medjuck

Thanks for posting this. I was impressed by the authenticity of the music and did recognize Tucker (I remember seeing her on The Ed Sullivan Show) and of course Jolson. Wasn't so sure of all the bands (or even if their chronologically correct.) I didn't guess that the guy in White face is meant to be Cantor because he didn't sing. Wish they would compile a list of their sources.

He used to come sometimes to meetings of the LA Duke Ellington Society. IIRC played at one of them. A great man and a nice guy.

No one else seems to have seen one either but Cohen makes a passing reference to it.

There were a couple of mis-statements about EKE alos but nothing serious. BTW does anyone else remember Duke wearing an earring near the end of his life? In my earlier post I forgot to mention that one of the revelations to me was the existence of a written narratives to Black, Brown and Beige that Ellington decided not to use though he obviously spent some time writing it.

The reviewers may have been responding to the way she looked.

I interviewed Zappa in a green room his band was sharing with BST. He had just heard CTA and was very excited that there were two other bands using horns. He was telling the BST guys about CTA and joked that the two other bands should do a gig with the Mothers and they'd all get on stage together to have a really big band with lots of horns.

BTW, if like me you have almost everything from this box, you can download the few things you don't have from the Amazon site for 99 cents each cut.

It's a the third or fourth EKE bio I've read. It does add a bit to the other ones and is well documented. A new idea (to me at last) was how important Duke's "image" was to him and his managers and how it differed from that of other black musicians of the time. I do wish his biographers would be less discrete about his relationship to his (apparently) many sexual partners. I'm not looking for salacious details but how about a list of who his girlfriends were at various times. And there was a rumour that Ruth Ellington was not his sister but his daughter from a youthful affair. Does any know anything about the veracity of that story? (And I wouldn't have mentioned that on the internet if Ruth were still alive.)

Me too please.

My two cents: I've heard Roy twice in the last three months, once with his own band last week and once in June with Chick Corea, Kenny Garrett and Christian McBride and I could not disagree more with that line of complaint. He sounded amazing both times, completely locked in, listening, having a conversation with the rest of the band. I suppose you could say he's a busy drummer -- he's always been busy -- but to me it's so musical and creative that the word intrusive is badly misplaced. I saw him about a year ago with his own group and didn't find him intrusive-- though you could tell he was the leader. BTW I also found his group's sound quite distinctive. Maybe I don't hear enough contemporary jazz but I thought they had created their own sound which I really liked.

I was going to ask about that-- also appropriated by rock and roll.

I remember using the term funk (before it was expropriated by rock and roll) for "Moanin'" but what do you call "Sidewinder" or "Una Mas"?. And are all such songs in 2/4 time?

Listening just now and wonder why the entire Billie Holiday set has never been legitimately released. I know it got terrible reviews but this one song sounds pretty good and not that different than other latter day Lady Day.

I think the series is worth watching for some of the interviews as well as the great film clips. (Also I'm a big fan of EKE and Pops so appreciated the perhaps over-emphasis on their importance. ) HOWEVER: I completely agree that given their funding the film makers should make the out-takes of their interviews available elsewhere. Also as good as much of the footage is its provenance is almost never given and that makes me suspicious of some of it. Eg. The footage of the Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Concert: Was all of that really shot during the concert? EVen if it's newsreel footage it may not have been. Things like that were often restaged for newsreels. Very often the footage just t seems generic and the music added to it indiscriminately. The musicians are sometimes obviously playing something different than what's on the soundtrack.

The site-which-must-not-be-named had two or three of these shows up. I haven't listened to them yet. Uhhhh. I don't know what site that is. You can PM if you really can't say it in public. I'd like to hear those.

I saw one of the shows with Tony Malaby and Mark Turner and thought it was great though I was unfamiliar with their work until then.

!!??? I've got tickets to see him on November 5th. Maybe Sonny will be a surprise guest.

This just popped up as a suggestion to me on Amazon. Anyone got an opinion?

Columbia once released a 2 disc set in Canada only (!!??) of his early recordings. Maybe Mosaic could do a box. (I don't know how many sessions he did without Lady Day-- it might be a select.)

Saw one of the trumpet cases and its contents on display at the We Want Miles exhibit in Montreal. Filled in a card for a draw with it as the 1st prize.

Reading "Ellington Uptown" so I just downloaded from iTunes Johnson's "Yamekraw" and Gershwin's "Blue Monday Blue" so I'd be able to listen to what he writing about.

Just listening to that on my phone and wondering who the tenor player was. (Most sets have a long write-up giving personnel and context but I couldn't find it for this one.)

Just discovered there is a Wolfgang's Vault iPhone ap. I walked the dog this morning while listening to the Cecil Taylor concert.

I just gave in and ordered it from Amazon even though I have the box set. I'm rationalizing it by saying I'm paying $18 for the DVD and 2 alternate takes. I presume the singles are just edits of the masters. They aren't in the box set are they?

I bought the 2 disc (12") original Black, Brown and Beige album and managed to break both discs when I was moving. I kept the album and am trying to figure out a way to frame it.