Word: jazzed
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...score of years, while "kings" of jazz and swing have succeeded each other with Balkan rapidity, a "Duke" has exhibited most of the real majesty from beside the throne. So last week the U.S. music world helped the Duke celebrate his 20th year as a band leader. The American Federation of Musicians officially blessed a National Ellington Week in honor of famed Edward Kennedy ("Duke") Ellington, whose flamboyant black band has played superb jazz longer than any other orchestra in the history of U.S. popular music...
...Rhythm. Duke affably prowled before his men in his sweeping tails, conducting, adding neat phrases on the piano, introducing his numbers with graceful speeches. His music, as usual, was practically all by himself (with heavy contributions in orchestration and improvising from the boys). It was incandescent, original jazz, sometimes ebullient, sometimes languid, the product of one of the few authentically creative minds in contemporary music...
...anyone is ever successful, Ellington will be the man. There is no man living who can touch his combined genius for melody, orchestration, and conducting, in any realm of music. With the greatest jazz band in the world, with some of the best living soloists. Ellington has a superb medium for his ideas...
...tried to rise above jazz with "Creole Rhapsody" and "Reminiscing in Tempo," but these were unsatisfactory. In the past ten years, however, Duke has made tremendous advances, and shows no sign of stopping. The main feature of the concert is an ambitious, three-part "Tone Parallel" called "Black, Brown, and Beige," which lasts forty-five minutes...
George Frazier, famous jazz critic, now working for Life, writes from New York that the band seemed self-conscious in most of the numbers. "Black, Brown, and Beige" although disorganized, had some very lovely parts. He thinks it is a proof of the fact that Ellington is eventually going to do something incredibly exciting. Ben Webster played beautifully, as did all others, but Johnny Hodges' solo on "Day Dreams" got the most applause. Duke played "Blue Belles of Harlem" almost as a piano solo and he played better than ever before. A girl named Roche now sings with the band...