Word: duking
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...Duke Ellington's 100th anniversary, and here he is at Pottery Barn, sitting on the counter. Pottery Barn, like many other retail chains these days, is selling a variety of CD collections showcasing the kind of music it would like you to associate with spending. One of its offerings is PB Swing, featuring songs by '90s swing acts with one-hit-wonderish names like the Flying Neutrinos. But there's also one track, Take the "A" Train, by the Duke Ellington Orchestra. One wonders if the differences--and connections--between Duke and the new crop aren't lost...
...case, happy birthday, Duke. Edward Kennedy ("Duke") Ellington--pianist, bandleader, composer, swinger and genius--was born on April 29, 1899, in Washington. His centenary is being marked in large and small ways, with the release of several boxed sets, including RCA Victor's impressive and intimidating 24-CD Duke Ellington Centennial Edition (out April 27). For fans whose CD players can't accommodate two-dozen discs at a time, there's the satisfyingly concise single CD The Best of the Duke Ellington Centennial Edition. Other tributes range from last week's posthumous Pulitzer citation to the more than 400 commemorative...
Thirty years ago, in an essay titled "Homage to Duke Ellington on His Birthday," novelist Ralph Ellison posed these questions: "How many generations of Americans, white and black, wooed their wives and had the ceremonial moments of their high school and college days memorialized by Ellington's tunes? And to how many thousands has he defined what it should mean to be young and alive and American?" Today, at a time when neo-swing and the Big Band sound have become trendy, even bursting forth from commercials for the Gap and Burger King, it's worth pondering how much...
...Nazi occupation? Well, have I got a gem for you. Just take the boyish athletic body of Robert Sean Leonard and replace it with the beerstein physique of a well-fed middle-aged man. Exchange the faceless Gestapo brutes for a surprisingly mild-mannered Herr General. Toss The Duke's sassy “It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing" in favor of "Veronica, The Girl Who Gathers Asparagus in the Springtime," and you've got yourself The Harmonists...
Wynton Marsalis performs music by Duke Ellington at Symphony Hall (301 Mass Ave) along with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Jazz critic Bob Blumenthal opens with a talk. Call 266-1492 to check on the price and 482-6661 for tickets...