THE INTERNATIONAL DEMS BULLETIN DUKE ELLINGTON MUSIC SOCIETY 10/1 April - July 2010 Our 32nd Year of Publication FOUNDER: BENNY AASLAND HONORARY MEMBER: FATHER JOHN GARCIA GENSEL EDITOR: SJEF HOEFSMIT ASSISTED BY: ROGER BOYES

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Sad NEWS

Ed Thigpen

DEMS 10/1-1

I regret to report that the drummer Ed Thigpen passed away on 13 January 2010. It has been stated on the website http://www.edthigpen.com/, where condolences can be delivered.
The drummer was for a period member of the Oscar Peterson trio, and recorded the LP “Night Train”. Later he also played with Ella Fitzgerald. Already in the sixties he made some recordings in Europe, and in 1972 he settled in Copenhagen, where he made a comprehensive number of recordings.
Ed Thigpen was excellent with brushes and it was a delight to hear his elegant and discreet playing on many recordings. He has also written a book on drumming.
Jørgen Mathiasen

Ed Thigpen joined the Ellington Orchestra on several occasions when he accompanied Ella Fitzgerald. On one of these, at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles (23 and 24Sep66), he also played the drums in Tap Dancer's Blues with the full orchestra.
DEMS

John Norris

DEMS 10/1-2

A great jazz man has died.
John Norris, founder of CODA, Canada's Jazz Magazine, and co-founder with Bill Smith of Sackville Records, died this evening, January 31...heart-related. He had just passed his 76th birthday in early January.
His wife Sandy says there'll be no traditional service, but later a memorial service, and I'm sure there'll be Jazz! Though not a musician, he lived a Jazz Life, dedicating his life and knowledge and resources to the music.
Ted O'Reilly

Good NEWS

Message from Gwenn Terry

DEMS 10/1-3

14Dec09. Thank you for the links for your Bulletin.
I just wanted you to know that Clark is receiving one of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards at the upcoming ceremony on January 30, 2010!
Here's one of the links: http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-blender/the-blender/2009/12/clark-terry-getting-recording-academy-lifetime-achievement-award/
We're still doing preliminary work with a publisher for Clark's autobiography. We'll keep you updated. Gwen Terry

Check out this page
http://www.diversitybusiness.com/news/supplierdiversity/45201057.asp
Lance Travis

One who is not too young to receive the honors... good news!
Frits Schjøtt

NEW FINDS

Khuld Hall in Baghdad

DEMS 10/1-4

I found a concert recording on YouTube called "Le Roi du Jazz Americaine, Duke Ellington et son Orchestre", with the following content:
Intro*Afro-Bossa; Stompin' at the Savoy; *Guitar Amour; Perdido; Honeysuckle Rose;
Tootie for Cootie; Kinda Dukish & Rockin' in Rhythm; I Got It Bad;
Things Ain't What They Used To Be; The Eighth Veil; Medley; *Diminuendo in Blue & Wailing Interval; *Lush Life into *Take the "A" Train (Billy Strayhorn) & close.
The Medley consists of *Satin Doll, *Solitude, Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Mood Indigo,
I'm Beginning To See the Light, Sophisticated Lady, Caravan, Do Nothin 'Till You Hear from Me,
I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart & Don't Get Around Much Anymore.
I am convinced this is from the Middle East tour in 1963, and by comparing the programme with those of other venues, I believe it must be from November. Also, Ray Nance is not present in the trumpet section.
I haven't seen any reference to this particular event in DESOR. New Timner has a note on a similar event said to be in either Beiruth or Karachi.
I hope you have better info on this event. If you want to check on YouTube, the easiest way is to search for "Duke Ellington et son Orchestre".
Anders Asplund

Anders agreed that we should publish this terrific New Find on the Duke-LYM list and not wait until the April Bulletin came out.
The selections with an asterisk have been used for a French documentary "La Légende du Duke". Klaus Götting reported about this documentary in DEMS 01/2-11 and referred to it later in 08/3-20.
After Honeysuckle Rose is a splice; after Things Ain't What They Used To Be Duke asked, "Time again?"; after The Eighth Veil is again a splice. It is obvious that these splices were made in the recording to get rid of the commercials in between and that Duke wanted to know when to interrupt his concert again to wait for the commercials being aired. This must have been a live telecast. There were two live telecasts according to Klaus Stratemann page 680. One on 5Nov63 from Teheran and one on 14Nov at the Khuld Hall in Baghdad. Ken Vail helps us out. He writes on page 230 of the second volume of his "Duke's Diary" that the 5Nov63 live telecast came from the ballroom of the Royal Teheran Hotel. He does not give details of the second live telecast on 14Nov63. It is obvious that it was not played in a ballroom but on the stage of a large theatre. That makes us conclude that the date was 14Nov63. Will we ever see the 5Nov63 telecast? It was probably not even recorded.
Sjef Hoefsmit

Thanks very much for this, and I look forward to learning more of its source. It might be worth mentioning in the Bulletin that the whole concert plays back slightly too slow - only slightly, no worse than what we became used to on live LPs from the 1970s onwards.
Brian Priestley

This is easier
http://www.archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.47984
Michael Palmer

Salle Pleyel (and two other venues) in Paris

DEMS 10/1-5

If you go to http://boutique.ina.fr you arrive at a page where you can fill in "Duke Ellington" on the spot where you found "Rechercher sur Ina Boutique". If you push on "OK" it will show three interesting Ellington recordings on video: 1. Saint Sulpice (1'42"); 2. Stephane (Grappelli) (4'11") and the most important one: 3. Duke Ellington et son Orchestre (31'48").
(Ina stands for Institut National de l'Audiovisuel.)
1. Is taken from the rehearsals at the church Saint Sulpice in Paris before the subsequent tele recording of the complete Sacred Concert. The recordings were made on 16Nov69 and the complete concert was telecast on 25Dec69. From the rehearsals we hear parts of Praise God and Something 'bout Believing.
2. Is a short medley, played by Stephane Grappelli and Duke Ellington for an ORTF telecast, recorded on 4Jan73 and telecast on 27Jan73. We hear a Medley with Solitude; Don't Get Around Much Anymore & Let a Song Go Out of My Heart; It Don't Mean a Thing.
3. Will give you the following 6 selections taken from the middle of the 20Nov58 concert at the Salle Pleyel in Paris: Such Sweet Thunder; Caravan; Newport Up; Violet Blue; El Gato plus Take the "A" Train in two parts. This concert has been released in its entirety (in audio) on the two CDs Magic DAWE 39 and 40 (see DEMS 90/4-5).
You can ask for downloading these recordings but you can also order a DVD with your wants. I choose the DVD. The DVD you will receive has region code 0, which means that you can play it everywhere.
Sjef Hoefsmit

More films on the Internet

DEMS 10/1-6

The Pathé Newsreel from 1930 showing Harlem and more importantly Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club can be found at http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=50945
This is the source of many clips in Ellington documentaries. See Stratemann p57 and DEMS 01/1-18.
Arne Neegaard

Zürich 1959

DEMS 10/1-7

Luciano Massagli received from a friend a very good audio recording of the Swiss broadcast of the second half of the 9oct59 Zürich concert (DE5934). This is the concert from which several selections were telecast in Switzerland through two different stations, one German language, one French. The intermission was just after All of Me. The first selection after the intermission was a "fresh" Take the "A" Train. V.I.P. Boogie and Jam with Sam were also in the German language telecast. The following Lil Greenwood "portion" is "fresh". It consisted of St. Louis Blues; Bill Bailey and Walkin' and Singin' the Blues. The following Medley has no "fresh" selections. It was previously in collectors' hands on audiotape of mediocre quality. The French telecast with two of the selections in the Medley was released on the DVD Impro Jazz 510 (see DEMS 06/2-12). The first and third encores Basin Street Blues and Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue were also in this French telecast. The second encore was the "fresh" Happy Reunion. The first, second and third are based on the sequence in the broadcast. The correction-sheet 1096 shows the sequence of the actual performance.
Luciano gave me permission to make copies for DEMS members. I happen to have a reasonable recording of the first part of the concert. I am considering making a double CD with the complete concert for those who are interested.
Sjef Hoefsmit

NEW BOOKS

Duke Ellington’s America

DEMS 10/1-8

See DEMS 09/3-3.

The book is available now. It has already shipped from UCP. I cannot wait to have a copy in my hands!
This is the link: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=8169884
Louis Tavecchio