Journal of Jazz Studies vol. 8, no. 2, pp.

137-162 (Winter 2012)

The Duke At Fargo

Annie Kuebler

Liner notes from The Duke at Fargo 1940: Special 60th Anniversary
Edition (Storyville STCD 8317/17)*

Time present and time past

Are both perhaps in time future,
And time future contained in time past.1
-T.S. Eliot

Ten years past, the curtains parted at the opulent Cotton Club, in New York
City's Harlem district, to reveal Duke Ellington & His Jungle Band,
resplendent in their showman's suits. The band, positioned behind the sepia-
colored dancers and an emcee in blackface and minstrel attire, performed a
stageshow for celebrities, gangsters and other mature, white wealthy new
Yorkers. The gentlemen in tuxedos and the ladies, dressed to the nines, paid
their $1.50 admission and crowded around clothed tables, stashing their
prohibited liquor underneath. The same piano player, the same drummer, four,
the only four out of five, saxophonists, two, the only two out of three,
trombonists, and not one of the same trumpet players at Fargo, North Dakota
opened the Cotton Club show with their theme song East St. Louis Toodle-
Oo.
Forget time future from 1940 on, pay your $1.50 admission and walk into
time present, sixty years ago, the Crystal Ballroom in Fargo, North Dakota on
November 7, 1940. You are early. Barney Bigard, Ivie Anderson and several
other band members sit on the stage around a card table, pursuing their
favorite pastime--playing cards. Only a new face, Ray Nance, is eagerly dressed
in the band uniform of matching striped ties, light sports coats and dark
trousers. Two young Ellington fans/engineers, Jack Towers and Dick Burris,
busily set up their three microphones: an RCA Dynamic mike stage center for
the soloists. Their wives Rhoda and Leora, seated in the midst of the audience,
gleefully observe their husbands in nirvana. All are living in the moment and

1
The Four Quartets. "Burnt Norton." T.S. Eliot.

*Reprinted courtesy of Storyville Records. 137

138 Journal of Jazz Studies

no one, not the engineers, the band, the audience or even Duke Ellington
himself, is conscious of collectively creating the first location recording of a live
jazz concert and transforming a routine dance date into a historic occasion in
the life of the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
"The band is at its most typical on a one-night stand, a dance date, when
it can relax and play anything in its extensive library. Stage shows are strictly
commercial, strictly for applause."2 Although permission for the recording was
secured from the William Morris Agency, the results were never intended to
be released to the public. The band, aware of the recording, nonetheless
diminuendos and crescendos in a relatively un-self-conscious performance.
Many ephemeral moments heighten our sense of participation. The
instrumentalists warm up by practicing their parts before songs or rehash a
bungled part to repair their mistake afterwards. Ellington calls out in
astonishment an admonishment. But the most compelling components of the
Fargo dance date may be what we cannot hear or, even for those present, see--
the palpable synergy between the audience and the band, and the unspoken
language of their hearts and souls.
The Fargo recording did, however, document an event so startling that it
was likened to the "Sphinx leaving Egypt."3 For Cootie Williams has left the
Duke to join Benny Goodman's band. "I feel like the fond parent who has
reared a barefoot boy into young manhood, and, after finally getting shoes on
him, and, eventually a collar, necktie and long pants, sees him desert the old
homestead in a newfound spirit of independence," was Ellington's spin. "I am
sure it is not a question of salary since there is so little difference between what
I offered Cootie to stay and what he accepted from Goodman. I assume that
the obvious distinction of working with a white band was the determining
factor in his decision.4 Behind-the-scenes, Ellington actively abetted Williams'
so-called desertion. After the initial offer to Williams from Goodman's brother
Irving, Ellington encouraged Cootie to negotiate. Even at $200.00 per week,5
Ellington cautioned him, "Only for the sextet. You'll get lost, sitting there in

2
"The Rhythm Section." Esquire Magazine. By Leonard Feather & Paul Eduard Miller.
1946.
3
"After 6 months with Benny G, Cootie Williams Like it Fine." The Afro-American. March
8, 1941.
4
"Cootie Williams Joins Benny Gooman." Jazz Information. Volume 2, Number 7. October
25, 1940.
5
"Cootie Williams Leaves Duke: Will Play for Benny Goodman." The Afro-American.
November 2, 1940. [Author's note: No payroll records are extant for the 1940 Ellington
Orchestra. The "Pay Role" for a six one-nighter week ending February 26, 1942 lists the
highest paid band members. Stewart, Bigard, Hodges and Anderson receiving $125.00.]
Annie Kuebler / The Duke at Fargo 1940 139

the band."6 Williams accepted a one year contract beginning on November 9,

1940 at the Manhattan Center in New York City, occasionally subbing in
Goodman's big band during his tenure. In one year, Williams phoned
Ellington, "I'm ready for my job. The year's up. He said, 'Oh no! You're too
big now. You can make a whole lot of money. Go ahead on. I don't need you
right now. Time I need you, I'll let you know."7 As Ellington did, in 1962,
twenty-one years later.
It was rumored that Wilbur de Paris and Taft Jordan were also in the
running for Williams' position but it was the little-known Ray Nance who
received the phone call from Billy Strayhorn with an invitation to meet the
Duke. After working with Earl Hines and Horace Henderson, Nance had
recently retired from road work. In hometown Chicago, he was appearing at
Joe Hughes De Luxe club, a venue for female impersonators, when the
composers recognized the four-for-one package wrapped up in his slight
figure. Subsequently nicknamed "Floorshow," the trumpet and violin player,
singer and dancer figuratively filled the chair left vacant since 1934, not by
Williams, but by Freddie "Little Posey" Jenkins, the band's first trumpet
showman.
Many people, including Ray Nance, declared Fargo as his debut. It was
not. The two Pullman cars that carried Duke Ellington and His Famous
Orchestra and their equipment arrived in East Grand Forks, Minnesota on
November 5. In Winnipeg, Canada on November 6, Ray Nance, Rex "Stuart"
and "Herbie Jeffrey" among other band members autographed a fan's
program.8 Warming up Nance on the bench would be uncharacteristic of the
Ellington modus operandi so most likely Nance's tenure began on the band's
first stop out of Chicago, East Grand Forks, Minnesota. Ben Webster
remembered wearing gloves on stage to keep warm at Fargo but that also must
have occurred on an earlier gig. It was unseasonably warm when Jack Towers
and Dick Burris unloaded the portable acetate disc player, one speaker and
three microphones with stands to record the Fargo dance date. Ellington was
late and by the time his permission for the recording was obtained, the band
was halfway through the first song of the evening. It's Glory.

6
Cootie Williams. Rutgers/NEA Jazz Oral History Project. 1976.
7
Cootie Williams. Rutgers/NEA Jazz Oral History Project. 1976.
8
DEMS Bulletin. Spring 2000.
140 Journal of Jazz Studies

Duke Ellington Orchestra recorded live at the Crystal Ballroom, Fargo, North
Dakota, November 7, 1940.

Rex Stewart (Cornet)

Wallace Jones (trumpet)
Ray Nance (trumpet, violin, vocalist)
Joseph Nanton, Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown (trombones)
Barney Bigard (clarinet, tenor sax)
Johnny Hodges (alto & soprano saxes, clarinet)
Otto Hardwick (alto sax, clarinet)
Ben Webster (tenor sax, clarinet)
Harry Carney (baritone sax, clarinet)
Duke Ellington (piano)
Fred Guy (guitar, whistle)
Jimmy Blanton (bass)
Sonny Greer (drums)
Ivie Anderson and Herb Jeffries (vocalists)

DISC I
SET ONE
It's Glory a.k.a M'Monia
Soloists: LB, BW
The parts to It's Glory titled M'monia in Ellington's band library are worn and
stained signifying more frequent use, than for its two recordings in 1931 and at
Fargo. Possibly It's Glory lived as a set opener in the intermittent years; the ad
lib sections for short solo statements, rather than a title strongly associated
with a particular soloist, provided the flexibility necessary for a band
introduction and warm-up. Right from the beginning, the fresh course is
mapped; two titles familiar from older recordings, It's Glory and The Mooche,
have undergone significant changes.
The Mooche
Soloists: RS, JH, JN, BB
The original Mooche, recorded on October 1, 1928, dripped with sorrow but
this new version eerily mimics the Harlem slouch walk it purportedly
described. But beware pedestrians, for these are some mean streets. Rex
Stewart growls in response to the clarinets as Sonny Greer's tom-toms add to
the menacing effect. Johnny Hodges and "Tricky Sam" Nanton enhance the
illusion with the only avenue of escape opened up by Barney Bigard's filigrees
Annie Kuebler / The Duke at Fargo 1940 141

during the blues theme. In a night rich with treasured performances, Hodges
and Nanton deserve special attention here. Recorded over 100 times after
Fargo, this unique take on The Mooche never reappeared and the arranger is
uncertain. Ellington was clearly beginning to disassociate himself from an overt
jungle sound that, so exotic in the 1920s-1930s, now bordered on passe. His
new young audience responded to the darkness and updated urbanity of Ko-Ko
and perhaps Ellington, enamored as well, assembled this piece work fashion
with Billy Strayhorn or another arranger since the tacked-on theatre ending
clashes with the preceding arrangement.
The Sheik of Araby
Soloists: LB, RS, BW
Ellington resurrected The Sheik of Araby after it developed a second life as a
feature in the 1940 film Tin Pan Alley. Shortly after Lawrence Brown's arrival
expanded the Ellington trombone section to three in 1932, his first feature,
The Sheik of Araby, was recorded on May 16. Brown developed his solos in a
way that was as unique as his sound. "Whenever I would be given a solo, where
the whole number depended on me, I had a system which I used to try to
perfect these solos. I wouldn't get up and just play anything that came across
my mind. I would first go into a study, without the horn, I would mentally
play the lead, I mean the theme, then with slight deviations, and then with
more deviations and then hear where the band would come in and make
embellishments. And when I got through with this routine, I could hear myself
play the number as I wanted to hear it."9 In the spring of 1932, Sidney Bechet
visited the band in a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania recording studio, at
Ellington's request, to teach Johnny Hodges his set chorus on Sheik of
Araby.10 Apparently at that time, Juan Tizol copied the notes that are heard
here in the unison reed section led by Hodges on soprano saxophone.
Sepia Panorama a.k.a Night House
Soloist: JB, RN, LB, RN
As the announcer from KVOX radio introduces the band and the
approximately thirty minute radio broadcast begins, Duke Ellington join his
men for the first time at 9:00 PM over the brief strains of Night House, re-
titled by Dinah Shore to Sepia Panorama.11 The band's current theme song,
bridged their first, East St. Louis Toodle-Oo dropped six months previously,
and next and last theme song Take the 'A' Train adopted early in 1941.

9
Lawrence Brown. Rutgers/NEA Jazz Oral History Project. 1976.
10
Sidney Bechet: Wizard of Jazz. By JOhn Chilton. Paperback Edition. Da Capo Press. 1996.
11
Duke Ellington. Interview with Willis Conover. 1965.
142 Journal of Jazz Studies

Ko-Ko
Soloists: JN, JB
Ellington's masterpiece Ko-Ko is simultaneously the peak of his jungle style
compositions and, with its modern harmonics, polyrhythms and dissonance,
the first wind of a new storm. A deceptive variation of one of Ellington's
favorite vehicles, the twelve-bar blues, the rhythmic energy is here supplied by
Jimmie Blanton. The Ellington Orchestra works as a unit on Ko-Ko but rather
than blending, the distinct voices form a provocative mix. The individual
interpretations are not breaks or showcases but form an integral part of the
whole instead. As in a bolero, each chorus builds in intensity, a method
Ellington returned to in his "gut bucket bolero" Bula from Afro-Bossa
recorded in 1963. (Re-released in 2000 on Duke Ellington: The Reprise
Studio Recordings). Blanton's entrance in September 1939 and his soul mate
Ben Webster's in February 1940 inspired Ellington to create some of his
greatest works to feature them. The already elevated level of play by the
musicians as individuals and the unit as a whole ascended to even more
remarkable heights. The Blanton-Webster era, the label tagged on the period
from 1939-1942, is considered by many to be the absolute peak of the
Ellington Orchestra's fifty-year existence, with 1940 being the crowning year.
There Shall Be No Night
Soloists: WJ, BW, HJ
Billy Strayhorn's voice has already been heard, un-attributed, as co-contributor
to Sepia Panorama. In There Shall Be No Night the Strayhorn sound is heard
from start to finish for the first time. "My first big band arrangement I did for
Ivie Anderson [was] called the Jim-Jam Jumpin' Jive. Well as a result of that
arrangement, he gave me charge of all the singers. I had done a little arranging
in Pittsburgh, very little, in fact I had done enough to discourage myself. One
day Duke sent me two pieces and he said, 'Arrange these, we are recording
tomorrow at 10:00!' So what could I do? I learned fast. He liked those two, he
thought they were kind of nice so he didn't do any more small band
arrangements. He gave it all to me."12 There Shall Be No Night suggests the
strength of Strayhorn's subsequent work but right around the corner was a
Flamingo recorded seven weeks later. When asked the most significant change
in the field of jazz, Ellington responded, "Billy Strayhorn coming out of school
and going into jazz. He's always changing people. After Flamingo, which was a
very big success for us, arrangers became more, what?, elaborate in their

12
Billy Strayhorn. Guest Appearance at New York TDES (The Duke Ellington Society)
meeting. 1963.
Annie Kuebler / The Duke at Fargo 1940 143

ornamentation."13 The Bronze Buckaroo Herb Jeffries later adopted it as his

signature piece. Jeffries, the only surviving member of the band, still claims a
flamingo, not a stork, brought him to his parents’ house!
Pussy Willow
Soloists: RN, JH, BB, JB
After the rhythm section and the five reeds jauntily launch into Pussy Willow,
Nance moves into all of the solo space formerly housed by Williams and
Brown in the 1939 recording. Blanton's solo moves the piece forward but it is
Sonny Greer who drives it. Greer's larger than life persona delights even
through oral history interviews. Perhaps the force of his personality and his
flashy drum kit overshadowed his magnificent drumming since his name is
often inexplicably left out of the discussion on influential jazz drummers.
Despite his display of tools, which Ellington spotlighted on a raised platform,
Greer eschewed pyrotechnics and excelled at what might be considered the
three "T"s of drumming, Timing, Timing, Timing. In Pussy Willow, he adds
excellent tone as well as he relentlessly but subtly propels the band. The
technology of that time restricted playing time to approximately three minutes
per record side. Pussy Willow illustrates how severe a limitation that was; this
title's place in the Ellington oeuvre climbs after hearing the composer's cut. At
the Fargo dance date, most of the songs familiar to fans from issued recordings
are extended by adding longer introductions and endings and, creating more
solo space within the song. Unfortunately, Pussy Willow dropped out of sight
after Fargo either because it was an Irving Mills publication or a feature for
Cootie Williams.
Chatterbox
Soloists: RS, LB, JH, RS
Ellington could do so much with so little as exhibited in the Rex Stewart
feature Chatterbox. All he needed was an eight bar blues, his dependable reed
and brass sections, the subtle but powerful rhythm section and a soloist who
had something to say. Ellington introduces the staccato riff and the band
jumps in, punching it out for Stewart to ride over. Ellington's fondness for a
pertinacious brass riff is evident and will show up again in this concert.
Mood Indigo
Soloists: WJ, DE, WJ, DE, WJ
The three horn introduction to Mood Indigo is so familiar, we might forget
that the original 1930 version is considered a breakthrough composition of the

13
Duke Ellington. Carter Harman Collection of Ellington Interviews. 1964.
144 Journal of Jazz Studies

twentieth century. That voicing is so extraordinary, we might forget that it is,

at heart, a great melody that would endure through many permutations in the
Ellington Orchestra. In this version, Ellington allots himself some solo space,
executing his trademark sweeping arpeggios and difficult runs that abrogate
the criticism that he was technically inferior to his contemporaries. Wallace
Jones' delicate sound brings a delicious edge to this performance as if
something will imminently shatter and that tension deepens the contemplative
air implicit in its lyrics. Mood Indigo rarely suffered from repetition and here
the band subtly shades their accompaniment. Jack was really sweating this one
out for fear of running out of disc space but happily caught the wistful ending.
The plethora of breathtaking soloists throughout the fifty-year life span of the
Ellington Orchestra may have obscured the superb section work necessary to
make a big band swing. Weak, tentative or inattentive section playing can
undermine an entire piece, no matter how brilliant the solo. The rarely
featured flexible Jones made his impact as both a section leader, establishing
the attack and tempo, and at times as follower by consistently blending in and
staying under the lead. Jones migrated north from Baltimore, Maryland to
New York in the mid-1930s, beginning his career with cousin Chick Webb's
band. Wallace's tenure from 1936 until 1944 when he was drafted,
encompassed the span dates for the longest creative peak of the Ellington
Orchestra, 1939-1943. Ellington claims he established drummer Webb as a
bandleader. If so, Webb's gratitude was magnanimous indeed; Jones, Johnny
Hodges and Cootie Williams, after a brief stopover with Fletcher Henderson,
migrated from Webb's band to Ellington's.
Harlem Air Shaft a.k.a Once Over Lightly
Soloists: JN, RS, BB
Originally titled Once Over Lightly, Harlem Air Shaft was possibly not
composed to describe the noises ricocheting and the smells emanating between
Harlem tenements or what Ellington called "one big loudspeaker." Most New
York residents heard cacophony when leaning out their window; the fact that
he heard patterns of sound is one element of Ellington's genius. Not a child
prodigy at the keyboard, Ellington's creativity first exhibited itself through
visual artistry deemed worthy of a scholarship to the Pratt Institute in New
York. Fortunately for the fate of American music, he chose sound as his
palette. "I could play with music as long as I wanted because anything that
happened was a bonus, you know? Because I was no musician. My real talent
was art, you know? Anything I got out of music I always figured was a gift. I
mean it was just something that, you know, like a prize package, like
something you got in a bag of popcorn, you know? A surprise. I mean I never
Annie Kuebler / The Duke at Fargo 1940 145

felt that this was, you know, my talent. I never thought this was really the
thing."14
If Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra played baseball, they would be on
a winning streak. If they played basketball, they would be "unconscious" but by
any definition this team is really swinging for what’s wrong with “on”? Harlem
Air Shaft. Recording sessions with their repetitive takes and seclusion from an
audience cannot capture the esprit de corps a band develops when on stage.
The brass blows in and the reeds hit it with gale force forming a wall of sound
that must have lifted the audience off its feet. Their bandleader spontaneously
releases a euphoric "Ah!" and in a chain reaction all the sections explode in
turn. Even the loss of a trumpet, presumably Nance, does not interfere with
the over-all effect. Every man nails his break neatly with no grandstanding to
detract from the sense of unity.
Ferryboat Serenade
Soloist: IA
Now dressed in her band "uniform," a long white dress, the lovely Ivie
Anderson and the band sail into Strayhorn's arrangement of a 1939 Italian
song, Ferryboat Serenade. Recently popularized by the Andrews Sisters, it is
ultimately too trite to remain in the band's repertoire. Because of her
musicality and engaging personality more than her eleven year tenure,
Anderson was the only female vocalist who earned the distinction of being
considered a band member. Without sacrificing one whit of her femininity, she
held her own among that male cast of characters. Anderson loved to gamble
and played all night card games with the men. She usually won.
Warm Valley
Soloists: JH, WJ, JH
Standing in the gorge of the Columbia River, Ellington looked north towards
the Cascade Mountains and was so inspired by the physical resemblance to
certain contours of a woman's anatomy, that he composed Warm Valley for his
sultry balladeer Johnny Hodges. The final number of a set was designed for
couples but after Hodges' sensuous interpretation they might find more on
their minds than slow dancing and hand holding. In fact, Hodges is so
hypnotizing that the sterling background could be ignored. Positioned behind
the piano, guitarist Freddy Guy carries out his duties including steadily
strumming the chord changes for the band members' benefit and freeing
Ellington from the rhythm chores. Guy is audible here.

14
Duke Ellington. Carter Harman Collection of Ellington Interviews. 1964.
146 Journal of Jazz Studies

A few notes of the chaser signal the crowd that the set is over. With their
headphones on during the set, Jack and Dick were unable to determine the
quality of the recording so they used the ten to fifteen intermissions to check
the discs and make necessary adjustments. Later in the concert, several band
members interrupted them to hear specific cuts from the previous set.

SET TWO
Stompy Jones
Soloists: BB, RS, HC, LB, BB, JN
Ellington began each set with something friendly and saved the challenges, for
his audience and his band, until later in the set. An ensemble warm-up, no
tight section play and brief statements from the soloists, combine to make
Stompy Jones an ideal opener. This versatile jam tune, with its sixteen bar
chorus, had many legs and after the big band version in 1934 was also recorded
by Barney Bigard and Johnny Hodges small groups. Rex Stewart inherited
most of Cootie Williams' leads, with Nance acquiring the leads for Pussy
Willow and Sepia Panorama. Jones led the trumpet section and most of
Williams' sections parts were handled by Nance. The Ellington men generally
ignored new band members leaving them to sink or swim on their own. The
reeds perched on wooden chairs in a row across the front with Harry Carney
closest to the edge of the stage; the trombones, closest to the audience, and
trumpets sat in one row across the back with Sonny Greer behind and to the
right of them. Unfortunately for Nance, he was positioned farthest away from
the only helpful band member, Harry Carney, and one can only imagine
Nance's frustration attempting to locate a part or even the title for a piece!
Chloe (Song of the Swamp)
Soloists: JN, BB, LB, RS, BW, RN
Evidence in the Duke Ellington Collections indicates that Strayhorn and
Ellington sometimes worked from published sheet music when orchestrating
new arrangements for popular songs of the day. One such song is Chloe (Song
of the Swamp). Ellington's introduction is uncharacteristically vapid and
possibly sets the course for this lackluster rendition. However, on the signal
"Now!" from Ellington, Nanton rescues Chloe by oozing out some primordial
ya-yas worthy of a swamp creature. Originally orchestrated by Strayhorn with
Cootie (sic)?? to play trumpet, Stewart fills in nicely but the band embarks on
an over-sentimental journey, playing with atypical sweetness to the detriment
of Strayhorn's challenging arrangement. The version recently recorded on
October 28, with Webster and Williams soloing, is appropriately subdued but
Annie Kuebler / The Duke at Fargo 1940 147

not mawkish. Hodges leads the reeds on soprano saxophone in the last known
recording of "Rab" on that instrument. Most likely Hodges abandoned the
soprano to eliminate the demands of occasional section leads. In 1940, the
"mysterious collaboration,"15 as Strayhorn dubbed his relationship with Duke
Ellington, was in its nascent stage. Consistent with the informal tradition of
the music and theatre business, Strayhorn arranged six songs but received
credit for just one, Chloe (Song of the Swamp). With the exception of I Never
Felt This Way Before, he most likely arranged all Anderson's and Jeffries'
tunes, several of the Ellington standards and had contributed introductions or
endings to still others.
The compositions Strayhorn brought with him in 1939, including Something
To Live For and My Little Brown Book, had not yet been worked into the
repertoire. In 1941, with the success of Flamingo and the adoption of Take the
'A' Train as the band's theme song, some of Strayhorn's contributions began to
surface in the public eye. Study in the Smithsonian Institution's Ellington
Collections illuminates Strayhorn's position as Ellington's writing companion,
and his distinct style is now emerging. Some resistance has followed, possibly
because it requires some Ellington fans and a few scholars to dislodge from
their memory a long-held association between one man and one song. The
musicians in the band accepted "Swee' Pea" as one of their own. Billy
Strayhorn was simply the most important man in Duke Ellington's life and he
loved him without reservation. Their life-changing influence on each other
may never be quantified; we do know that their collaboration enriched
American music beyond measure.
Bojangles a.k.a. Portrait of Bill Robinson
Soloists: DE & JB, RS, BW, BB, DE & JB
Beginning with Black Beauty a.k.a. A Portrait of Florence Mills in 1928,
Ellington composed musical vignettes of black artists or historical figures
whose contributions to African-American heritage he particularly admired
such as Bill Robinson. Most Americans recognized Robinson from his
recurring role as a tap dancing butler in Shirley Temple films; few knew him as
an avid crusader for actor's rights and the first solo tap dancer to star in white
vaudeville theatre. Ellington served as an honorary pallbearer at Robinson's
funeral in 1949 along with Cole Porter, Jackie Robinson and Irving Berlin.
Unlike some other Ellington compositions which require of the imagination
for the sound to match the word image, Bojangles fits its title. As a

15
Billy Strayhorn. Guest Appearance at New York TDES (The Duke Ellington Society)
meeting. 1963.
148 Journal of Jazz Studies

composition, the repeating harmonies and sharp section interjections

reverberate with a dancer's taps on a solid floor. Unfortunately, the band is still
unable to recapture their previous gusto even after Ellington exhorts them
"Play, Play, Faster." Greer switching the beat to the rims and Webster's solo
prove to be the catalyst. Bigard, again, brilliantly knits another level of texture
over, under, and around to great effect. The instruction "ad lib" sprinkles
Bigard's parts. The notes Bigard could choose with Ellington's confidence but
the composer scripted where or when.
On The Air
Soloists: JB, JH, RS, BB
Each title in the repertoire received a number, usually written or stamped on
the upper right hand corner, and the band members used the numbers for
identification more often than the title. As Ellington pronounces the title of
the piece through the notes in his introduction, someone, most likely Harry
Carney, picks up the cue and calls out the number for the band. A great deal of
shuffling through the foot high stack of manuscripts at their feet ensues while
Ellington extends his vamp to cover. Ellington, mindful of their recent slump,
reminds the men they are "On The Air" and this swinging composition
remains identified only by that title. Similar to You Took Advantage Of Me
with elements of Rug Cutter's Swing, the band kicks into this piece after
Blanton's lead-in with familiarity and snap. Blanton's break gives Hodges time
to travel to the mike to offer his usual glib comments. Ellington, happy with
the band's renewed vigor lets out a "Yeah!" and the Orchestra responds with a
lesson in how the simple use of dynamics, in this case reducing the last chorus
to a whisper, can enhance a number.
Rumpus In Richmond a.k.a. Brasserie
Soloists: RS, LB, RS
Known to the band as Brasserie or #40, Stewart's opening salvo gets the band's
attention for the brass feature Rumpus In Richmond. More complex than it
sounds, Brasserie would certainly keep band members' eyes on their music
stands. Ellington's shift to diminished chords before the clarinet solo prompted
Barney Bigard to write out the individual notes of the chords on his part. The
abbreviated second set uncharacteristically ends with this up-tempo piece,
followed by Stewart's "That's All Folks!" chaser.

SET THREE
Sidewalks of New York a.k.a East Side, West Side
Soloists: JN, BB, RS, SN
Annie Kuebler / The Duke at Fargo 1940 149

The Ellington band acquired a reputation, deservedly so, for straggling onto
the stage. Once settled, they strut onto The Sidewalks of New York, flaunting
Ellington's superior arrangement like a well-oiled machine. Comparing these
versions to the studio recordings from this time is another thread spun at
Fargo. Developed and significantly altered through rehearsals on stage for the
December 1940 recording, The Sidewalks of New York lost the bite the band
gives it here. The brass and reeds pour themselves into their section and
ensemble work, as they do most of the night. Ellington rarely noted tempo or
beat on his scores, but on "SNYC" he marked the off-the-beat rhythm which
gives this 1890s classic its sass. "Jeep" designated Hodges' part although
Ellington usually wrote "Rab." Ellington always wrote for the specific sound of
an instrumentalist, the level of detail often includes drawing an arrow to one
note in a background chord to assure the right man got the job.
Flaming Sword a.k.a Shiftail
Soloists: DE, RS, JT, JN, JT
"If you dig shish kabob, you can get the image of the College Inn, the
Sherman House [Chicago] in 1940 when those cats were dressed up in these
Far Eastern outfits, the waiters, and walking around with flaming swords and
your meat flaming and it was very picturesque. And it inspired this title
Flaming Sword." 16 After the opening fanfare, Greer indeed sets a Latin
Rhythm, albeit a less frenetic one than the October 17 recording, while the
reeds' maintenance of the riff anchors the brass feature. For the carnival effect
created by the tinny reeds contrasted by the boisterous 'bones, no closed
quotaion marks—should they come after bones? Hardwicke, Carney, Webster
and Hodges were all instructed to switch to clarinet, but most likely only
Bigard and Hardwicke did so here. Ellington's portrait of a bon vivant should
have been confiscated as an advertisement for the famous Panther Room of the
Hotel.
Because they were written by a man and for men who were not conventionally
trained musicians, the music manuscripts contain nuggets for all who listen.
The Ellington effect was about more than notes, how to play those notes was
equally important. For example, in the closing fanfare in Flaming Sword, and
only then, Ellington doesn't want the brass to sustain one whole note for four
counts and then in the next bar play the note one octave higher. Ellington
doesn't want them to slide or slur up the octave. The score and parts instruct
them to "whip" it. And you can hear them do just that. Neither the composers
nor the band members regarded the scores and parts as historic documents.

16
Duke Ellington. Interview with Willis Conover. 1965.
150 Journal of Jazz Studies

Trace evidence indicates that the Ellington Orchestra's musical legacy floated
like flotsam and jetsam amidst their daily existence. The music manuscripts
also functioned as place mats, coasters, ashtrays, handkerchiefs, memo pads
and, of course, their little black books.
Never No Lament a.k.a. Don't Get Around Much Anymore
Soloists: LB, JH, LB, JH
Juan Tizol and Lawrence Brown independently recalled that Never No
Lament developed from a Johnny Hodges obbligato against the melody in an
unrecorded version of Once In A While, Duke Ellington remembered its
genesis in a Memphis, Tennessee room, equipped with a piano, and showing
off for "a real pretty girl I knew down there."17 No matter where it originated,
Never No Lament is a highlight of the Fargo concert. "Johnny come up and
blew," Jack remembers, "and when he got through he went over and talked to
Duke and some guys in the band and went back to the mike,"18 arriving at the
exact nanosecond of his musical entrance. Johnny Hodges tossed off his solos
with such marked insouciance yet they spark the seeds of passion within us.
And with Lawrence Brown, as well, who roars in commiseration. His
performance on Never No Lament is the only Hodges statement we have, or
for that matter may need, on the author of this melody.
Caravan
Soloists: JT, BB, RN, JT
Just one year earlier, the Orchestra had completed their second European tour
and Ellington introduced Caravan to an audience studded with royalty. "I saw
in the program where Caravan was the second or third number. So I passed
word over there, you know? Tell him don't play Caravan now. 'Cause I'm a
little nervous. To leave it on for later on. He didn't pay no attention. He said
to me, 'Don't worry about nothing. I'm behind you. I'm behind you.' So he
was there and announced my name and the composer. Caravan played by Juan
Tizol.
You know, I couldn't even get up to the mike at the front of the stage! I got up
and my stomach was going I don't know like what. I finally, I ended up playing
the melody which I thought I could play. But I was scared to death and I was
shaking. I was almost sick. Oh you got to get nervous with those kind of
people around."19 Presumably not intimidated by royalty here, Tizol's solo is

17
Duke Ellington. Carter Harman Collection of Ellington Interviews. 1964.
18
Jack Towers. Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Project. June, 2000.
19
Juan Tizol. Rutgers/NEA Jazz Oral History Project. 1976.
Annie Kuebler / The Duke at Fargo 1940 151

clear and steady, essential traits to the character of the trombone section as well
and especially important in this rendition of Caravan. Layers of silt could
describe the background here but Mississippi mud might suit better. The
drumming dominates, however an opportunity arises to hear how Greer uses
his imagination like an author describing places unseen to darken the
mysterious air and then brighten the mood. Webster's solo occurs during the
switch to another disc. Although it was technically feasible in 1940 to set up
two recording tables on location, link them together and cut over to the next
disc recorder uninterrupted, Jack brought just one from South Dakota State
College. The immeasurable value of the Fargo recordings suffers little from
occasional lapses to accommodate the equipment.
Clarinet Lament a.k.a. Concerto For Barney
Soloists: BB & RS & JT, BB
Barney Bigard's embellishments, glissandos and just plain noodling have
enriched the Fargo performance beyond the limited descriptor New Orleans
style and added another texture worthy of a separate listening. Ellington built
an infrastructure on which his soloists could erect higher and higher stages,
ultimately arriving at a plateau they might not have on their own. The shape,
structure and mood of their concertos were discussed but the feature artist
selected the notes. As it was also their choice to adhere to the recorded version
in future performances or change it. Perhaps Bigard was still infected with an
exotic mode, since he, Stewart and Tizol stretch out a Spanish/flamenco tinged
introduction. Otherwise Bigard whirls through his concerto on the same
staggering course as the 1936 recorded version. "If he wrote anything for you,
it fit you like a glove, you know? And you're really at home while you're
playing it. It's not something that he was just taking from his head and making
it--trying to see how difficult he could make it or anything. No. No, it wasn't
like that."20

DISC II
Slap Happy
Soloists: HC, RN, HC, JN, HC, JN, HC
Not coincidentally, Harry Carney's feature reflects his virtuosity and his good
nature. Carney loved parades, carnivals and the simple pleasures of life and he
rarely spoke of his playing even though he is considered by many to be the
finest baritone saxophone player in the history of jazz. The first exponent of

20
Barney Bigard. Rutgers/NEA Jazz Oral History Project. 1976.
152 Journal of Jazz Studies

circular breathing, a technique which allows continuous playing without taking

a breath, Carney had many tricks in his bag; here he wittily slap tongues the
ending. Beginning in the late 1940s, Carney drove Ellington separately to gigs
and his payment was a priceless commodity, Ellington's friendship. "Harry and
I don't talk much," Ellington said, "So I can just dream and write."21
Consider Ellington and Strayhorn two of the first environmentalists for their
conscientious recycling of songs and song fragments. For example, Strayhorn
retrieved his composition Pretty Girl from the "archives," changed the title to
Star-Crossed Lovers and it became the love theme in the 1956 Shakespearian
Suite also known as Such Sweet Thunder. Stated generally and simplistically,
Strayhorn composed and orchestrated a piece from beginning to end,
incorporating the internal dynamics and considering the entire flow of the
work, often resulting in a score in its final form. Ellington also orchestrated as
he wrote but his scores are composition drafts and he auditioned the piece with
the band before making the final decisions. Sometimes in the writing
Ellington forgot his preference for a soloist to have eight bars rest before his
break and he was reluctant to drop a note from the preceding section. "If it's
written it all belongs," he explained. Despite his claim that "I have no precious
notes that I can't get rid of."22
Ellington seldom changed notes or instrumental voicings but he did
interchange and eliminate entire sections and his scores are riddled with cross
outs and arrows. That's not to say that Ellington ever disposed of these
sections.
Sepia Panorama a.k.a. Night House
Soloists: JB, LB, RN, LB, RN, HC, JB, BW
Sepia Panorama could have been just such a discarded section that Ellington
fleshed out into an entire composition, comprising a twelve bar blues mostly
featuring Blanton, a sixteen bar phrase for three soloists, contributed by
Strayhorn, and a twelve bar blues played twice by Ellington & Blanton, twice
by Webster. It then repeats in reversed order from Ellington and Blanton's
duet. Voila! A new work. Jimmie Blanton's position in front of the piano, and
close to the microphone allows us to clearly hear him throughout--an
incalculable benefit of Fargo. Even today, bass players generally take up
residence behind or to the side of the piano. What a show of confidence from

21
Duke Ellington. Carter Harman Collection of Ellington Interviews. 1964.
22
Duke Ellington. Carter Harman Collection of Ellington Interviews. 1964.
Annie Kuebler / The Duke at Fargo 1940 153

Duke Ellington to this young man who brought about a "renaissance in bass
playing."23
Jimmie Blanton's solos sing in a way unheard of before in jazz. By realizing the
solo qualities of a double bass both in accompaniment and breaks. Blanton laid
groundwork for all future bassists to follow, particularly in bebop, and cast out
many lines for other instrumentalists as well. At twenty years of age, he was
equally capable of contributing appropriate accompaniment for the band on
the older pieces and standards as well. The roster of musicians whose lives were
cut short by substance abuse is sad. The loss of Jimmie Blanton to tuberculosis
in 1942 is tragic. He had already fulfilled his promise; who, on listening to the
Fargo recording, doesn't stop to wonder where else he could have taken us?
Boy Meets Horn a.k.a. Stew-Burp a.k.a. Twits and Twerps
Soloists: RS, HC, RS
"Now we come to one of the psychological facets of our performance. As I said
before this is opening night for Ray Nance and, of course, he being a trumpet
player, Rex Stewart came up to do a stirring performance to demonstrate the
high level of performance expected of trumpet players. I didn't remember Boy
Meets Horn was so slow in tempo. But I think it's a good performance."24
Between inheriting most of Cootie Williams' leads and filling his own chair,
Rex Stewart has been a busy man; but as Ellington suggests he reserved some
energy for his feature. The sustained note in the middle of this piece leaves the
listener gasping for a breath. According to Ellington scholar Andrew Homzy,
Stewart accomplished the miraculous pedal toned ending by relaxing his
embouchure allowing him to descend two octaves below the range of classical
limitation. Boy Meets Horn is, on the surface, all about Rex Stewart but true
to the Ellington norm, the ground beneath fertilizes the imagination. Written
to highlight Stewart's halfcocked valve technique, the background of spare
punctuation alternating with a melodic riff both offsets and draws attention to
Stewart's work. Billy Strayhorn, wrote in the four bar introduction, literally, by
adding it above the A section on the 1937 parts titled Stew-Burp.
Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
Soloist: IA
Used as a setting for the wildly popular Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance
team in the 1939 film, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, Way Down Yonder
In New Orleans moves at a quick clip. Anderson's revolving door repertoire

23
Duke Ellington. Carter Harman Collection of Ellington Interviews. 1964.
24
Duke Ellington. Interview with Willis Conover. 1965.
154 Journal of Jazz Studies

satisfied the public's desire to hear popular songs of the day and no matter
what the tune, Ivie Anderson put her songs over. "Doll! She was a doll from A
to Z," Sonny Greer recalled, "Like it was yesterday. Ivie Anderson. When she
came on the stage from the side, and walking straight. Look like a million
dollars and swishing! Before she said a word, she got the people in the palm of
her hand. I tell you Loretta Young, how she used to come through the door
and swish? She stole that off Ivie."25
Oh Babe, Maybe Someday
Soloists: RS & IA, IA
Greer and Anderson developed quite a routine on stage but here Stewart,
chatting through his horn, and Ivie banter to start. Many of Anderson's
features were #24 in the band book and several simply say "Ivie's Number." Is
it possible that the reeds pulled out the wrong parts? Carney's on the right
track though and bulldozes through an intricate ending unfazed by his lost
section mates. Another thrill of the Fargo concert, is to hear the
instrumentalists replay their botched parts after the song as they do here.
The Five O'Clock Whistle
Soloists: IA & BB, RS & IA, IA
Everybody's having fun in Strayhorn's swinging arrangement of The Five
O'Clock Whistle. This tune disappeared from the Ellington repertoire after
Fargo but was a hit for Glenn Miller, Erskine Hawkins and Ella Fitzgerald. In
one of Jack's photographs, a large wooden train whistle sits on the piano. Since
Ellington lays back on this tune, a common practice on Strayhorn
arrangements, maybe he supplied some of the whistlin'; other band members
seem to be calling "poor old Papa" home as well.
Herb Jeffries Segments. Another fanfare announces male vocalist Herb Jeffries.
Seven microphones stood on stage at the Crystal Ballroom. Three for the
recording, two for the broadcast and two for the public announcement system.
So no wonder Jeffries, alas, sings into the PA system microphone and his vocal
is barely audible. Jack and Dick Burris realize this and shut?? off the
recording. Unfortunately, we miss Jeffries' fine tone and interpretation of Call
of the Canyon, a Strayhorn arrangement, and All This and Heaven Too.
These brief segments are all we will ever hear of these two titles, for they along
with Ferryboat Serenade and Way Down Yonder in New Orleans, Wham
(Re-Bop-Boom-Bam), and the closer God Bless America were only known to
have been performed by the Ellington Orchestra at Fargo. Again Ellington

25
Sonny Greer. Rutgers/NEA Jazz Oral History Project. 1976.
Annie Kuebler / The Duke at Fargo 1940 155

and Strayhorn have kept their ears attuned to the vicissitudes of popular taste,
picking up All This and Heaven Too, the theme song from a 1940 film, and
Call of the Canyon, a best seller for Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller, from
the Hit Parade. The Herb Jeffries segments assuredly served their purpose
though for Ellington closed another set with ballads suitable for cheek to cheek
dancing.

SET FOUR
Rockin' In Rhythm
Soloists: DE, RS, LB, RS, HC, JN, RS
For new and old listeners alike, the Fargo recording maps out many future
excursions. Tracking Rockin' in Rhythm through its forty-three year and over
275 recordings history would be a hardy trek. The original 1931 recording
seems polite in contrast to this and later, even looser, ones. Most renditions
carried the same elements: the use of the pep section (Two trombones, two
trumpets) to carry the riff; piercing trumpet interjections; clarinet crescendos
and some raucous trombones, all set against an antiphonal background. A
whole other avenue opens up in pursuing the development of Ellington's piano
introduction.
Lengthened and developed since 1931, probably to use as a set opener, by 1953
Ellington's piano introduction evolved into the set piece Kinda Dukish which
was recorded separately. Nance is lacking the pixie mute necessary for the pep
section resulting in an uneven sound. Nanton adds interest though by
whinnying and neighing in his unearthly way. Attempts to duplicate Nanton's
inimitable voice result in flattery and/or homage since it has yet been done.
Nanton guided the techniques he used to create his odd sound through sleight
of hand. And that sound, so rooted in his West Indian background, and
informed by the early, catholic influences in jazz will most likely never be
replicated. The Fargo recording particularly magnifies the importance of
Nanton, Bigard and Greer as ensemble players. The texture, tone and selection
of their routine and ad lib contributions lift the group dynamic and at times
redeem an otherwise sloppy or run-of-the-mill rendition.
Sophisticated Lady
Soloists: OH, DE, LB
"Toby was in and out and in and out. Toby did a lot of living you know,"26 is
how Duke Ellington described his reed section leader Otto Hardwicke. All of

26
Duke Ellington. Carter Harman Collection of Ellington Interviews. 1964.
156 Journal of Jazz Studies

his men were artists and as such Ellington accepted their peculiarities as part of
their art. Ellington never fired anyone except ______, it is often said, with
different names filling in the blank. However, he did dismiss band members,
usually by making an offending band member's life so miserable that they
would eventually quit. Hardwicke left of his own accord in 1946, and this time
did not return. He retired from music shortly afterwards.
The mood abruptly shifts from the rowdy to the rococo and gives us our only
long look at Otto Hardwicke's tone. "Sophisticated Lady. That's one of those
things where everybody jumps in and helps out, but mainly I had a theme
which I played all the time which is the first eight bars. And Otto Hardwicke
played the release." Each man received $15.00. "That check cancels you out.
You never know when you have a good coming number on your hands, so in
fact, we didn't even care. We just was doing something that we wanted to
do."27 In the Ellington Collection's business records, band members are paid
regularly for "arrangements" in addition to their salaries. Hardwicke and
Brown do play as if in loving guardianship of Sophisticated Lady. The band
slides like silk behind and around but never in front of their exquisite duet.
Brown displays his wondrous versatility by leaping from sublime to spectacular
within seconds. Nicknamed the "Deacon," Brown's sustained high note at the
end just might have required divine intervention.
Ellington's long piano interlude is not as interesting as the trills and arpeggios
he tags on to support Brown's solos. But perhaps that is a view formed by
hindsight. Beneath the mystery of who was the sophisticated lady, this
composition must have held special significance to Ellington. In his final years,
he seemed reluctant to leave it and often performed it as a solo or part of a trio
in combination with Solitude. "I'm fundamentally an accompanist," Duke
Ellington explained. "Anyone who attempts to do orchestration should be
mainly an accompanist. Particularly when so many soloists are involved. You
have to think of ornamentation. It should not interfere with what is being
said."28
On stage, the composer put down his pencil and the piano became his
performance shaping tool. Although Ellington took piano lessons as a child,
presumably from a Mrs. Clinkscales in Washington, DC, his piano artistry
developed on the job. It presents a formidable challenge to find one instance
where Ellington's piano playing intrudes by even a note. Nevertheless,

27
Lawrence Brown. Rutgers/NEA Jazz Oral History Project. 1976.
28
Duke Ellington. Carter Harman Collection of Ellington Interviews. 1964.
Annie Kuebler / The Duke at Fargo 1940 157

Ellington interpolated whatever proved necessary to strengthen a performance.

In Mood Indigo, Ellington gently lays down a bed of chords and soft
ornamentation to support Wallace Jones' fragile tone. In the beginning of
Never No Lament, he picks up specific notes when a trumpet player can't find
his part. In Caravan, he reminds the reed section of the correct phrasing for
their riff. All accomplished without one sheet of music.
Cotton Tail a.k.a. Shuckin' and Stiffin'
Soloist: BW
Benny Goodman's band skyrocketed to national success after the Palomar,
California Ballroom broadcast in August 1935, sparking the battle of hot jazz
bands and sweet commercial bands. The Ellington band was smokin' from its
inception, but in 1940 popular success mandated a hot soloist. Ellington's
sizzler was, no doubt, tenor saxophonist Benn Webster. In Cotton Tail,
Webster displays all the necessary characteristics of a hot soloist, speed, an
urgent sense of rhythm, agitated syncopation, eager anticipation of the beat,
and an earthy tone. Some of the audience, largely drawn from the student body
of North Dakota State College of Fargo, had jammed ten deep in front of the
stage, maybe in anticipation of hearing and seeing this scorcher. From
Webster's heralded solo to one of the most exhilarating reed choruses in jazz
history, rumored to be scored by Webster himself, they were not disappointed.
"Ben Webster was given so many solo responses because the cats in the band
wanted to hear him blow. When you see a guy's got a lot of solos it's because
the cats in the band enjoy it. And it's my position to see that the cats in the
band are happy. So when it comes their turn to come to the microphone, they
too will feel that they have something to blow up to."29
Whispering Grass (Don't Tell The Trees)
Soloist: JH
Sixteen years later, Ellington needed to cool down the Newport Jazz Festival
crowd after Paul Gonsalves' searing tenor work on Diminuendo and
Crescendo In Blue, he did so by bringing on Johnny Hodges to play Jeep's
Blues. As we can see from Fargo, that was not a new strategy but an old trick.
The fierce competition among big bands for the public's attention was keenly
felt by Ellington. "I was worried about those bad boys like Charlie Barnett!"30 ?
Does Barnet have two “t’s” in the notes? Ellington confessed. One way to
respond was adding other band's popular hits to his play list such as

29
Duke Ellington. Interview with Willis Conover. 1965.
30
Duke Ellington. Carter Harman Collection of Ellington Interviews. 1964.
158 Journal of Jazz Studies

Whispering Grass (Don't Tell The Trees), a recent best seller for The Ink
Spots. Hodges heats the air in quite another manner than Webster did in
Cotton Tail by seductively building the tension against a soft minimalist
backdrop. Hodges insisted his numbers be featured last in the set.31 When
Hodges approached Jack to replay a number, he requested a title featuring Ben
Webster, Webster asked for a Hodges number. Whether out of respect or a
sense of competition we may never know. "I can just look up and see Duke
with his pork pie hat on," Jack remembers, "He wanted to hear Whispering
Grass."32
Conga Brava
Soloists: JT, BB, BW, RS, JT
A copyright search conducted at the Library of Congress disclosed fifty-six
compositions credited to Juan Tizol. Of these, at least twelve were in the
Ellington repertoire at various times including Perdido and Bakiff, recorded
the following year. Tizol also moonlighted as the main copyist for the band
from his entry in 1929 until Tom Whaley Whaley was hired for that specific
purpose in 1942. Despite the musical skills necessary to extract the parts from a
composer's score and transpose the keys for the individual instruments, Tizol
did not orchestrate his compositions. Typically, he wrote just the melody line,
signed himself as co-composer and handed Ellington a lead sheet, who then
arranged it.
Latin music has always peppered the jazz canon but periodically it pops up in
the public consciousness like a brand new thing. In 1940, the conga dance
resurged and Ellington asked his Latino expert Juan Tizol to create a
composition to feed the latest trend. This is no Tizol toss-off though, as
Ellington sets his theme in a challenging arrangement demanding expertise
from his world-class musicians. The rhythm section set the stage with
charisma as Blanton masterfully decompresses the history of Latin music in
jazz into three repeated notes. Tizol, doing what he does best, clearly states his
enigmatic theme, shifting between major to minor keys. At first Webster's solo
interpretation seems incongruous but on repeated listening it belongs. The pep
section really fits into the overall scheme, as do the individual sections.
Cong Brava, Across The Track Blues, Sepia Panorama, Flaming Sword, and I
Never Felt This Way Before published by Robbins Music, were dropped from
the band book when Ellington formed his own publishing entity Tempo

31
Mercer Ellington. Smithsonian Oral History Project. 1990.
32
Jack Towers. Smithsonian Oral History Project. June, 2000.
Annie Kuebler / The Duke at Fargo 1940 159

Music in 1941, headed by his sister Ruth. Ellington had recently signed with
Robbins Music to make the initial, and dramatic, break from Irving Mills
Publishing. Mills was the white man a black band needed in the 1920s and
'30s and he served Ellington well by placing him in Hollywood films, running
interference for organized crime, and engineering his first European tour, an
artistic and public relations coup. If publishing records form the 1920s and
1930s are taken at face value, Irving Mills could go down in history as one of
the greatest lyricists of that time for co-composer credit is the price he exacted
for his management. Ellington absorbed the lesson of that business
arrangement.
I Never Felt This Way Before
Soloists: BW, WJ, HJ, LB
Although Ellington transferred the duties of vocal arrangements to Strayhorn,
I Never Felt This Way Before indicates no weakness in this category. Precisely
scored, this exquisite piece would fall apart if not executed exactly. After his
introduction, Ellington borrows one man from each section, Wallace, Tizol
and Bigard, to set an indigoes mood. After Jeffries begins his vocal, a little late
and on the wrong microphone, Nance enters on violin for the first time in the
evening underscoring Jeffries' vocal with supreme sensitivity. Jeffries croons
wonderfully, however, this Ellington ballad stood on its own without lyrics.
Ellington intended this as one of his closing numbers--on the back of the score
he sketched a six-measure "chaser."

SET FIVE
Across The Track Blues
Soloists: DE, BB, RS, LB, BB
Like the tiers in his personality, Ellington's best compositions can be enjoyed
on their surface layer or plumbed again and again for the endless interest
underneath. He distilled the complex into something quite simple and turned a
drop of water into an ocean as he does in the pinnacle of his blues
compositions Across The Track Blues. That urban child, "the King of
Harlem" rolls out a blues that reeks of the rural South on a steamy summer
day. The economical soloists, most notably Barney Bigard, seem to deliver
their languid solos from a rocking chair on the porch. But don't be seduced,
instead examine the perfect symmetry of this twelve bar blues.
Honeysuckle Rose
Soloist: RN, violin
160 Journal of Jazz Studies

While in high school, Nance felt lost in the violin section, first he tried the
mellophone and later the trumpet in his search for an instrument that would
"project more, in other words be louder."33 Ironically, the violin may be the
instrument on which his voice was the most influential. Again, the repertoire
turns 180 degrees; this time from the perfectly planned to a head arrangement.
The rhythm section jams on Honeysuckle Rose while Nance gets his
amplification in order. And then, in his first recorded violin solo for the
Ellington Orchestra, Nance animates this standard. The band revels in still
another ingredient being added to their mix and in the end respond with an
impromptu accompaniment. Later, an arrangement developed for Honeysuckle
Rose and it remained in the repertoire until 1969.

Wham (Re-Bop-Bam)
Soloists: RN, RS
Ellington and Strayhorn were quick to employ Nance's vocal talent as well,
especially his ability to deliver a novelty song lightly but without silliness. It
appears the men read Wham (Re-Bop-Boom Bam) directly from Eddie
Durham's stock music arrangement of his own composition, possibly supplied
by Nance.

Star Dust
Soloist: BW
From Fargo, North Dakota, you would have to dig a hole to China to find the
bottom of Ben Webster's well. Out of the smoldering ashes of Cottontail, rises
the melody of Star Dust and an interpretation of the lyrics so profound that
the words become superfluous. "Ben may have sounded a lot like 'Hawk'
(Coleman Hawkins) here," Ellington remarked. "Ben was deliberately doing
this,"34 suggesting homage instead of imitation. "The band had never heard it
[Star Dust]," according to Jack. "It was something that Ben and Blanton had
worked up as roommates. Ben kept after me to have a new record ready to get
this number. When I flipped the disc over, I missed the first few notes. The
rhythm chirped right in and soon the trombones get into the thing. Of course,
they knew the chords to Star Dust, a little bit of reeds in there too. They filled
in pretty good there!"35

33
Ray Nance. Guest Appearance at New York TDES (The Duke Ellington Society) meeting.
1963.
34
Duke Ellington. Interview with Willis Conover. 1965.
35
Jack Towers. Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Project. June, 2000.
Annie Kuebler / The Duke at Fargo 1940 161

Rose Of The Rio Grande

Soloists: LB, IA, LB
Lawrence Brown returns with exuberance on master song smith Harry
Warren's Rose Of The Rio Grande joined by Ivie Anderson. By this late hour,
the band is no longer on a job, they have entered the spiritual plane where the
conscious no longer exists. Brown's relatively wild tailgating belies his "mus-
tard" personality36 and the band soars to raise this from jam session quality to
something quite noble. In 1965, Ellington stated that Brown performed this
with "great reluctance"37 because there was no arrangement. No doubt Brown
grew tired of this piece but Ellington did orchestrate "Rosie" and Brown's
performance is more than cooperative.

St. Louis Blues

Soloists: RN, BB, DE, IA, BW, JN, RS
"They called jazz that raggedy music in New Orleans,"38 and the beginning of
St. Louis Blues confirms this notion but like the development of jazz, this
phase is quickly dispelled as Bigard proves nothing is shabby about his playing.
Anderson's command of the tune, turning it into a blues holler, is
enlightening. Behind Anderson's vocals, Webster begins his buildup and
constructs a solo that relates the history of jazz, past, present and future.
Nanton catches right on, pushing the band towards its grand finale.

Warm Valley
Although Ellington has not yet developed his Love You Madly closing, he
graciously thanks the audience over the strains of soon-to-be released Warm
Valley.

God Bless America

How fitting that an orchestra led by Edward Kennedy Ellington completes the
evening with a tribute to their country, God Bless America. From his nation's
melting pot, he culled a band that symbolized to millions of people around the
world, an American's right to freedom of expression. But perhaps Sonny Greer
said it best, "I was there. I didn't read that. I was there baby! God is my judge.
I was a part of that. I made millions of people, I was part of an organization

36
Duke Ellington. Carter Harman Collection of Ellington Interviews. 1964.
37
Duke Ellington. Interview with Willis Conover. 1965.
38
Duke Ellington. Carter Harman Collection of Ellington Interviews. 1964.
162 Journal of Jazz Studies

that made millions of people happy. Duke Ellington was a legend. He carried
the dignity and the prestige of the colored race all over the world."39

What we call the beginning is often the end,

And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from.
-T.S. Eliot40

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

ANNIE KUEBLER served as archivist at the Institute of Jazz Studies from

2001 until poor health forced her retirement in February 2012. After surviving
near-fatal burns in a house fire, she launched her archival career at the
Smithsonian, where she helped process the monumental Duke Ellington
Collection. At IJS, her first of many accomplishments was the organization
and cataloging of the Mary Lou Williams Collection, the Institute’s largest
and most significant, for which she received a commendation from the
National Endowment for the Humanities for her leadership on the project.
Annie is remembered fondly by the countless students she mentored,
researchers she assisted, and her friends and colleagues at IJS and throughout
the jazz world. She died on August 13, 2012 at the age of 61. In her memory,
JJS reprints these notes which convey not only her life-long love of music in
general and Ellington in particular, but her warmth and passion.

39
Sonny Greer. Rutgers/NEA Jazz Oral History Project. 1979.
40
The Four Quartets. "Little Gidding." T.S. Eliot.