[Dixielandjazz] Duke Ellington's 115th birthday 4-29-- Doug Ramsey's blog

[Steve Gilmore]

Priceless Stuff Norman.     Steve G.


On Wed, Apr 30, 2014 at 9:57 AM, Norman Vickers <NVickers1 at cox.net> wrote:

> To:  Musicians and Jazzfans list:  DJML
>
> From: Norman Vickers, Jazz Society of Pensacola
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>
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> Yesterday was Duke Ellington’s 115th birthday.  Doug Ramsey’s Rifftides
> blog on Arts Journal website has story and video including Ellington’s 70
> th birthday party at the White House.
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> Personal note:  Milt Hinton was a participant at the event.  He included
> some photos of that in his book, Bass Line.  We had Milt  down to perform
>  for a Pensacola JazzFest  late 1980s and his photos were on exhibit at the
> Pensacola Museum of Art.  He talked about his involvement in that event.
> From Terry Teachout’s biography of Ellington,  I learned that it was Willis
> Conover’s idea and President Nixon let him work out the details.( It was
> reported that Pres and Mrs. Nixon retired early before the musical portion
> got going well.)   Also, reason for inviting the diverse group of
> musicians, Ellington’s band was booked that night in another city, so they
> were not available.  Hinton, himself, had briefly been a member of the
> Ellington band.  ( Also covered in Hinton’s book)
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>
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> Here is direct link to Ramsey’s Rifftides blog.  It includes a couple of
> videos.  Recommended!
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> http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/2014/04/duke-ellingtons-birthday.html
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> --End--
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