*** The Duke Ellington Corner ***

[sidewinder]

2 hours ago, xybert said:

Question regarding The Queen's Suite if anyone that was around at the time gets a chance: how anticipated was it's release? Were people clamouring for it or did it just kind of come out? Was the 'backstory' widely known in the years prior to it's release? Cheers. 

I remember it coming out on the Pablo LP - it was unexpected, at least over here. I think the story was that there was one copy presented to Her Maj so although known about, it wasn’t anticipated as a public release.

It certainly got radio airplay over here but I don’t recall it being a big seller. I still have my Pablo casette of this one !

[xybert]

2 hours ago, sidewinder said:

I remember it coming out on the Pablo LP - it was unexpected, at least over here. I think the story was that there was one copy presented to Her Maj so although known about, it wasn’t anticipated as a public release.

It certainly got radio airplay over here but I don’t recall it being a big seller. I still have my Pablo casette of this one !

Cheers. So it seems like at least to the wider fandom it wasn't a holy grail in the years prior to it's release.

[sidewinder]

I recall hearing about its existence as that single Buck House copy, with the expectation that we would probably never get to hear it. Not particularly on my radar at the time though.

[JSngry]

"Single Petal Of A Rose" was first heard (by me, anyway) as performed by Ben Webster on impulse!'s  The Definite Jazz Scene Volume 1. Seemed to be a leftover from the See You At The Fair album. The liner notes say :The next offering is indeed an unexpected treat. Back in 1959 Duke Ellington composed and recorded a suite especially for the Queen of England - only one pressing was made and it was presented to Her Highness by Ellington. Called The Queen Elizabeth Suite, it included six short compositions...and so on. That was more or less the last I heard of it, believe there was mention of it  in the autobiography, but it certainly never seemed like anything that would ever surface...until it did!

I bought the Pablo album within the first week of release, and could tell from the first notes that it was going to be a permanent favorite.

I still remember that John McDonough gave it a 3.5 star review in DB and compared it to Henry Mancini in not necessarily positive terms. That was when I started to keep an eye on John McDonough as somebody whose head was not always screwed on totally straight.

 

[sidewinder]

‘Her Highness?’   

I think it got some mixed magazine reviews over here as well. Seem to remember critic Derek Jewell giving it big plaudits when it came out and also that ‘Jazz Journal’ made it one of their top releases.

[medjuck]

I think I first learned  that the record had been released when I heard "A Single Petal of a Rose" used briefly as background music in the film "Rising Sun". 

[xybert]

Interesting all round, thanks.

[Ian Bradley]

Just passing on info of a proposed Duke Ellington Conference - the 25th in the series of International Study Group conferences - which will be held at The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham, UK 25-27 May 2018. A 'Call for Papers' has been issued and further details are available here.

Many thanks!

[Dave Garrett]

 

[bichos]

can you Name the musicians in this amazing film footage? is it from a garden Party in paris???? 

 

 

 

 

Keep boppin´

marcel

[Ian Bradley]

This is the information I have managed to glean about the footage...

https://villesville.blogspot.com/2019/11/perdido-and-more.html

 

[bichos]

thanks ian bradley for this interesting and informative blogspot link!!

 

Keep boppin´

marcel

[Ian Bradley]

You're welcome! Thanks for visiting.