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Ellington, Duke

Ellington: An Unknown Audio Interview with Nat Hentoff, 1953
One day before Ellington’s birthday, here’s something fascinating: This audio interview with Duke has been heard by a few Ellington specialists, but it…
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Lewis Porter
5
Duke Ellington's Filmed "History of Jazz in 3 Minutes" (+Bonus)
(Paying Subscribers, at the bottom you will see the actual contracts that show how much each musician was paid.) One of Ellington’s strangest and most…
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Lewis Porter
8
Ellington-Strayhorn: World Premiere of Such Sweet Thunder!, 4 of 4; Both Pianists At Once (+Music For Paying Subscribers)
(As always, you should go to the Index to find the previous essays on this topic. Again, the actual audio is reserved for paying subscribers, below.) In…
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Lewis Porter
Ellington-Strayhorn: World Premiere of Such Sweet Thunder!, 3; Jack Chambers' Analysis (+Bonus Audio)
As with the previous two installments of this series, today I will share with everybody some informative materials. Then, at the bottom, are three more…
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Lewis Porter
2
Ellington-Strayhorn: World Premiere of Such Sweet Thunder!, 2; A Rare Duke Audio Interview (+Bonus Music Audio)
(If you’re not already a Paying Subscriber, please consider becoming one. In addition to supporting my work, you’ll get frequent bonus items. For…
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Lewis Porter
Ellington-Strayhorn: World Premiere of Such Sweet Thunder!, 1,REVISED!; A Duke Manuscript (+Audio Bonus)
(I added NEW INFORMATION—scroll down past the Attached PDF, and read starting with the word UPDATE.) Most people consider the Shakespeare-inspired suite…
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Lewis Porter
6
Listing Favorite Records of Lester Young, Miles Davis, Ellington, et al, 1958
We previously mentioned society columnist Dorothy Kilgallen and the fact that she was a huge jazz fan. Well, today we’re looking at a column that…
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Lewis Porter
12
Duke Ellington Talks About Racism in Unknown Short Audio Interview
One could say that Duke Ellington (1899-1974) devoted his entire career to celebrating Black people and Black life in music. But, like many Black…
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Lewis Porter
14
Billie Holiday, The Arranger, Part 2: Ellington, Armstrong, and "Them There Eyes"
In the previous installment I presented evidence that Holiday was very involved in creating her versions—her arrangements—of each song. Today let’s take…
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Lewis Porter
6
Lester Young Planned to Join Ellington!
Let me share a press announcement that was not known to Ellington experts I’ve consulted. It states that Lester Young was slated to join Duke’s band in…
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Lewis Porter
1
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