Jump to content

Duke Ellington on DVD


EKE BBB

Recommended Posts

Being an Ellington zealot, I haven´t got any DVD release of him! :( I´m a complete dummy regarding jazz on DVD!

I´ve heard OF this recent release:

Duke Ellington - Live at Tivoli Gardens: Parts 1 & 2 -

DVD (Image Entertainment)

Released Nov 11

140 minutes

Recorded on 1971

215415.jpg

Anybody heard/seen it?

Which DVD releases of the Duke Ellington Orchestra should I pick?

Thanks in advance!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All of them!

I just bought Tivoli Gardens but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.

Excluding that one, I might recommend The Intimate Duke Ellington first. It is very.... intimate. One well done 30 minute solo and trio program, and one 30 minute session with an octet. It is great.

Next, I would recommend Memories of Duke, which has great footage from his 1968 Mexican tour.

And of course, On the Road with Duke Elllington is also worthwhile.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Just picked "Duke Ellington & his orchestra 1929-1943" DVD from the JAZZ LEGENDS series on Storyville Films.

Selections from "Black and tan" (1929 - RKO); "Check and double check" (1930 - RKO); Symphony in black (1934 - Paramount); Paramount pictorial nº889 (1937); "The hit parade of 1937" (Republic pictures) and "DE & his orch." (1943 - RKO Jamboree nº7).

Total playing time 55 min.

Any comments on this one?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just picked "Duke Ellington & his orchestra 1929-1943" DVD from the JAZZ LEGENDS series on Storyville Films.

Selections from "Black and tan" (1929 - RKO); "Check and double check" (1930 - RKO); Symphony in black (1934 - Paramount); Paramount pictorial nº889 (1937); "The hit parade of 1937" (Republic pictures) and "DE & his orch." (1943 - RKO Jamboree nº7).

Total playing time 55 min.

Any comments on this one?

At 55 minutes it should (I think) have all of "Black &Tan" and "Symphony". If these are good quality prints this is a great package. And believe me you don't want to see anything except the EKE part of "Check and Double Check".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

There's also a 2DVD set that was issued in Japan by Nippon Columbia 'A Duke Named Ellington' that's amazing. It was directed by Terry Carter and produced in 1988 for WNET in the USA. With lots of superb vintage footage from early Ellington films appearances and later concerts plus a lot of interviews by people like Clark Terry, Jimmy Hamilton, Russell Procope, Willie The Lion Smith, Cootie Williams, Charles Mingus, Herb Jeffries, Louis Bellson and others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Working on my big-band class and viewing a DVD that a friend loaned to me--DUKE ELLINGTON IN HOLLYWOOD (IDEM Home Video). An hour-long compilation that includes "Black and Tan," a clip from "Check and Double Check," "Symphony in Black," "Belle of the Nineties," and other material (no "Murder at the Vanities," however):

Duke Ellington in Hollywood

Watching "Symphony in Black" all the way through again, I'm struck once more by what a remarkable piece it was for its time. Work, love, religion, and dance in the African-American community all expressed in one short nine-minute movement... it really does foreshadow Jump for Joy and Black, Brown and Beige, as others have pointed out. There's a quiet but powerful air of protest to it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For a "representation of the time" and great friggin' music, the "Old Man Blues" from "Check and Double Check" is priceless.  Sadly, I sent my tape of this to a friend (on the board) and it was lost. I'll get a DVD soon.

I would say any available Ellington is worth the money.

The whole movie is a mind boggling "representation of the time". Amos and Andy (and King Fish? --I forget if he's in it) are played by white actors in black face. Their scenes are often introduced with documentary footageof real Black people in Harlem. So the 2 stars in blackface drive the Ellington band to a high society gig for the filmming of which Juan Tizol and Barney Bigard also had to wear blackface so the band wouldn't look integrated !!

After the band plays a terrific version of Old Man Blues three band members step forward and sing "3 Little Words" but the voices we hear are those of 3 White guys: The Rhythm Boys (one of whom is Bing Crosby).

The movie flopped partly because Black audiences were dismayed that the actors who played Amos and Andy on the radio were White.

This is a movie you don't want to see on acid. Strangest thing I'd ever seen until I saw Starship Troopers.

Edited by medjuck
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, here's an interesting one--I was looking up some info about the 1937 Paramount short "Record Making With Duke Ellington" in Stratemann's DAY BY DAY AND FILM BY FILM and came across this aside:

In 1963, this commercial recording of "Daybreak Express" served as inspiration and background music to D.A. Pennebaker's first film, a six minute short entitled "Daybreak Express", which, in increasingly abstract images, gives an impression of an early morning ride into New York along the since demolished elevated railway, the "Third Avenue El". With its parallel rhythm of images and music, this little film is justifiably regarded as one of the most imaginative uses of Ellington's music for background purposes.

Sounds like something I'd really like to see. Puzzled by the "since demolished" passage, though; wasn't the El torn down in 1953? Were parts of it still standing in 1963? Or is Stratemann's wording simply confusing me--and Pennebaker's film was a cinematic reconstruction of the already-gone El?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 years later...

While torturing myself on the elliptical machine this morning, I watched (among other things), Ellington's "Symphony in Black" again. When I haven't seen it for awhile, I forget how amazing this 1934 short film is, musically and visually. As others have said, it looks forward to "Black, Brown and Beige," and also uses some existing music - pieces of "Ducky Wucky," "The Saddest Tale," and "Merry Go Round." show up. But Ellington really does manage to make a unified piece out of all of those elements. And Billie Holiday is far better than on her "official" earlier recordings.

"Symphony in Black" is on the RCA set The Centennial Collection, not to be confused with the complete Centennial Edition box. The Centennial Collection is one CD and one DVD; it appears to be out of print, but shouldn't be too hard to find. Most Ellingtonians will have the studio recordings on the CD, but there are seven excellent broadcast recordings as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The music is of course incredible throughout Duke's appearances on film, but I've always been taken with what presence he projected personally. The Black and Tan short from 1929 stands out. Just few moments but I've always thought Duke could have made a splash in film. Decades later, Anatomy of a Murder is another small but tasty Ducal treat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 years later...

Here are the Duke Ellington DVDs I own. I have no idea which ones are still readily available:

Duke Ellington    Love You Madly & A Concert of Sacred Music at Grace Cathedral     Eagle Eye Media 39100

Duke Ellington/Ella Fitzgerald   Duke: The Last Jam Session                                          Eagle Eye Media 39069

Duke Ellington       The Big Band Feeling                                                                               EForFilms 2869037

Duke Ellington       Reminiscing in Tempo                                                                  Gary Keys Productions adv

Duke Ellington       In Hollywood - Swing Era                                                                                      Idem 1029

Duke Ellington       Copenhagen 1965 - Parts 1 & 2                                                                            Image 9548

Duke Ellington       Live at the Tivoli Gardens 1971 - Parts 1 & 2                                                      Image 9550

Duke Ellington       The Intimate Duke Ellington                                                                                 Image 9551

Duke Ellington       Berlin Concert 1969                                                                                        Impro-Jazz 509

Duke Ellington       Rare Video Footage (1929-1962)                                                Legacy Entertainment 5004

Duke Ellington       Memories of Duke                                                                                                   MVD 855

Duke Ellington       Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1929-1943                                                Storyville 16033

Duke Ellington       Montreal 1964                                                                     Video Artists International 4358

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...