TheFifingIrish's channel

Great story, maybe apocryphal, about the Great James Robbery. 'Tis said that when the three gave their notice and said they were joining Duke, James replied, "Can I come, too?"

How come I've never heard of Lem Davis outside the Buck Clayton jams? The cat could play, and yet he's virtually unknown.

Anyone else notice a young Doc Severinsen sitting it out in the trumpet section?

And check out the understated but brilliant drumming by Jo Jones. I once heard Max Roach say Papa Jo was the greatest of them all. I've never heard anything to contradict that.

Damn! Didn't she ever hear her own recordings??

This was Duke's theme song until Strayhorn wrote "A Train." The trumpeter on this version, I believe, is not Cootie Williams but his predecessor, Bubber Miley. Also, it's possible that this recording is so old that the clarinet is Rudy Jackson, not Barney Bigard.

Arthur Whetsol had the most heart-breakingly beautiful tone of all the Ellington trumpeters! And did you know that the dancer in this film, Fredi Washington, was the future wife of a future Ellington trombonist, Lawrence Brown?

Never heard this as an instrumental? Check out Basie's instrumental version, also from the 1930s. Lester Young delivers a kick-ass solo!

As a teenager, Duke was a talented visual artist, who was awarded an art scholarship to the Pratt Institute. Small wonder, then, that he and Miro would be so simpatico!

Of all the jazz musicians in the world, Bechet was the man Duke Ellington admired the most. And yet, Bechet was one of the very few band members Duke ever fired! Apparently, he was a complete pain in the ass to work with, showing up for gigs only when he felt like it.

Many jazz classics are based on the changes for jazzy standards like "I Got Rhythm" or "How High the Moon," but only Clifford could do a jazz riff on Leroy Anderson!