Duke Ellington and his Orchestra - 1934

[CaliAllyE]

Thanks Hebnah for the lyrics. "Murder at the Vanities" was made at Paramount Studios between 5 Feb - late March 1934, released May 23, 1934. While there the manager, Irving Mills, mentioned to Mae West that she should have him in her movies. So she called up the studio, said she wanted him, and she got him! "Belle of the Nineties" was made between March 12 -June 5, '34, premiered Sept 21. From "Reminiscing in Tempo: a portrait of Duke Ellington" by Stuart Nicholson (comprised almost entirely o

[CaliAllyE]

@RollaArtist. I think Liszt would have loved it! His rhapsodies are all based on folk music (why his Hungarian rhapsody #2(?) is Brahms Spanish Rhapsody in A) and I've alway claimed that Liszt WAS a jazz musician; people at his concerts would complain when he played and started improvising, "where's the melody? I can find the melody!" Sounds like jazz to me!

[Alioud96]

Rest in peace Mr. Enllington.. you and the essence of what good music once was.

[JazzJonnie]

Shocking! Those crazy jazz cats!

[bobsong7]

Surrealism ain't got nuttin' on dis Jazz

[davidpalmquist]

Klaus Stratemann, in his Duke Ellington Day by Day and Film by Film writes that Murder At the Vanities was among the earliest white Hollywood films to have a chorus of black girls rather than white girls in blackface, and that the girls were contracted from the Culver City Cotton Club.

[JCsaxophile]

Now that's what I call a coup in the highest with willing converts to boot!! Post part 2 so that everbody knows the overall vibe of the establishment, we already see the tommy gun!

[RollaArtis]

Wonder what Liszt would have thought ???!!!

[jagib2]

shows how violence is embedded in american society. this guy doesn't like the mostly all black show that upstaged a totally white performance. so he gets a machine gun and shoots all the black people.

this crap actually happened a lot 1890's - 1930's. to Black America.

thank God for the civil rights movement.

[ABrandsma]

Thanks for uploading this one. I have several 1920's - 30's Ellington movie parts, but alas not this one. Anything recorded by his orchestra is a treasure in a way.

Thanks again and kind regards,

Bert Brandsma

[tofusauce]

i can't believe duke was actually in there

[ABrandsma]

He certainly was. His band made a number of appearences in Hollywood movies during the 1930. It helped to get him more famous during that time.

[jim12bas]

Duke may be the GREATEST composer of all time.

[ToddCMorgan]

That solo that duke takes is crazy-awesome in my opinion, especially when he slams those low C's! Duke was the man, and his band was always top-notch, and that's a real understatement!

[bubba9166]

Best jazz composer of all time...

[davisc1926]

Absolutely!!

[McDicker96]

3:43 looks and acts like mick jaggers mom

[supraphonic1]

vocalist-Ethel Merman?

[lesw1936]

The vocalist was Gertrude Michael, and the movie was Murder at the Vanities, a quirky 'mystery musical'. It was made before the US censor got twitchy, so contained nudity and drug references.

[54spiritedwill54]

awesome stuff!

[VanCephus]

Who is the female vocalist?

[DarbyRangers]

What's he going to do with sub machine gun?

[perfectjazz78]

"shoot" all the performers. A bad ending to a great revue sequence, so I left it off.

[blacsouljah]

Thank you for your sensitivity.

[aakurara]

@perfectjazz78 Ugh seriously??? That is a DISGUSTING ending to this fabulous performance. My gosh.

[JCJasion]

@perfectjazz78

Hence the title, I guess, "Murder At The Vanities".

[goghwatch]

@DarbyRangers ROFLMAO

[hebneh]

There is rhythm down on Martinique isle That has any minuet beat a mile For lowdown quality, and they call it The Ebony Rhapsody Instead of playing music like you do They supply a little classical voodoo They keep swingin' that thing while singin' The Ebony Rhapsody It's got those licks It's got those tricks That Mr. Liszt would never recognize It's got that beat The tropic heat They shake it till they make the old thermometer rise!

[Chivvon]

good video! Does anyone know what the name of the musical that this came from?

[EricScottReed]

I think it's "Murder at the Vanities" (1934).

[MrGameface]

oh, those flappers!

[laughland]

Great stuff!