aworks :: "new" american classical music

Choo Choo (1924). Duke Ellington /mingus & roach are to ellington as tbd is to adams/

I'm currently stuck in a "less is more" aesthetic and feel unwilling to actually elaborate on what I'm thinking. But suffice it to say, I've spent the last several months listening to, among others, the music of Duke Ellington and I'm struck by two things:

• Choo Choo specifically and Ellington's music in the 1920s generally, are more interesting than I ever imagined. Choo Choo could be a novelty song but instead may be artistic genius. I used to want to time travel to New York circa 1964 to witness the bubbling up of minimalism (or alternatively and slightly earlier, to visit UC Berkeley, pre-Amoeba, when Riley and Young were students). But now I wish I were alive in NYC/Harlem in the twenties. Mark Tucker's Ellington: The Early Years (e.g. Chapter 9) captures the now stunning musical effect of Choo Choo in detail. Here's an introductory quote:

In the early 1920s jazz was supposed to be entertaining...Yet Ellington and his band avoid the temptation to play "Choo Choo" for laughs.

• Ellington's Money Jungle album from 1962, with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, may be the penultimate expression of improvised music, ahead of the more renowned Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. I'm still working on this theory (and god forbid I trash Miles, Coltrane, and Cannonball Adderley) but the strength of the "backing" musicians is superb as they somehow push the sometimes overly suave, if not "twee," Duke into the best piano playing of his career.

This all leads me to suggest John Adams is our era's Duke Ellington.

Here's the argument: they both understood and expressed their cultural zeitgeist, they both achieved an unexpected level of musical popularity, they both had innovative things to say individually and collectively, and both their musics transcended origins and presumably will endure...

Mood Indigo (1930). Duke Ellington, Barney Bigard, Irving Mills /in the mood/

Noted Duke Ellington advocate Michael J. West gets his new jazz column off to a good start with this statement:

We'll debate my long-held contention that Ornette Coleman is a more important figure in jazz than Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and maybe even (God forgive me) Duke Ellington.

As it happens, I'm headed in the opposite direction, having for some reason moved away from the music of Coleman and jumping back into the Ellington thing, specifically Mood Indigo.

After listening to an old version by Ellington on the Ken Burns CD set, newer versions by Count Basie, Joe Pass, Errol Garner, Thelonius Monk etc. and new versions by pop singer Debbie Boone (!?) and mandolinist David Grisman, the one that stands out is a 1957 Duke Ellington recording. In this version, Duke plays a couple of bars on piano as the introduction and then the song immediately takes off into a long and effective trumpet solo. Eventually, the band does come in to play the melody but at that point, who cares after what just transpired.

All Music has a clip of the trumpet solo. I haven't been able to find who plays this but maybe it's Clark Terry or Ray Nance.

personal note: i'm honored to have this cd from the collection of the elegant mary w.

The Queen's Suite (1958). Duke Ellington /counterstream/

Via Centripetal Notion, the pre-launch of Counterstream Radio (from the American Music Center) and its particularly clean playlist and look/feel:

Counterstream will be your online home for exploring the music of America's composers. We will broadcast a frequently updated general mix of adventurous music, as well as an eclectic assortment of guest-curated programs, genre-specific radio hours, interviews, and live concert recordings. Listen and discover the sound of music without limits.

Looks like it cycles through a short playlist. Despite that, this is a pleasing and coherent contrast to my recent experience with the jumbled results of social and analytical streaming sites.

Black, Beige and Tan (1943). Duke Ellington

Everyone's favorite oboe blogger has her performance schedule posted including the October American music concert in San Jose with works by Amram, Ellington, and Gershwin.

gable: aworks great depression/world war ii era ellington: aworks dc library del.icio.us wikipedia google news yahoo audio singingfish black, beige and tan: amazon sales rank #61,554

american red cross salvation army ezra klein on ideological casualties

Satin Doll (1953). Duke Ellington

Anne Cloudman points out the new HBO show Classical Baby, where the US cable television leader goes for a new demographic. Note that Irving Berlin and Duke Ellington are included along with Tchaikovsky, Bach, Satie, Schumann, Strauss, Bizet, Puccini and Debussy. What, no Baby Mozart?