Ellington-Strayhorn: World Premiere of Such Sweet Thunder!, 2; A Rare Duke Audio Interview (+Bonus Music Audio)

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Last time I shared a mysterious piece of sheet music from Such Sweet Thunder, with lyrics. It turns out that the words were not added by Duke! Go back to the previous post for the surprising answer to this mystery. Then continue here:

Last time you also got quite a lot of information about the world premiere of Such Sweet Thunder at New York’s Town Hall, April 28, 1957. The very next day, on his birthday, Ellington was interviewed about the piece by Harry Rasky for CBC (Canada public radio). (It was broadcast later, on May 15.) Rasky (1928-2007) was a very accomplished Canadian documentary filmmaker. (The statement in Wikipedia that “his films numbered more than 400” is wrong. I think the number was between 50 and 60—and that is impressive enough.) Some of his best-known documentaries are about the artist Marc Chagall, songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen, people with severe disabilities, and The War Against the Indians. So, as you can see, he had a very wide range of interests. In the late 1950s he was doing work for Canadian radio and TV, while living in New York City.

Duke tells Rasky that having the deadline of the Town Hall premiere helped him and Strayhorn to focus and get most of it done. Even so, he admits that “Hank Cinq” and “The Telecasters” were only finished on the day of the concert. He says that in the suite he attempted to create “thumbnail sketches,” rather than trying to capture entire plots or even entire characters. Let’s hear the interview now:

I thank Jack Chambers for sharing with us this very rare interview, not known to even most serious Ellington collectors. You probably know Jack’s books on Miles Davis (now in one combined volume), and maybe you know the one on pianist Dick Twardzik, but he is also an Ellington scholar of note, and his next book will be a study of Duke’s music that I know will be valuable.

We have further evidence that Duke was being accurate when he said that he had finished two of the movements on the day of the premiere. The night before the premiere, he was a guest on Leonard Feather's ABC network radio record quiz show Platterbrains. Here is the information from Billboard magazine of April 29, 1957, p.22. Saturday (27) refers to April 27th:

Wow—we would all love to hear that show. As far as I know there are no recordings of any Platterbrains programs. But Feather recalled what Ellington said on the show, for an article about the premiere published in the British magazine Melody Maker on May 18. (In the fourth and final installment, I’ll share that entire issue of the magazine with everybody. It contains many great articles.) Feather wrote:

It is supposed to consist of 12 pieces. But  knowing the dilatory nature of the Ellington-Strayhorn approach, I was not surprised when, appearing on my radio show the night before the concert, Duke said: “Well, we have nine of the tunes finished.” By concert time 11 were ready; for the twelfth he substituted “Cop-Out,” a number he has already recorded.

And of course, this last choice was also one of Duke’s famous jokes, because he was suggesting that it was a “Cop-Out” to play that piece instead of finishing the suite in time for the premiere. On the official LP, the twelfth piece is “Circle of Fourths.”

It is also evident, in his introductory words at the premiere, that some of the pieces were not yet titled. And we know now that, in addition to movements of the suite, he recorded a number of other individual pieces before the Town Hall concert. Those ones were probably not written for the Suite, but he used two or three of them to fill out the Suite. He re-titled them after they were recorded to give them a Shakespeare connection.

Below, for Paying Subscribers, are parts 4,5, and 6 of the suite as recorded at the World Premiere, with Duke’s announcements, and, of course, different improvisations from the recording.

All the best,
Lewis

P.S. Avakian’s archives, which include this recording and many others by various artists, are now housed at the New York Public Library, Lincoln Center Branch. The catalog is here. All audio/video content is listed under Series IV. Anyone can make an appointment to study these materials. Follow the directions here to make an appointment for Special Collections. No appointment is needed for the regular collection, but this falls under Special.