with Gene DiNovi,

piano; Dave Young, bass; James Campbell, clarinet; Glenn

Anderson, Drums; Drew Jurecka, violin.

Montreal – June 29 – July 9 http://www.montrealjazzfest.com/questions-en/

Trenton Big Band Festival July 21 – 23

Martin Loomer’s Orange Devils will be appearing at the

Trenton Big band Festival on July 23.

http://www.trentonbigbandfestival.com/

Oakville – Aug 5 – 6

http://www.oakvillejazz.com/

Prince Edward County – Aug 16 - 21. http://www.pecjazz.org/

Markham – Aug 18 – 21

http://markhamjazzfestival.com/full_programme.php

Port Hope Jazz Festival – September 9 – 11, An all Canadian

Jazz Festival

http://allcanadianjazz.ca/

Passages:

George “Buster” Cooper, jazz trombonist, was born on

April 4, 1929, in St. Petersburg, Florida, and died on May 13,

2016, aged 87.

Cooper played in many bands in his long career including Nat

Towles in Texas in the late 1940s, and with Lionel Hampton

in 1953.

Buster played in the house band at the Apollo Theater in New

York City in the mid-1950s, and following this spent time

with Benny Goodman.

From 1962 to 1969 he was trombonist in Duke Ellington’s

Orchestra.

During 1973, Buster relocated to Los Angeles and played in various jazz orchestras there over the next several decades.

http://ottawajazzfestival.com/

http://torontojazz.com/

http://www.montrealjazzfest.com/questions-en/

http://www.trentonbigbandfestival.com/

http://www.oakvillejazz.com/

http://www.pecjazz.org/

http://markhamjazzfestival.com/full_programme.php

http://allcanadianjazz.ca/

4

John Hornsby said: “Buster Cooper was a favourite musician

in the Ellington band for a number of years. So much so he

was invited to five Ellington Conferences:

Oldham, U.K. – 1988

Culver City, CA. – 1991

Copenhagen, Denmark – 1992

Chicago, IL - 1998 Hollywood, CA – 2000

In 1991, he appeared at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of

the Stan Kenton Orchestra, held at Newport Beach in

Southern California. Gerry and I attended both of these 1991

events! Wonderful memories…”

For an obituary:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/obituaries/jazz-icon-

trombonist-buster-cooper-dies-at-87-in-st-

petersburg/2277310

Ron Slade, former member of TDES, he was a member of

our chapter beginning early in 1992 until the 2010-

2011season. Ron was 88 years old. He shared his love of

jazz with his wife. Though he was a very quiet person we did

convince him to give a presentation, which took place on 8

October 1996. He recalled Duke’s Cotton Club Days in

1940. Thanks to John Hornsby for pointing this out and

contributing this brief obituary.

Joe Temperley is dead at 86. In recent years, he was a

mainstay of the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra. In the 1970s following the death of Harry Carney, his baritone

saxophone sound anchored the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

Temperley was born on September 20, 1929 in

Cowdenbeath, Scotland and moved to New York in 1965. He

worked with the big bands of Woody Herman, Thad Jones-

Mel Lewis, Clark Terry, Duke Pearson, Charles Mingus, and

with a score of all-star groups.

Eve Duke died in a Seniors Care Facility in Vancouver aged

91. She was born in Washington, D.C., made a name for

herself as a jazz singer and struck it big when Duke Ellington recruited her for his orchestra October 1950 to February

1951. TDES members may remember her appearance at

Ellington ’96 held in Toronto. She performed under the name

of Yvonne Lanauze.

Welcome New Members

A warm welcome to Barbara Cantlie, Jeanette Chafe, Donna

Kirkland, Peter Armstrong and Curtis Smith who have just

joined us.

Name Badge:

It is helpful to other members for each of us to have name

badges. They are available at a cost of $10 each. Please speak

to Jim Northover if you wish to order one. The new design

is:

Newsletter:

This will be the last newsletter of the 2015 – 2016 season.

The editor and entire editorial staff want to thank the Toronto

Duke Ellington Society for their forbearance and patience

and for the gratifying feedback. The Editor also wishes to

thank the redoubtable proof reader Sheila Northover for her

valiant efforts in trying to get it right. We wish the Members of TDES 40 a healthy and safe summer and hope to see you

all again at our first meeting of next year on September 13.

And please don’t forget: Nil significat nisi pulsatur


Ellington Society are held on the 2nd Tuesday of each

month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm




http://www.tampabay.com/news/obituaries/jazz-icon-trombonist-buster-cooper-dies-at-87-in-st-petersburg/2277310



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