When I think of Duke Ellington it nearly always brings these anecdotes to mind.
My eccentric music loving uncle Bill once said “Duke Ellington doesn’t compose jazz, he composes Duke Ellington music.” I’d never thought of it that way before.
In 1969 at a Jazz Festival in North Carolina Frank Zappa saw Ellington (who had met the Mothers of Invention and thought they were a great band) beg for a $10 advance so he could get some dinner. This led Zappa to the opinion if someone like Ellington has to beg for money he’s in the wrong business and shortly after he disbanded the original Mothers.
Best though, at some point in the mid 1960’s Ellington was playing in Kansas City. My dad, a HUGE fan, wanted to meet him so he staked out the lobby of what he thought the likeliest hotel Ellington would stay in and waited. At some point after midnight someone arrived with a huge flower arrangement so my dad followed them where they were delivered. When he knocked on the door, Ellington answered. Impressed by his determination he invited my dad in and spent the evening with him. When my dad came home early the next morning my mom wasn’t too pleased but he was on cloud 9. Years later, after both my parents passed away going through his records I found a box set of Ellington’s early recordings. When I opened it I found memorabilia from that encounter - the ticket to his show, autographed, a sheet of blank music paper with “to my friend, Doc (my dad’s nickname), Duke Ellington” on it, the set list for that night in Ellingtons handwriting, and several other local newspaper articles from the period.
It’s nice to know that for all intents and purposes Duke Ellington was every bit as nice and gracious a guy as you would ever want to meet.
Great article. I do take issue with the line in the Joni section, “the better her music became.” Because ‘better’ and music are a very subjective combo. “Blue” was one of the greatest singer/songwriter albums ever recorded, the songs brilliant, both musically and lyrically, the performances stunning in their emotional impact. Does that mean it was “better” than Hejira? No. Because it’s subjective, based on the music you like, the impact a particular piece of music on you at the time, what else was going on at the time, etc.
Interesting. I don't consider myself a jazz lover, though lately I have been listening to Snarky Puppy. But I know Hejira intimately, and it is as likely to get play time as Joni's earlier work. It doesn't seem unreachable, but at that time, when I got an album, I would listen to it repeatedly. Skipping tracks was hard to do, and we didn't do it.
The best thing about the resurgence of vinyl is that more people may once again listen to an artist's entire work, in the order in which it was intended.
Q: How do you drive a Pink Floyd fan crazy? A: play Dark Side of the Moon on shuffle
Joni's body of work stands out among all contemporary artists, both in its lyrical scope and musical adventurism. Sure, the popularity of her earlier work is the product of her easy melodies and memorable lyrics. She proved repeatedly that she could catch her audience's ears and hearts.
But her work following Blue became more challenging. You had to listen deeply - it wasn't background music to play at a dinner party or while sipping coffee and chatting. But if you dig into it, it's rewarding for the stories she tells and the harmonies she coaxes out of her instruments. And she has been a restless enough artist to never settle for less than her best effort - nothing she has released could be considered a throwaway.
The fact that some of the most accomplished jazz musicians of our time shared the stage with her, where she held her own with her playing and singing, and expressive way of moving as she performed, is unmatched. I can't think of another artist with her breadth of talent.
I'm so glad that she's enjoying a renaissance today, and has returned to the pubic stage to get some love from the public. I don't think she really got her due before this, and although I enjoyed "Reckless Daughter" by David Yaffe, which tells us much about her life and times, I look forward to someone with a deep understanding of harmony/lyrics/rhythm taking on the work of helping us to understand all she has achieved.
You mentioned Johnny Green's "Out of Nowhere" and its harmonic similarity to the Star Trek Theme. An even more interesting contrafact might be Tadd Dameron & Fats Navarro's "Casbah," with its bongos and female scat-singing.
For me, I liked Joni Mitchell but not enough to buy an album. Then I fell in love with Jazz. Then I bumped back into Joni Mitchell and I had a completely new perspective. Her post folk albums absolutely knock me out. I wont try to convince anyone which album by Joni they should favour but the heady complexity of her output from Court & Spark onwards is some of the very best music I’ve listened to. Love her to bits!
I think we can respectfully disagree about Joni. There is often a sense that those of us who didn't appreciate Hejira lacked a certain musical sophistication, which may be true, but insisting on some objective judgment that the 1975 music is lesser than that, which came after seems capricious and perhaps unintentionally but nonetheless, condescending. It may be that our ears are not attuned to some genius in these compositions or maybe that they are much less listenable and for many of us music is still about listening whether easy or enjoyable or emotional, but listening and feeling.
I'm glad someone else see that the genius of Duke and Joni continued and expanded as they moved away from what made them famous. For my money (pun intended) Money Jungle is one of Duke's greatest accomplishments, and Mingus one of Joni's. Great artists *always* change.
I clicked on the link to listen to Body and Soul. This unfortunately made me realize that I have fallen to level of listening to music, with the quality of my Mac speakers, and it doesn't even really bother me. I say half-jokingly that I now listen to music on such poor quality devices as my iPhone or Mac speakers. I have said in the past that I would never stoop this level, but I have. Maybe that is worth writing a piece about. - lol Aside from that nice piece Will, thanks
I've been a Joni fan my entire life, have almost all her albums. My fave has always been Hejira. Also love The Hissing of Summer Lawns (jazz-influenced). Her live rendition of "Good-bye Porkpie Hat" never fails to knock me out.
"When you hear someone sing a Joni Mitchell song, it’s invariably from before 1975.”
This made me want to note (not as disagreement but as complication) two covers of “Black Crow” from “Hejira”: Cassandra Wilson on her 1993 album “Blue Light ’Til Dawn” and Diana Krall on her 2004 album “The Girl in the Other Room”.
Good piece, thanks. It prompted me to listen not to Hejiera but instead Hissing of Summer Lawns, on my way back from Band rehearsal. Another beautiful album. Looking forward even more to a Duke Ellington music (playing) day in October!
When I think of Duke Ellington it nearly always brings these anecdotes to mind.
My eccentric music loving uncle Bill once said “Duke Ellington doesn’t compose jazz, he composes Duke Ellington music.” I’d never thought of it that way before.
In 1969 at a Jazz Festival in North Carolina Frank Zappa saw Ellington (who had met the Mothers of Invention and thought they were a great band) beg for a $10 advance so he could get some dinner. This led Zappa to the opinion if someone like Ellington has to beg for money he’s in the wrong business and shortly after he disbanded the original Mothers.
Best though, at some point in the mid 1960’s Ellington was playing in Kansas City. My dad, a HUGE fan, wanted to meet him so he staked out the lobby of what he thought the likeliest hotel Ellington would stay in and waited. At some point after midnight someone arrived with a huge flower arrangement so my dad followed them where they were delivered. When he knocked on the door, Ellington answered. Impressed by his determination he invited my dad in and spent the evening with him. When my dad came home early the next morning my mom wasn’t too pleased but he was on cloud 9. Years later, after both my parents passed away going through his records I found a box set of Ellington’s early recordings. When I opened it I found memorabilia from that encounter - the ticket to his show, autographed, a sheet of blank music paper with “to my friend, Doc (my dad’s nickname), Duke Ellington” on it, the set list for that night in Ellingtons handwriting, and several other local newspaper articles from the period.
It’s nice to know that for all intents and purposes Duke Ellington was every bit as nice and gracious a guy as you would ever want to meet.
Nice article.
Great article. I do take issue with the line in the Joni section, “the better her music became.” Because ‘better’ and music are a very subjective combo. “Blue” was one of the greatest singer/songwriter albums ever recorded, the songs brilliant, both musically and lyrically, the performances stunning in their emotional impact. Does that mean it was “better” than Hejira? No. Because it’s subjective, based on the music you like, the impact a particular piece of music on you at the time, what else was going on at the time, etc.
Interesting. I don't consider myself a jazz lover, though lately I have been listening to Snarky Puppy. But I know Hejira intimately, and it is as likely to get play time as Joni's earlier work. It doesn't seem unreachable, but at that time, when I got an album, I would listen to it repeatedly. Skipping tracks was hard to do, and we didn't do it.
The best thing about the resurgence of vinyl is that more people may once again listen to an artist's entire work, in the order in which it was intended.
Q: How do you drive a Pink Floyd fan crazy? A: play Dark Side of the Moon on shuffle
Joni's body of work stands out among all contemporary artists, both in its lyrical scope and musical adventurism. Sure, the popularity of her earlier work is the product of her easy melodies and memorable lyrics. She proved repeatedly that she could catch her audience's ears and hearts.
But her work following Blue became more challenging. You had to listen deeply - it wasn't background music to play at a dinner party or while sipping coffee and chatting. But if you dig into it, it's rewarding for the stories she tells and the harmonies she coaxes out of her instruments. And she has been a restless enough artist to never settle for less than her best effort - nothing she has released could be considered a throwaway.
The fact that some of the most accomplished jazz musicians of our time shared the stage with her, where she held her own with her playing and singing, and expressive way of moving as she performed, is unmatched. I can't think of another artist with her breadth of talent.
I'm so glad that she's enjoying a renaissance today, and has returned to the pubic stage to get some love from the public. I don't think she really got her due before this, and although I enjoyed "Reckless Daughter" by David Yaffe, which tells us much about her life and times, I look forward to someone with a deep understanding of harmony/lyrics/rhythm taking on the work of helping us to understand all she has achieved.
Ted?
You mentioned Johnny Green's "Out of Nowhere" and its harmonic similarity to the Star Trek Theme. An even more interesting contrafact might be Tadd Dameron & Fats Navarro's "Casbah," with its bongos and female scat-singing.
For me, I liked Joni Mitchell but not enough to buy an album. Then I fell in love with Jazz. Then I bumped back into Joni Mitchell and I had a completely new perspective. Her post folk albums absolutely knock me out. I wont try to convince anyone which album by Joni they should favour but the heady complexity of her output from Court & Spark onwards is some of the very best music I’ve listened to. Love her to bits!
I think we can respectfully disagree about Joni. There is often a sense that those of us who didn't appreciate Hejira lacked a certain musical sophistication, which may be true, but insisting on some objective judgment that the 1975 music is lesser than that, which came after seems capricious and perhaps unintentionally but nonetheless, condescending. It may be that our ears are not attuned to some genius in these compositions or maybe that they are much less listenable and for many of us music is still about listening whether easy or enjoyable or emotional, but listening and feeling.
I'm glad someone else see that the genius of Duke and Joni continued and expanded as they moved away from what made them famous. For my money (pun intended) Money Jungle is one of Duke's greatest accomplishments, and Mingus one of Joni's. Great artists *always* change.
I clicked on the link to listen to Body and Soul. This unfortunately made me realize that I have fallen to level of listening to music, with the quality of my Mac speakers, and it doesn't even really bother me. I say half-jokingly that I now listen to music on such poor quality devices as my iPhone or Mac speakers. I have said in the past that I would never stoop this level, but I have. Maybe that is worth writing a piece about. - lol Aside from that nice piece Will, thanks
I love this 1975 ‘live’ (at Gordon Lightfoot’s home) version of Coyote with Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn. https://youtu.be/zeaO5UZ5OcI
Will is a talented and knowledgeable writer. He's also written books about animation from Warner Brothers, which is how I came to first discover him.
= = Body and Soul = =
Manhattan Transfer - https://youtu.be/wVGnFSfoECQ
Bill Evans & Toots Thielemans - https://youtu.be/BK04qLQb9eg
= = Joni Mitchell, Shadows And Light = =
https://youtu.be/bLKb9Ms68ME
I've been a Joni fan my entire life, have almost all her albums. My fave has always been Hejira. Also love The Hissing of Summer Lawns (jazz-influenced). Her live rendition of "Good-bye Porkpie Hat" never fails to knock me out.
"When you hear someone sing a Joni Mitchell song, it’s invariably from before 1975.”
This made me want to note (not as disagreement but as complication) two covers of “Black Crow” from “Hejira”: Cassandra Wilson on her 1993 album “Blue Light ’Til Dawn” and Diana Krall on her 2004 album “The Girl in the Other Room”.
Good piece, thanks. It prompted me to listen not to Hejiera but instead Hissing of Summer Lawns, on my way back from Band rehearsal. Another beautiful album. Looking forward even more to a Duke Ellington music (playing) day in October!
Amazing to feature guest writers, I'd love to discuss Japanese music with you.
https://hiddenjapan.substack.com/