Duke Ellington, After All (Billy Strayhorn)

And His Mother Called Him Bill (1967)

Personnel: Duke Ellington (piano); Russell Procope, Jimmy Hamilton (alto saxophone, clarinet); Johnny Hodges (alto saxophone); Paul Gonsalves (tenor saxophone); Harry Carney (baritone saxophone); Cat Anderson, Mercer Ellington, Herbie Jones, Cootie Williams (trumpet); Clark Terry (flugelhorn); John Sanders, Lawrence Brown, Buster Cooper, Chuck Connors (trombone); Aaron Bell, Jeff Castleman (bass); Steve Little, Sam Woodyard (drums).

I am completely captivated by the Strayhorn/Ellington narrative and by the 1967 CD And His Mother Called Him Bill. Every story has a beginning and a middle, and as many of us eventually figure out , there are no real endings. This CD is a living legacy of that reality. My appreciation for this body of work is inseparable from the love story it expresses.

Can you imagine being fortunate enough to meet someone in your lifetime that you connect with on a creative and soul level so profound that it is not a threat to, nor rivalled by any other kind of intimacy? From all that I have read by historians and biographers, and all myths aside, this is the essence of the relationship Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn shared and nurtured for 30 years. A bond beyond gender or sexuality, and even deeper than friendship. Yet, most of their famous compositions were collaborated on while apart and from completely different approaches, one being self taught liking contrast and discord, the other classically trained loving harmony and melody.

Strayhorn recalled the first time he watched the Duke in action: Something inside me changed when I saw Ellington on stage, like I hadn't been living until then. And later Ellington described Strayhorn as my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brainwaves in his head, and his in mine. When Billy Strayhorn died in 1967 after a two year struggle with esophagus cancer, Ellington was so devastated that he did not get out of bed for weeks, and three months later he called his band into the studio to record this tribute album.

Hence, my inspiration to share. These are my first You Tube uploads, audio only and not perfect, but just lay back, close your eyes and drift.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• jazz

[purplel123]

Ohhh so beautiful! I gotta get this CD!

[slyme1711]

Jazz IS more popular and accesable than ever before. There are universities and conservatoriums teaching the arts of Ellington and all the Jazz giants in every state of every country. I can't stand music bigots comparing the jazz of yesterday with the pop of today. Stop whining and tune into one of the miriade of jazz stations on the net. Folks always ask me why there isn't more Jazz gigs here in OZ and I tell em, "because you don't go to the gigs that are already on !!

[eenem13]

Jazz used to be considered rebellious and contra-system. I wonder when they'll start teaching rap in schools...

[attabuoy]

Yes, that's Hodges. This was part of Ellington's 1963 Paris Concert. The chords Ellington used

when accompanying Hodges were phenomenal!!

[shrimpy060]

my guess is Johnny Hodges, as he played sax for Duke Ellington all of forty-four years.

[da19lila38]

Possibly Johnny Hodges...

[miatababe98]

Who's playing the solo?

[dangervich]

One of the most perfect discs ever recorded along with Gerald Wilson's "Orchestra Portraits", Chas. Mingus' "Black Saint & the Sinner Lady" Catherine Bott's "Mad Songs" and Willie Nelson's "Red-Headed Stanger."

[attabuoy]

Have this on tape but can share this beauty with others.

[PowderSpirit3]

Soooooooo SOULFUL

thankYOU