vol. 58 no. 1 september 2016 - toronto duke ellington...

Vol. 58 No. 1 September 2016

The Newsletter of the Duke Ellington Society, Chapter 40, Toronto, Canada is mailed prepaid to members in good standing.

Further information pertaining to the Society’s activities may be obtained from the Editor.

1791 Pattinson Crescent, Mississauga, ON., Canada, L5J 1H6; Phone 905-823-1086; e-mail:[email protected]

Web site: www.torontodukeellingtonsociety.com

here were several interesting live jazz

events over the summer. On June 27 At the

Toronto Jazz Festival Brian Barlow’s Big

Band played a concert celebrating the 60th

anniversary of Duke Ellington’s famous

appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1956.

Among the numbers Brian played were the first

and last movements from the Newport Suite, Mood

Indigo, Take the “A” Train, a feature for Guido

Basso: Black and Tan Fantasy and, of course

Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue separated by a

wailing interval supplied by the brave Alex Dean

who played 20 stirring blues choruses.

At the same festival, on July 1st Jim Galloway’s

Wee Big Band led by Martin Loomer played a

concert in Nathan Phillip’s Square. Ted O’Reilly

opened the proceedings and announced that he had

decided to finally retire from all of his activities.

He also announced that the pianist in the Wee Big

Band, Ralph Fraser was to celebrate his 91st

birthday on July 3rd.

Martin Loomer told us that he was dedicating the

concert to the memory of his friend of many years

and the founder of the Wee Big band, Jim

Galloway. The band opened with two Ellington

numbers, Stompy Jones and Mainstem. Martin

gave a shameless promotion to the Toronto Duke

Ellington Society who had contributed to this

year’s Jazz Festival. The band next played a Harry

James number One on the House followed by a

feature for Rob Sommerville on trombone of Sultry

Serenade. Alison Young on tenor was featured on

Where or When and then John MacLeod on cornet

in East St. Louis Toodle Oo. We then heard Cotton

Tail featuring John McMurchy on tenor. Martin

then dedicated the next number to the recently late

Howard Cable who had written Goosey Gander. In

memory of Gay Pride week the band played Billy

Strayhorn’s Midriff. To bring the concert to an end

we heard Lost In Meditation and in recognition of

Canada Day Beaver Junction To send us all home

with a “Killer Diller” Lunceford Special.

n July 10, at the Taste of Lawrence Food

Festival, Martin Loomer’s Orange Devils

again performed at long 90 minute set,

playing 20 numbers in the noonday sun and bluster.

Ellington was featured throughout with Mood

Inigo, Slap Happy, Cotton Club Stomp, In a

Mellotone and Blue Goose. How many numbers

are there in your band’s book Martin?

Minutes of September 13th 2016 General

Meeting.

or our first meeting of the year we engaged

a trio led by bassist Neil Swainson to play a

recital for us at Montgomery’s Inn. In

addition to Neil Swainson the rest of the trio was

Reg Schwager on Guitar and Don Thompson on

piano. President Alan Shiels opened the meeting of

72 members and guests.

Alan announced that the annual spring concert

would go ahead again next year. Walter Hall has

been retained for the evening of April 29, the

concert starting at 7:30 p.m.in April. Tickets will

be available in November.

Member Curtis Smith who organises the Etobicoke

Jazz Festival announced that the dates for this

year’s festival were November 4, 5, 6. Appearing

will be a Richard Whiteman trio playing a “Tribute

to the Duke” and Martin Loomer’s Orange Devils.

Locations and concert times to be announced.

Liz Strathdee announced that that St Phillips Jazz

Vespers Series was arranged for the new season

with Bernie Senensky playing a tribute to Moe

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Kauffman on Sunday October 2 at 4:00 p.m. On

Sunday October 16 a Dave Young Trio is playing

The Music of Oscar Peterson and on Sunday

October 30 at 4:00p.m. there is a Mariachi Vespers.

The concert got underway with Love You Madly

written by Ellington in 1950, the title becoming his

catch phrase for 20 years. The trio then played

Cotton Tail from 1940 and then Billy Strayhorn’s

Isfahan. We then heard a Don Thompson

arrangement of Do Nothing ‘til you hear from Me.

Neil Swainson announced Black Butterfly from

1936 as a number not frequently played, though it

should be, with an arrangement inspired by the

Jimmy Rowles version in the Isfahan album. To

close the opening set the Trio played Billy

Strayhorn’s Johnny Come Lately from 1942. In

each number each of the trio members were given

ample time to stretch out and give us nice long

solos.

Many Thanks to Bruce Barton for the image of the

Trio.

The second half of the concert got underway with

a very fine rendition of The Feeling of Jazz from

the Duke Ellington & John Coltrane album. I’m

Beginning to see the Light was followed by

Morning Glory written by Rex Stewart in 1936

with help from Ellington. Neil Swainson on bass

took the cornet part. A Don Thompson

arrangement of Blue Rose from 1956 followed.

This tune provided, in part, the chord changes for

John Coltrane’s Giant Steps first recorded in 1960.

The arrangement clearly demonstrated the origin

of the later tune. We then heard a medley of two

choruses each from Warm Valley from 1940 with

Reg Schwager taking on Hodges’ Alto role and Le

Sucrier Velours the third movement of the Queen’s

Suite of 1958. The concert was closed by Juan

Tizol’s Perdido from 1939.

What a concert! Concluded by a standing ovation

from an audience which appreciated every note.

n Thursday September 15, Jim Galloway’s

Wee Big Band led by Martin Loomer made

another appearance at the Garage. Though

the band plays music written and arranged by a

wide variety of musicians for the 20’s to 50’s Duke

Ellington pieces featured largely in this concert.

Among others, the band played Stompy Jones,

Main Stem, Cottontail, Midriff, Boo-Dah, Tulip or

Turnip and Stompin’ at the Savoy, the Dick Vance

arrangement which Ellington used. It is number

402 in the Wee Big Band’s book!!

Upcoming Events and TDES 40 Meetings:

October 11 2016:

Our Annual General Meeting at which officers will

be elected to serve for the next two years. Please

see the notice at the end of this newsletter.

After the AGM Jim Northover will make a brief

presentation on Duke Ellington and Tiger Rag.

November 8 2016 – Bruce Barton Video evening

December 6 2016 – Holiday Party at the Arts &

Letters Club. The music will be provided by

Richard Whiteman, Reg Schwager, Neil Swainson

and Morgan Childs. Ticket sales to members only

until October 11 when sales will be open to the

friends of TDES. Tickets cost $80.00 per Person.

To date only 22 tickets remain unsold.

Members need to talk to Judy Shiels before

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October 10 2016 in order to purchase. After

October 10 unsold tickets will be offered for sale

to non-members.

January 10 2017 – Allan Jones Presentation

February 14 2017 – Jack Chambers will make a

presentation on “‘Celebration’ – Ellington’s Lost

Symphony.” The work was performed twice and

never recorded and has been unheard for 42 years.

The version Jack will be discussing was

orchestrated, arranged and conducted by Ron

Collier in 1974. This recording was produced by

Ted O’Reilly.

February 16 2017 – Jim Galloway’s Wee Big

Band led by Martin Loomer will make another

appearance at the Garage, 720 Bathurst Street.

March 14 2017 – Brendan Vardy – Opinions on

Ellington.

April 11 2017 – Rob Fogle

April 30 2017 – The Annual Spring Fundraising

Concert will be held in Walter Hall as usual,

starting at 7:30 p.m.

May 9 2017 – Tentatively Colin Bray

June 13 2017 – The ever popular Member’s

Choice. Please bring selections to play to the

group. We expect that there will be a Bring and

Buy sale prior to the meeting start which proved

very successful last year.

Welcome New Members:

Since our last newsletter we have some new

members: Howard and Mary Turner Hunter, Judy

Miyauchi, Dale and Gordon Moore and Elsie

Bowman – Welcome.

Passages:

Toots Thielemans, the man who made the

harmonica a well-known jazz instrument died

today in Brussels, Belgium, his hometown. He was

94.

New Orleans clarinet titan, Pete Fountain, passed

away on Saturday morning, August 6 2016. He

was 86.

Jeff Healey Park update:

We purchased an Ivory Silk Lilac tree which the

City of Toronto has planted in Jeff Healey Park. It

has been our intention to have a plaque placed with

the tree honouring Jeff and his contribution to jazz

music. The City of Toronto has advised us that the

lifetime of the plaque will be very limited,

something like one month, due to anticipated

vandalism and theft. We have decided against a

plaque and are looking for more suitable ways to

honour Jeff’s memory.

Jack Chambers told me that he had a long article

on Duke’s tenor saxophones called The Fifth Reed:

Ben Webster and the Tenor Ascent published in the

IAJRC Journal in the Summer 2016 edition. He

reminded me that DES members with very good

memories might recognize that he based two of his

February presentations on material in this piece.

The IAJRC web site is: http://www.iajrc.org/

Good News – The redoubtable Columbia

University radio station WKCR is now back

streaming, thank goodness. You really need to

explore this web site and listen to the extensive jazz

programming which may be found at:

https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/

Another web site you need to explore is:

http://wallacebass.com/

Go to the web site and sign up for frequent if not

regular blog postings on jazz, and other related

matters. Well written and informative as well as

good fun. In his latest blog, called Taken, Given

Steve Wallace tells us among other things of a

dedication at York University in which TDES 40

members Anne Page and David Stimpson figure

largely. They made major donations to the Sound

and Moving Images Library and the Clara Thomas

Archives and Special Collections which are part of

the very large Scott Library on the Keele campus

of York University.

http://www.iajrc.org/

https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/wkcr/

http://wallacebass.com/

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Meetings of the Toronto Chapter of the Duke

Ellington Society are held on the 2nd Tuesday

of each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W

Visitors always welcome

Plenty of Free Parking

Annual Dues

The TDES 40 financial year runs from September

1st through August 31st of the following year. In

order to meet the Society’s obligations for

Montgomery’s Inn, rentals, postage, printing and

expenses in a timely fashion, it is imperative that

annual dues be paid as early in the year as

possible. Those who joined the Society

subsequent to the annual concert in April 2016 are

exempt from dues payment for the current year.

Dues are $35 for a single membership and $50 for

a family membership for payments made on or

before October 12th 2016. Payments made after

that date are subject to a $5.00 surcharge to offset

bank penalties for late deposits. If you have not

already made your payment, please mail your

cheques:

Chris McEvilly, Treasurer,

The Toronto Duke Ellington Society,

10 Edgemore Drive,

Toronto, ON.,

M8Y 2M8

Be sure to include your name, address, home

phone number and email address.

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL

MEETING

In accordance with its By –laws, the Annual

General Meeting of the Duke Ellington Society,

Toronto Chapter 40 will be held at 7:30 PM,

Tuesday October 11th, 2016, in the meeting

room at Montgomery’s Inn 4709 Dundas Street

West, Ontario, Canada.

There will be an election of new officers and

they are elected to serve for a term of two years.

In addition, the purposes of the meeting are:

(1) To receive reports of the President and

Treasurer in respect of the Chapter’s

2015 – 2016 fiscal year and

(2) To deal with any business carried over

from prior meetings, or properly

introduced at this time.

Any paid up member may bring before the

meeting any matter of business properly

pertaining to the manner on which the affairs of

the Society are conducted or suggest ways of

improving the Society for the benefit of all.

Vol. 58 No. 2 October 2016



1791 Pattinson Crescent, Mississauga, ON. Canada, L5J 1H6; Phone 416-453-5342; e-mail:[email protected]


Minutes of the October 11 General Meeting

Alan Shiels opened the meeting of 30 members and

welcomed everyone and gave us his President’s

report for the previous year. He said that TDES is in

a healthy state with good attendance at our monthly

meetings. We have gained some new members but

have regrettably lost a few over the past year too.

Montgomery’s Inn has been very accommodating to

our needs, especially Tom the Custodian who has

been very helpful and needs to be thanked. Alan gave

a brief review of the season’s activities. We enjoyed

the Richard Whiteman trio at our September meeting

playing a couple of sets of Ellington and Strayhorn

music at Montgomery’s Inn. In addition to Richard,

the trio consisted of Pat Labarbera and Neil

Swainson. The band played to a full house of 72

members and guests. The October meeting was our

AGM but there was no election of officers required

for this year. After the AGM formalities Jim

Northover presented Ellington Oddities & Rarities I.

He played many numbers rarely heard from the

Ellington band. In November Brian Barlow

discussed The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker Suite

which his Big Band was to perform at the Richard

Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre.

TDES co-sponsored the event. Our December

Holiday party was again a great success with 104

members and guests attending at the Arts & Letters

Club. The music was provided by John Sherwood,

Steve Wallace and Mike Murley and Terry Clark.

Thanks to Judy Shiels for once again organizing this

event.

For the January meeting we all enjoyed

Reminiscences of Alistair Cooke presented by Allan

Jones and based on Cooke’s Letters from America,

specifically the one concerning Ellington’s funeral.

Jack Chambers took his usual spot at the February

meeting and titled Ellington’s Three Trips Down the

River. Another masterful presentation. Jack

presented the River Suite from the three available

Recordings. Rob Fogle visited us in March and made

a presentation of jazz Pianists Play Duke Ellington.

We heard a wide variety of pianists including Dick

Hyman, Art Tatum, Monk, Fats Waller and Cecil

Taylor. For the April Meeting we enjoyed Bruce

Barton’s video presentation of Duke Ellington: Live

at The Tivoli Gardens in 1971. Our Annual Spring

Fund Raising Concert in April with John MacLeod’s

Rex Hotel orchestra with Jackie Richardson as

vocalist was again a fully sold out concert and was a

roaring success. For our May meeting Martin

Loomer presented Duke’s April 29 1953 and 1954

Birthday Session from the LaserLight 5 CD set. The

final meeting of the year, the June Members’ Choice,

was again a success with thirteen members playing a

wide variety of music. The meeting was preceded by

a sale of material from members’ collections which

seemed to be popular and will be repeated next year.

Alan Shiels took this opportunity to thank the people

who helped make the season a success. Mel Manley

for organizing the refreshments for the meetings,

Baird Knechtel for advertising, Matt Wood and his

telephone committee, Marilyn Stix for keeping the

concert mailing list up to date, John Hornsby for

being the archivist and for supplying material to help

with presentations and Helen Paul for organizing the

“Get Well” cards.

We made many Outreach efforts this year including

sponsoring Jim Galloway’s Wee Big Band and Brian

Barlow’s Big Band at the Toronto Jazz Festival,

Supporting the Etobicoke Jazz Festival, Co-

sponsoring the Big Band Tap Revue at the Brigantine

Room, and co-sponsoring Brian Barlow’s Big Band

at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons

Centre playing The Nutcracker Suite.

We then discussed the Election of officers for the

upcoming 2016 – 2018 term. Jim Northover hoped

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someone would step forward to take on the role of

Secretary. The job has been pared down to eliminate

some of the heavier duties such as the Concert

mailing list, web site maintenance and Newsletter

which will be looked after separately. The remaining

secretary’s task is then quite manageable. Jim said

the he will not serve after the 2018 term.

Alan Shiels then listed the officers for the next two

years:

Bruce Barton – President

Alan Shiels - Past President

Martin Loomer – Vice President on the

understanding that he will not be called upon to serve

as President.

Secretary – Jim Northover on the understanding that

he will serve for this term only.

Chris McEvilly –Treasurer

Irene Barton – Program Coordinator.

With the addition of Judy Shiels as the appointed

Outreach Coordinator this slate will form the

Executive Committee for the next two years. The

membership in attendance unanimously approved the

election of the slate.

Chris McEvilly presented the Treasurer’s report

which was provided to members with the September

newsletter.

We then took a brief break with refreshments

supplied by Matt Wood and Mel Manley. Alan

Shiels then introduced Jim Northover whose

presentation this evening was titled Duke Ellington

and Tiger Rag.

Jim explained that he was going to do three things:

Firstly play two Tiger Rags, Ellington’s first and last

recordings of the tune.

Then discuss the concept of Contrafact – and play a

couple of examples.

Then play a few numbers that Ellington wrote based

on Tiger Rag.

Tiger Rag has a fuzzy origin. Seems to have been

around for a long time under various titles, such as

Number Two Blues, Weary Weasel and was claimed

to have been written by several people, including

Jelly Roll Morton of course, but the first recorded

documentation of Tiger Rag was the one done by the

ODJB in 1917, one of the first jazz recordings. Nick

LaRocca, the cornet player in the band claimed to

have written the number. Many other bands recorded

it in fact hundreds of recordings made between 1918

and the late 1920’s so by the time Duke Ellington got

around to recording it, it was not a new piece by any

means.

Duke Ellington first recorded Tiger Rag (8th January

1929) for Brunswick, Bubber Miley’s last recording

session. It was recorded in two parts each one side of

a 78 rpm disc and as the first example of an

“extended” work Ellington obviously thought highly

of the tune. The soloists are Bigard c, Freddie Jenkins

t, Carney, Hodges, Miley, Nanton. In addition to

being in two parts it is well known for Jenkins

trumpet solo which he played in this and in other

numbers repeatedly.

Jim would have played Ellington’s last recording of

Tiger Rag in chronological order and left it until the

last track played. However, it is so bad that he said

he could not have people leaving at the end of the

evening with this ringing in our ears so he played it

next. From the Eastbourne Concert of December 1

1973 the band is not up to its usual standard so

Ellington makes up for it by making most numbers

features for his piano with the rhythm section and

perhaps a few soloists. His spoken introduction is

weak and rambling. This Tiger Rag is a mediocre

“Dixieland” version, and not in a style or version

we’d expect from Ellington. Money Johnson &

Vince Prudente on trombones, Procope on clarinet,

with the rhythm section. This performance is of low

quality for an Ellington performance. Ellington died

on May 24 1974, less than six months later so his

mind was probably elsewhere.

Ellington composed at least eight tunes based upon

Tiger Rag by using a wheeze which is technically

known as a Contrefact which is a musical

composition consisting of a new melody overlaid on

a familiar harmonic structure. Contrefact can also be

explained as the use of borrowed chord progressions.

Steve Wallace has a nice piece on it in his blog called

Contra Contrefact. Go to

http://wallacebass.com/?p=3779

http://wallacebass.com/?p=3779

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Jim said that he didn’t think that The Be Bop boys

created any tune that was not a contrefact. All of their

pieces are based on others, a widely used device.

Moten Swing is based on You’re Driving Me Crazy,

Donna Lee is based on Indiana. And believe it or not,

When I saw You Standing There based on When The

Saints Go Marching In (Beatles). Scrapple from the

Apple is based on Honeysuckle Rose.

Jim played Charlie Parker’s Scrapple from the Apple

and then played the Ellington’s Honeysuckle Rose

recorded in 1955. Passages from Scrapple from the

Apple is played by the trumpet section. What is

Ellington doing with that quote? Telling the

modernists he knows what they are doing? But he

used the technique in 1926 so it can hardly be new to

him.

Scrapple from the Apple is a contrefact of

Honeysuckle Rose

There was a perfect example at the concert at the last

meeting where the band played Blue Rose from the

Rosemary Clooney album she made with Ellington.

Neil Swainson said that the Coltrane number Giant

Steps was based upon it. What they played owed

more to Giant Steps than to Blue Rose.

Other examples Jim played were

– You’re Driving Me Crazy briefly … then

Moten Swing played by the Basie band.

In addition to the straight ahead recordings titled

Tiger Rag, Ellington used Tiger Rag as the basis for

at least eight additional numbers. We did not hear all

of the derivatives recorded by Ellington as there was

not much time. As we listened to them Jim hoped

we could hear the echoes of Tiger Rag in each of

them somewhere.

The earliest recording of a version of Tiger Rag by

Ellington was The Creeper, (Dec 29 1926), a version

of Snake Rag by King Oliver which was originally

based on Tiger Rag. Ellington next used Tiger Rag

in Jubilee Stomp March 28 1928, and then in Hot and

Bothered (October 1 1928). At the same session as he

recorded the two part Tiger Rag, Ellington recorded

High Life (January 16 1929).

The next one we listened to was Slippery Horn

recorded twice, May 18 1932 and the version we

heard, Feb 17 1933. This was written to show off

Ellington’s new trio of trombones (Tricky Sam

Nanton, Juan Tizol and the new addition, Lawrence

Brown) hence the title in addition to the usual sexual

connotation. Solos by Bigard, Williams and Brown.

He did use the tune in more complex pieces, the first

being Whispering Tiger written in 1932 but recorded

March 8 1937

From the Musical Cotton Club Parade of 1938 we

heard Braggin’ in Brass recorded March 3 1938. The

trumpet section plays the solo that Freddie Jenkins

played in the earlier recording of Tiger Rag.

Luis Russell said that no one had done as much with

the chords of Tiger Rag as Duke Ellington.

Tiger Rag was recorded by a group led by Cootie

Williams (March 8 1937) but not issued for many

years as it was considered to be too modern.

…and finally we heard Daybreak Express which is

mostly about producing train noises from May 12

1933. It was considered remarkably avant garde in

1933 and one of Ellington’s most admired recordings

of that time. It is supposed to represent the fastest

and most modern of Express trains of the period.

The last appearance of Tiger Rag in Ellington’s work

is in The Controversial Suite which is a short piece in

two movements, Before My Time and Later. Before

My Time is a humorous look at Dixieland Jazz in

which several early jazz pieces are played and

parodied in modified forms but with good humour.

Procope takes up the clarinet and leads the band into

a wild remake of Tiger Rag. This is available in the

Ellington Uptown album.

Patricia Poole kindly offered the formal vote of

thanks.

Sources

1. Duke Ellington & His World – A.H.

Lawrence

2. Beyond Category – J.E. Hasse

3. A Listener’s Guide - Eddie Lambert

4. MiMM

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November 8 2016 – Bruce Barton Video evening.

The Etobicoke Jazz Festival runs from November

4 – 6. Of interest to TDES members will be Martin

Loomer’s Orange Devils appearing at the101 Legion

Branch, 3850 Lakeshore Road at 8: 30 P.M. on

Friday November 4 (Park Lawn and Lakeshore W)

and A Tribute to Duke Ellington by The Richard

Whiteman Trio – The Squire Pub at 3:30 p.m. on

Saturday November 5th. 3335 Bloor St W Etobicoke

– The Islington subway stop is close and convenient.

December 6 2016 – Holiday Party at the Arts &

Letters Club. The music will be provided by Richard

Whiteman, Reg Schwager, Neil Swainson and

Morgan Childs. Tickets are $80.00 per Person.






The version Jack will be discussing was orchestrated,

arranged and conducted by Ron Collier in 1974. This

recording was produced by Ted O’Reilly.

February 16 2017 – Jim Galloway’s Wee Big Band

led by Martin Loomer will make another appearance

at the Garage, 720 Bathurst Street.

March 14 2017 – Brendan Vardy – Opinions on

Ellington.

April 11 2017 – Rob Fogle


Concert will be held in Walter Hall as usual, starting

at 7:30 p.m.

May 9 2017 – Tentatively Colin Bray

June 13 2017 – The ever popular Member’s Choice.

Please bring selections to play to the group. We

expect that there will be a Bring and Buy sale prior

to the meeting start which was very successful last

year.


Since our last newsletter we have another new

member: Paulette Kelly - Welcome.

News Item of Interest:

John Hornsby pointed out that there is an interesting

new album available. From the press release – Real

Gone Music is proud to present what is probably the

rarest album in the voluminous Duke Ellington

discography, his 1963 date with Swedish singer Alice

Babs, Serenade to Sweden. That year, Ellington was

hired by the Reprise label as an A & R man, free to

sign any artist he wanted and to record them. His first

choice was Babs, who, in Ellington’s words, was “the

most unique artist I know…She sings opera, she

sings lieder, she sings what we call jazz and blues,

she sings like an instrument, she even yodels, and she

can read any and all of it!” For her part, Babs had a

hit in Sweden when was only 15 and was an iconic

figure in her homeland, appearing in 14 Swedish

films from 1938 to 1959. The result of this meeting

of legendary musical minds was a sublime cool jazz

masterpiece that, sadly, never received a proper

release in the U.S. and appears to be the only

Ellington album never to be reissued on CD or even

digitally, having eluded even the most

comprehensive compilers. Needless to say, original

copies go for big Swedish krona online, and not just

because it’s rare; Babs’ wordless vocals and scat

singing on “The Boy in My Dreams,” “Strange

Visitor,” and “Babsie” are positively Ella-worthy,

and Ellington’s masterful arrangements—at times

filigreed with a French horn section—provide the

perfect accompaniment. We’ve added liner notes by

Scott Yanow, while the album boasts remastering by

Aaron Kannowski. Fascinating for any jazz fan—

essential for Ellington enthusiasts! The release date

was September 2, 2016.



of each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W



Vol. 58 No. 3 November and December 2016





Minutes of the November 8 General Meeting

Newly elected President, Bruce Barton opened the

meeting at 7:30 p.m. In spite of the weather and the

US Presidential elections there was a gratifying

attendance of 30 members.

Bruce’s video for the evening was The Intimate

Duke Ellington, a video of an Ellington led Octet,

some solo piano and a trio presentation. Freely

taken from the liner notes provided with the DVD -

Duke Ellington's fifty year career was full of

accomplishments as a highly original pianist,

arranger, prolific composer and leader of a timeless

orchestra. On occasion he recorded with a small

group from his orchestra or as a piano soloist, but

Duke was rarely filmed in that capacity... with a few

exceptions. On January 23, 1967, Ellington filmed

two programs for Danish television. The first has him

jamming with an octet taken from his orchestra, with

Johnny Hodges alto, Paul Gonsalves tenor, Harry

Carney baritone, Lawrence Brown trombone and Cat

Anderson trumpet. The rhythm section was bass John

Lamb and drummer Rufus Jones with, of course,

Ellington playing piano. They played Take the "A"

Train, Passion Flower, The Jeep Is Jumpin' and

Sophisticated Lady all featuring Johnny Hodges,

Tippin' and Whisperin' featuring Cat Anderson,

Happy Reunion featuring Paul Gonslaves, Satin Doll,

Jam with Sam and finishing with Things Ain't What

They Used to Be.

The second program puts the focus on Ellington's

piano, in solo and trio performances with John Lamb

and Rufus Jones in Le Sucrier Velours, Lotus

Blossom, The Second Portrait of the Lion,

Meditation, On the Fringe of the Jungle, Mood

Indigo, Take the "A" Train. Always a modern and

distinctive soloist, Ellington is seen creating brilliant

improvisations full of strong melodies, subtle

surprises and sly wit.

Etobicoke Jazz Festival:

TDES sponsored the 2016 Etobicoke Jazz Festival

which ran from November 4 – 6. On Friday

November 4 Martin Loomer’s Orange Devils played

at the Royal Canadian Legion 101 at 3825 Lakeshore

Road W. The band played a wide variety of music

selected from the original arrangements of 1920’s –

1930’s big band music featuring much of Ellington’s

material. Alex Pangman ably supplied the vocals.

Swing dancers were there in abundance adding zest

and life to the event.

Martin Loomer announcing a number.

Many thanks to Bruce Barton for supplying the

images used in this newsletter.

2

Alex Pangman

On Saturday November 5 at the Squire Pub the

Richard Whiteman trio played a Tribute to Duke

Ellington.

Richard Whiteman at The Squire Pub.

TDES Holiday Party.

Once again, on December 6th, we held our annual

Holiday party at The Arts & Letters Club in Toronto.

The event was arranged and hosted by Judy Shiels to

whom we owe a vote of thanks for all of the hard

work involved in arranging this event. Thanks Judy.

After the social time we sat down to a dinner of

Bocconcini salad, roast breast of chicken with a

Chevre farce and a dessert of a citrus cake with a

strawberry compote. After dinner we were offered

the formal welcome by President Bruce Barton

who introduced the band for the evening, Richard

Whiteman’s Quartet. In addition to Richard on

piano, Reg Schwager played guitar, Neil

Swainson, bass and Morgan Childs, drums.

The music got underway with Perdido followed by

Just Lucky So and So and then Take the

Coltrane. The band then played the Hodges

feature, Warm Valley and then In A Mellotone

featuring Neil Swainson on bass. This was

followed by what several of us felt was the high

light of the night, Just Squeeze Me with Richard

Whiteman offering a creative and spare angular

solo backed by the solid rhythm section. The set

concluded with Cottontail with a tasteful drum solo

by Morgan Childs.

The second set opened with Upper Manhattan

Medical Group. Richard Whiteman then played a

nice version of Day Dream which drifted into I

Got it Bad… before returning to Day Dream

again. The band then played Star Crossed Lovers

from Ellington’s Such Sweet Thunder Suite. Neil

Swainson was again featured in Satin Doll before

the band played Chelsea Bridge. To bring the

evening to an end the band played Take The “A”

Train. A great evening’s entertainment – Thank

you Judy once again.

3







The version Jack will be discussing was orchestrated,

arranged and conducted by Ron Collier in 1974. This

recording was produced by Ted O’Reilly.

February 16 2017 – Jim Galloway’s Wee Big Band

led by Martin Loomer will make another appearance

at the Garage, 720 Bathurst Street.

March 14 2017 – TDES Scholarship winner Brendan

Vardy – A Young Person’s Perspective on Duke

Ellington.

April 11 2017 – Colin Bray



at 7:30 p.m. The band will be the Humber Faculty

Big Band led by Denny Christianson. The vocalist is

Lydia Persaud. A small group of current students

will play a few numbers also. Tickets are now

available from Alan Shiels

May 9 2017 – Tentatively Rob Fogle or Reide

Kaiser. To be confirmed.




to the meeting start which was very successful last

year.


Since our last newsletter we have returning members

Ross Lawrence and Ken Crooke – Welcome Back,

and new members Paul and Diane Walters –

Welcome.


Recently arrived in my mail box was Mosaic

Records Newsletter with the following

announcement:

The Lush Life of Billy Strayhorn Christian McBride hosts NPR’s “Jazz Night In

America” and a particularly interesting program on

the life of Billy Strayhorn including some fascinating

interview segments with Strayhorn and Ellington

together in 1963 as well as members of Strayhorn’s

family.

To find this program, which I have not had a chance

to listen to go to: http://www.mosaicrecords.com/

and look for the Jazz Gazette.

Jazz Night in America is a radio program offered by

NPR which again has a variety of interesting

programs available for listening by podcast. Go to:

http://www.npr.org/series/347174538/jazz-night-

radio

The Savory Collection:

I heard today an interesting piece on WBFO in

Buffalo the only NPR station we can get on the radio:

http://www.npr.org/2016/12/08/504696831/once-

the-stuff-of-jazz-legend-1930s-recordings-are-

finally-out

The piece is well worth reading or listening to. If you

are an iTunes subscriber you may obtain the first of

presumably a long series of recordings for a nominal

price.

http://www.mosaicrecords.com/

http://www.npr.org/series/347174538/jazz-night-radio

http://www.npr.org/series/347174538/jazz-night-radio

http://www.npr.org/2016/12/08/504696831/once-the-stuff-of-jazz-legend-1930s-recordings-are-finally-out



4

Newsletter.

This will be the last newsletter sent to people who

have not renewed their memberships in TDES for the

2016 – 2017 season. Please contact Chris McEvilly

if you wish to renew. He may be reached at:



10 Edgemore Drive,

Toronto, ON.,

M8Y 2M8

Be sure to include your name, address, home phone

number and email address.

Passages:

Long time TDS member Gene Miller passed away

on November 19. In addition to a regular attendee at

our meetings Gene “was a world class jazz lover and

expert, founder of the Canadian Collector’s Congress

and founding member of the International

Association of Jazz Record Collectors. He was also

a proud member of the Jazz Muddies and Spinners

record collectors groups” from his obituary in the

Toronto Star.

Colin Bray devoted his radio program, Sugar Foot

Stomp to Gene on November 24, playing many of

Gene’s favorite pieces of music. If you want to listen

to this program, please let me know.

We also learned of the death of another longtime

member of TDES Sam Levene. Sam became a

member in February 1989 and continued to renew his

membership into the mid 1990’s. He was a television

and radio producer with the CBC and maintained a

lifelong interest in jazz and baseball. Some veteran

members may remember him.

Both Gene and Sam will be remembered with

affection by members of the Toronto Duke Ellington

Society. Our deepest condolences are extended to

their respective families.

The Department of Arcane Information:

Did you know that U.S. radio stations east of the

Mississippi are prefaced by W while those west are

prefaced by K? I didn’t either.

The Editor and the entire editorial staff of this

newsletter extend to all who may read this

newsletter a Merry Christmas and a Happy a

and healthy New Year of 2017.



of each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W



Vol. 58 No. 4 January & February 2017





Minutes of the January 10 General Meeting

President Bruce Barton opened the meeting of a

hardy 23 members who braved the inclement

elements to attend Allan Jones’s presentation:

Thoughts About the Spirituality of The Duke.

Allan’s first challenge, he explained, was to figure

out what “spirituality “actually was. He reckoned

that there were as many definitions as people but he

felt a useful one was one that he came across many

years ago: “Spirituality is an inner belief system that

has four parts: 1) Personal; meaning in one’s life, 2)

relationships and love for others 3) transcendental

belief in a higher power, and 4) a sense of beauty and

awe with nature.”

Allan explained that he was aware of Janna Steed’s

1999 book Duke Ellington- A Spiritual Biography”.

He confessed that he had, as yet, read only three

chapters.

Before Allan returned to his definition he had a

historical perspective to shine light on Duke’s

spirituality. He believed that Ellington was a very

spiritual person from an early age without being

attached to any particular denomination. We know

that in his childhood Ellington was doted upon by his

parents, particularly his mother Daisy. From an early

age Daisy taught her son about Heaven and God and

took him to two church services each Sunday, her

family church, The Nineteenth Street Baptist and his

father’s family church, the John Wesley A.M. E.

Zion. Daisy also played hymns and sentimental

music at home. When Ellington was about 4 years

old she played “The Rosary” by Ethelbert Nevin.

Upon hearing this song Ellington burst into tears. As

a piece of music that had such a profound effect on

the young Ellington, it deserves to be heard. We

listened to Dame Vera Lynn’s 1963 recording of The

Rosary. Daisy also played popular sentimental

music. One of the pieces that she undoubtedly played

for her son was A Perfect Day by Carrie Jacobs-

Bond, which we heard sung by The McKee Trio

recorded in 1915.

In subsequent years of Ellington‘s childhood, in

addition to church services he also attended Sunday

School where the emphasis was on God and Jesus

Christ. The beliefs he was exposed to are said to have

given him a “wonderful sense of security” and a

sense of worth of all people because “God made

them”. Allan explained that all of this culminated in

Duke’s sense that he was “God’s Messenger Boy”

and the driving force leading ultimately to the

composition of the three Sacred Concerts. From the

second concert we heard T.G.T.T. originally sung

wordlessly by Alice Babs but we heard an

instrumental version by the Ellington Orchestra from

a 1967 recording.

Allan returned to Ellington at the age of four to listen

to a hymn dating from 1793 which Allan felt that

Daisy must have played for her son and we listened

to a pipe organ playing “Duke Street”. As Ellington

entered his teenaged years we know that he hung

around the doors of bars and clubs to listen to the live

music, ragtime, blues and the stride piano. As an

example of what the young Ellington heard, Allan

played James P. Johnson’s Carolina Shout played by

the remarkable Stephanie Trick. In addition to James

P. Johnson, Ellington admired Willie “The Lion”

Smith and later Billy Taylor. Ellington, Smith and

Taylor appeared together on The David Frost Show

of July 24th 1969 and played Perdido which we had

played for us.

In addition to his mother, his father must have had an

influence too. His father is thought to have played

and sang his own versions of popular songs and

operatic arias, and Allan felt that it was not

impossible that he played “Habanera” from Bizet’s

2

Carmen to entertain the young Ellington. Allan

played a solo piano version. J.E. Ellington also sang

in a Barbershop group and we heard “Sweet Adeline”

as the type of song that was sung at the time.

Allan then presented us with “Choo-Choo”, one of

Ellington’s first recordings with his band at the time,

The Washingtonians. Recorded in November 1924.

After this brief review of Ellington‘s early life, Allan

returned to his definition of spirituality which he had

outlined at the beginning of his talk and explained

that he was going to try to find examples of his music

to illustrate each of the four parts of the definition.

1.A personal meaning in Duke’s Life – It seemed to

Allan that there was a deep spirituality driven by his

own distinction between his “best music” and his

”most important work” As an example of his best

music Allan played Daybreak Express recorded by

the Ellington Orchestra in 1933, considered to be

startlingly modern at the time. As an example of his

“most important work’ we heard Come Sunday,

originally from Black Brown and Beige but later used

in the First Sacred Concert, played, in this case, by

James Wingate on a pipe organ.

2. Relationships and love of others in Duke’s Life.

Duke’s love for his mother was greater than that for

anyone else. At the White House party given for

Ellington by Richard Nixon, he thanked the President

by saying that “there was nowhere that he would

rather be tonight except in my mother’s arms”.

Shortly after his mother’s death Ellington wrote

”Reminiscing in Tempo but Allan chose to play

another piece by Ellington which he thought more

appropriate – “A Flower is a Lovesome Thing” sung

by Ella Fitzgerald accompanied by the Ellington

Orchestra.

3. A transcendental belief in a higher power in

Duke’s life. Even though Ellington had no specific

religious affiliation Herb Jeffries is quoted as saying

that “Ellington was a godly man – in his heart he was

godly” As a tribute to Ellington’s belief in a higher

power, from the Second Sacred concert Allan

selected “Heaven” as played by the Orchestra with

Alice Babs and Johnny Hodges featured.

4. A sense of beauty and awe with nature in Duke’s

Life. In spite of Ellington’s hectic life of travelling

and performing he was well aware of his

surroundings and found wonder in the world. To

illustrate we heard “The Single Petal of a Rose”

played by Marion McPartland.

Roslyn Harris spoke on behalf of us all in thanking

Allan Jones for his thought provoking and

challenging presentation. Refreshments for the

evening were provided by Jeanette Chafe and Barry

Tisdall.

Ed. note: I shamelessly pillaged Allan Jones’s notes

in order to prepare this condensation. If you wish to

read his entire presentation, please contact Allan

directly for a copy.

Minutes of the February 14 General Meeting

President Bruce Barton opened the meeting to 33

attendees. Included in the audience was Brendan

Vardy, a recent Humber College music graduate who

is to address the group at our March meeting. Bruce

thanked Marilyn Stix and Elizabeth Strathdee for

providing the refreshments for the evening.

Bruce then handed the meeting over to Jack

Chambers who was going to talk on “‘Celebration’ –

Ellington’s Lost Symphony.” The work was

performed twice and never recorded and has been

unheard for 42 years. The version Jack discussed was

orchestrated, arranged and conducted by Ron Collier.

The work was performed at the Ontario Science

Centre on April 29 1974 when CJRT-FM celebrated

Ellington’s 75th birthday. The recording was

supplied by Ted O’Reilly who was also the producer

of the original recording. Jack included in his talk

anecdotes supplied by John Hornsby from a private

recording of Ron Collier’s presentation at the

Toronto Duke Ellington Conference held June 1996.

Jack’s opening piece labelled Fanfare. He followed

this by playing the first four motifs of the symphony

which Jack labelled Small Band Shout, Meditation

and flute –clarinet duet, Clarinet lead, fanfare and

two –beat and a repeat of the opening Fanfare.

Ellington, Jack explained, accepted a commission for

the 150th anniversary of Jacksonville, FL. He

assigned the commission to Ron Collier. The

Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra premiered

Celebration on 16 May 1972 conducted by Willis

Page on a program with classical European

compositions. Ellington travelled to Jacksonville

with a small entourage. He introduced his

composition with a few words, including. “Some of

3

its parts – Fanfare, Gallop, Ballade, and Celebration

- had been orchestrated by Canadian Ron Collier”

Jack said that the piece had a fragmented structure

which he had segmented into 11 motifs. We then

heard 4/4 and Latin, Ballade with solos presumably

by Bernie Pilch a.s. and Bill Richards violin.

Followed by Gallop with solos by Peter Appleyard

on xylophone and Hagood Hardy on marimba. We

then heard the selection Celebration with a solo by

Bernie Pilch followed by Slow Close. Jack quoted

Ron Collier as saying” On Duke’s 75th Birthday

concert …we did seven movements from The River

and we also did the symphony Celebration. Duke

was happy to hear we were doing that. Everyone was

celebrating his 75th birthday, playing Satin Doll and

Take the “A” Train and things like that. He was in

the hospital at the time and I sent the tapes down to

him but I don’t think he ever heard it.” Collier was

also quoted as saying that Duke said “That Collier,

he can write music on toilet paper.”

Jack also played other pieces played by Ellington and

arranged by Ron Collier. Two pieces he called

“terrible tunes” issued by Readers Digest in 1969, A

Day in the Life of a Fool (Mañha de carnaval) which

Collier had written to feature Lawrence Brown on

trombone but who was unable to play it. The piece

was transcribed for alto sax. And played by Johnny

Hodges. For the same issue Collier arranged A Taste

of Honey which featured Cootie Williams. Both of

these recordings are available from Duke Ellington

Live and Rare (Bluebird 3 CD 2002).

In 1967, Louis Applebaum, musical director of the

Stratford Festival, asked Ellington if he “would be

willing to have us exploit him on behalf of our

Canadian composers”. Ellington agreed to make a

recording with the Ron Collier Orchestra which took

place on 24th July 1967 and issued on the “North of

the Border” album Attic ACDM 1425. The issue

highlighted works by Canadian composers. Jack did

not play Collage #3 by Gordon Delamont because of

time limitations but did play Silent Night Lonely

Night, and Aurora Borealis both composed by Ron

Collier. We took a short detour to listen to Billie

Holiday performing Lady Sings the Blues at the

Stratford Shakespearean Festival. We then heard

Vancouver Lights, a piece by Ron Collier which

appears in the Cool Rock Album by Laserlight.

Jack then told us about the Mount Angel Benedictine

Abbey, OR, library dedication. Ann Henry, one of

Ellington’s friends had committed to compose some

celebratory music for the dedication ceremony. Ron

Collier arranged and orchestrated the music. The

music is available on the global video sharing

website. https://vimeo.com/134631032

John Hornsby thanked Jack for once again providing

us with an outstanding evening.

Many thanks to Jack Chambers for reviewing these

notes and indicating the errors. Any that remain are

of course mine.

Please ask Jack Chambers if you’d like to read his

full notes.

Events and TDES 40 Meetings:

March 14 2017 – TDES Scholarship winner Brendan

Vardy – A Young Person’s Perspective on Duke

Ellington.

April 11 2017 – Colin Bray



at 7:30 p.m. The band will be the Humber Faculty

Big Band led by Denny Christianson. The vocalist is

Lydia Persaud. A small group of current students

will play a few numbers also. Tickets are now

available from Alan Shiels.

May 9 2017 – Tentatively Rob Fogle or Reide

Kaiser. To be confirmed.




to the start of the meeting which was very successful

last year.

Some Centennials:

John Garcia Gentzel (Feb 16 1917 – Feb 6 1998) –

The Jazz Pastor at St Peter’s NYC or as Duke

Ellington had it The Shepherd who watches over the

Night Flock (Second Sacred Concert)

First jazz recordings. The first jazz recording were

made by the ODJB at the Columbia Studios in NYC

on January 31 1917 when they recorded four takes of

https://vimeo.com/134631032

4

Darktown Strutter’s Ball and three of Indiana. It is

unclear to this writer if these recordings were ever

issued at any time. The first issued jazz recordings

were made by the ODJB for Victor on February 27

1917 - Livery Stable Blues (Barnyard Blues) and The

Dixieland Jass Band One Step.

Tadd Dameron – (February 21 1917 – March 8

1965). Jazz composer and arranger in the bebop

style.

Bill Finnegan – (April 3 1917 – June 4 2008). Jazz

arranger and band leader.

Ella FitzGerald – (April 25 1917 – June 15 1996)

Dave Lambert – (June 19 1917 – Oct 3 1966)

Member of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross vocalese

group.

Buddy Rich – (Sept 30 1917 – April 2 1987)

Thelonious Monk – (Oct 10 1917 – Feb 17 1982)

Dizzy Gillespie – (Oct 21 1917 – Jan 6 1993)

Howard Rumsey – (Nov 7 1917 – July 15 2015). A

bassist known for his leadership of the Lighthouse

All-Stars in the 1950s.

Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson – (Dec 18 1917 – July

2 1988).

Tempus Fugit

And on a sadder note, Danish jazz violinist Svend

Asmussen, who played with Fats Waller, Duke

Ellington, Benny Goodman, Alice Babs and Toots

Thielemans, has died. He performed at the Ellington

Conference held in Copenhagen, May 1992. With

Stephan Grappelli and Ray Nance he recorded an

album with Duke Ellington in 1963, called Duke

Ellington’s Jazz Violin Session. He was 100. The

following image is courtesy of John Hornsby who

took the picture at the Copenhagen Ellington

Conference held on 29 May 1992.


Since our last newsletter Audrey Ashbourne has

rejoined – Welcome back!


Storyville Records has just issued the 22nd volume of

the Duke Ellington Treasury Series. These are

recordings of radio broadcasts of the 1940’s.

Apparently there are at least three more volumes to

come. There were 47 LPs issued in this series.

Our colleagues at the London Jazz Society have

reminded me of their radio show which is heard on

Sunday mornings 9:00 until 11:00 on the Radio

station of Fanshawe College in London, ON. CIXX-

FM 106.9 or http://www.1069thex.com/

Hit the Listen Live button.



of each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W



http://www.1069thex.com/

Vol. 58 No. 5 March and April 2017





Minutes of the March 14th General Meeting

Twenty three members were in attendance at the

meeting, including a welcome and rare visit from

Collingwood member John Sled in spite of the

inclement weather. Bruce Barton opened the

meeting with the usual housekeeping

announcements. Bruce thanked in advance Mel

Manley, Matt Wood and Roslyn Harris for providing

refreshments.

Bruce introduced our speaker for the evening,

Brenden Varty, a Humber College Jazz program

graduate and recipient of the 2016 TDES

Scholarship. His topic was “What does Duke

Ellington mean to a young person?” Bruce remarked

that Brenden was probably the youngest person ever

to present to our meeting. Brenden opened with a solo

performance on his tenor sax of Isfahan which was

well received and in Brenden’s opinion, a timeless

piece. He admitted that though he was aware of Duke

Ellington’s basic history he was not familiar with

many of his significant milestones but did feel that

Ellington elevated his interpretation of jazz to a new

level. To illustrate Brenden played two numbers

from A Nite at the Cotton Club, Cotton Club Stomp

and Misty Morn recorded in 1929. He pointed out that

Ellington had an “orchestra” and played material

other than dance and cabaret music such as Mood

Indigo which he felt pushed the envelope of bands of

the time and unlike other music of the period. As a

young musician, pushing the envelope appeals to him

and he admired Ellington’s willingness to

experiment. In his music arranging classes at Humber

College Duke Ellington did not appear in any of the

text books.

Brendan illustrated two styles of arranging, linear

and chordal. He played a Bill Holman arrangement

of The Gentleman is a Dope as an example of a linear

arrangement with a lot of section playing in unison.

He then played a Basie band recording of Midgets

with heavy reliance on soloing and riffs illustrating

the chordal approach. We then heard Tourist Point

of View from Ellington’s Far East Suite which

Brenden felt had the same vison as Stravinsky’s Rite

of Spring. The combination of classical and jazz

approaches to music is “all the rage” among

Brenden’s contemporaries. The opening passage of

Bluebird of Delhi reminded Brenden of the early

passages of Rite of Spring.

In Brenden Varty’s opinion Ellington/Strayhorn

never stopped their artistic development as

composers and arrangers as illustrated by Cotton

Club Stomp, Black Brown and Beige and Such Sweet

Thunder. Compared to other jazz musicians of the

time who, though they played great music, did not

develop much throughout their careers. Young

musicians of today take a great deal from Ellington’s

instrumental voice as shown by Creole Love Call

with the Adelaide Hall vocalese accompaniment.

They are also more open to listening to and learning

from “Traditional Jazz” than previous generations.

We heard Kenny Wheeler’s Orchestra playing The

Sweet Time Suite Movement #5 Know Where You are

with the vocalese of Norma Winstone from the Music

for large and Small Ensembles album issued in 1990.

Brenden stated that he felt that jazz musicians were

more able to incorporate classical music techniques

into jazz that classical musicians were able to

incorporate jazz as shown by Stravinsky’s Ebony

Concerto which we heard played by a Woody

Herman orchestra, conducted by Stravinsky in 1946

which we all agreed was not a successful piece.

Ellington on the other hand was successful in

incorporating classical techniques as in Come

Sunday, here sung by Mahalia Jackson.

After a short break we re-assembled and Brenden

opened the second half of the meeting by saying that

though musicians want to be creative, they also have

to make a living. He plays not only tenor sax but all

of the woodwinds in addition to clarinet and flute. He

composes and arranges music when he can and

2

teaches piano. He quoted from Duke Ellington when

he visited Humber College in 1973 who said

“successful rock groups are a business and have

nothing to do with music. It’s the sales department

that makes or breaks a rock group.” Mr. Ellington

told the students that “they should go into music with

a natural interest. You can never learn everything

there is to know about music and you should know

all types of music in order to make a decision on what

you like”

Image of Brenden Varty, image courtesy Bruce

Barton.

Duke Ellington wrote music with specific musicians

in mind, for example Concerto for Cootie. We heard

a version of Cottontail with the tenor solo taken by

Paul Gonsalves. One of Brenden’s favorite

arrangements is of Isfahan which would not be the

same without Johnny Hodges.

Brenden feels that Ellington’s music is as fresh today

as when it was written. Brenden played Ellington’s

Angelica from the Ellington and Coltrane album.

Current musicians continue to play Ellington‘s

music. Recently Christian McBride played at

Humber College and Brenden played Broadway from

McBride’s Big band album Good Feeling as an

example of how Ellington influenced McBride’s

arranging style. We also heard Angelica again, this

time played by The Nancy Walker/Kieran Overs

Tentet. All of the musicians in the Tentet were

Humber College students or graduates.

Though Duke Ellington died in 1974, twenty years

before Brenden was born, he still feels connected to

Ellington through the music. He played Humber

College Big Band’s version of Larry Golding’s

Pegasus and hoped that the influence of Ellington in

his arrangement was evident.

Mel Manley thanked Brenden Varty for his

presentation. He had a clear passion for the music

and deserved a great future. His presentation was

enthusiastic and full of confidence. We all happily

endorsed Mel’s vote of thanks.

Minutes of the April 11th General Meeting.

Bruce Barton opened the meeting at 7:30 p.m. with a

few announcements. TDES has made an initial

donation of $1000.00 to The Regent Park School of

Music. We continue to discuss with the School

options for future cooperation. There were 36

members and guests in attendance.

Irene Barton, Program Chair introduced our speaker

for the evening, Dr. Colin Bray who in addition to his

University of Toronto responsibilities hosts the

classic jazz radio program Sugar Foot Stomp on the

university’s community radio station CIUT 89.5 FM

which can also be accessed at http://www.ciut.fm/ as

well as playing the bass in various classic jazz bands

around town and also co owns the Jazz Oracle record

label.

Colin’s talk was entitled Early Ellington

compositions played by contemporary bands in

Britain, Continental Europe and the U.S.A. Colin’s

interest in Ellington covers only the period up to

when Wellman Braud left the Ellington Orchestra.

Colin explained that the first half of the evening was

devoted to British bands and he opened with a

number from the Negro musical Chocolate Kiddies.

In the spring of 1925 Jo Trent was invited to write

several numbers for an all-black stage revue to be

called ‘Chocolate Kiddies’ On a tight deadline of 24

hours Ellington knocked out five tunes of which one

– ‘Jig Walk’ outlived the show. The show was never

seen in the US but was written for a troupe of black

performers who toured continental Europe in the

mid-twenties and starred Adelaide Hall and

Josephine Baker (as a dancer only). The show is

attributed as the ‘show that brought jazz to Europe’.

3

Jig Walk was played by the Devonshire Restaurant

Band and was originally recorded by Ellington on a

piano roll in early 1924. Spike Hughes was initially

strongly influenced by Red Nichols but then heard

Duke Ellington and fell under his spell. We heard the

Spike Hughes Orchestra play Misty Morn recorded in

1930 and, according to Hughes, his worst ever

recording. Ellington originally recorded this piece

November 1928. This was followed by another

Hughes recording made in April 1930 The Mouchie.

Hughes claimed the composer credit for this piece

though the recording clearly demonstrated how

heavily it was based on Ellington’s The Mooche.

This was followed by The Rhythm Maniacs led by

Philip Lewis but composed of many band members

from the Spike Hughes orchestra. We heard a

recording made in 1930 but only discovered in 2016

Birmingham Breakdown which Ellington recorded in

November 1926. From 1933 we heard recordings

made by Madame Tussaud’s Dance Orchestra of

Rockin’ in Rhythm and Stevedore Stomp recorded by

Ellington in 1929. Billy Cotton was a band whom

many of us remember fondly from his radio and T.V.

appearances. From 1933 we heard it play a stylish

arrangement of Sophisticated Lady. Claude Bampton

and His Bandits then played Ring dem Bells recorded

in 1935. When Duke Ellington toured Britain in 1933

the Jack Hylton Orchestra (which toured the U.S.A.

as part of the deal to have Ellington play in Britain)

played an Ellington medley recorded in November

1933 of Black & Tan Fantasy, It Don’t Mean a

Thing… Mood Indigo and Bugle Call Rag. Colin then

played the stilted and orchestrated interview of

Ellington by Percy Mathison Brookes made in 1933

during the tour. The Duke Ellington band had a great

influence on British bands of the period. Many more

recordings of Ellington numbers were made in

Britain during that time than were made in the U.S.A.

by non-Ellington bands.

We then took a short break with refreshments kindly

supplied by Brad Perkins and George Davis. Colin

opened the second half of his presentation by playing

bands from the Continent of Europe. From Sweden

we heard George Ender’s Orkester play Black & Tan

Fantasy recorded in 1935 and a quartet of violin,

guitar and bass led by piano accordionist Nisse Linds

Hot-Kvartet playing Jubilee Stomp, recorded in

1937.

We then travelled across the Atlantic to hear a few

non Ellington bands of the period. We led off with

The Lumberjacks playing Black Beauty, a recording

made in October 1928, prior to Ellington’s first

recording of this piece in November 1928. Snooks

Friedman and his Memphis Stompers played

Soliloquy from December 1931. Ellington’s manager

from 1926 – 1939, Irving Mills, also represented the

Cab Calloway band, whom he also used to replace

Ellington at the Cotton Club during the Ellington

band’s tours. Cab Calloway played Creole Love Song

(Creole Love Call) with the vocal by Calloway,

recorded May 1931. One of the territory bands of the

time, Red Perkins and his Dixie Ramblers based in

Omaha NB played Old Man Blues from a recording

of May 1931.

Another of the bands that Irving Mills represented,

The Mills Blue Rhythm Band, played Solitude from

December 1934 and Drop Me Off in Harlem from

December 1933 with the vocal by Adelaide Hall.

Colin concluded his presentation with the Washboard

Rhythm Kings playing from October 1932, It Don’t

Mean a Thing... John Powell thanked Colin for his

excellent presentation which, we hope, will form the

basis for at least one of his upcoming radio

broadcasts.

The editor needs to thank Colin Bray for allowing

him the use of his notes in order to make this report

and for making corrections. Any that remain are of

course the editor’s

Events and TDES 40 Meetings:

May 9 2017 – Bruce Barton will make a video

presentation

May 11 2017 – Grace Church on the Hill. Tribute to

Rick Wilkins $45. Call 416-465-8856




to the start of the meeting which was very successful

last year.

September 12, 2017. The first meeting of our new

season will again be a live performance, at

Montgomery’s Inn, with a trio led by John Sherwood

with Mike Murley and Pat Collins. This event is free

for members and guests though due to the limited

seating, reservations are required. Judy Shiels will

4

circulate a signup sheet at our next meetings. Please

contact her at 416-239-2683 if you would like to

reserve seating.

December 5 2017. Holiday Party. The Arts &

Letters Club has been booked for the event once

again. We will have a band led by Drew Jurecka

with a trio of Adrean Farrugia on piano and Clark

Johnston on bass. The drummer is not yet known.

Drew will play violin, sax and clarinet. The ticket

price will be $85.00 per person. Tickets will go on

sale at the September 12 general meeting to

members only who will be permitted to invite one

guest. After the October 10 General Meeting

nonmembers may purchase tickets on a first come

first served basis. Judy Shiels will compile a list

of those who wish to attend. 98 attendees will be

permitted only. Jim Galloway’s Wee Big Band

On Thursday, February 16 a concert, co - sponsored

by The Ken Page Memorial Trust and WholeNote

Media Inc. and was held at the CSI location, 720

Bathurst St. as a Happy Hearts performance with the

band led by Martin Loomer. Warren Vaché was the

featured guest for the evening. The appearance of

Warren Vaché was made possible by a generous gift

by The Toronto Duke Ellington Society. The band

played a wide variety of music using the original big

band arrangements including several

Ellington/Strayhorn numbers: Raincheck, The

Mooche, Steppin’ into Swing Society, Daydream,

Main Stem, What am I here for? Stompy Jones and

The Jeep is Jumpin’.

Duke Ellington Birthday Radio Broadcasts –

There are many events scheduled to celebrate Duke

Ellington’s birthday on Saturday April 29th. Several

radio stations schedule special programming on or

around this date to mark the occasion. Here are a

few suggestions for finding jazz on the “radio”.

KUCR in Riverside California broadcasts excellent

jazz programming from Noon – 6 p.m. EST every

Tuesday which you can get on line at www.kucr.org

The program – Jazz Explorations, from Noon to 2:00

p.m. is hosted by a Southern California DES member

Lee Farley and is well worth listening to. He does

a very good Ellington program which I expect to be

broadcast on April 25 or May 2 this year.

WKCR in New York City airs numerous special broadcasts throughout the year, including one day

devoted to Duke Ellington. All day April 29 will be

devoted to his music.

On Saturday April 29 from 8:00 a.m. to noon WCDB

in Albany will broadcast its annual Ellington

celebration hosted by Bill McCann with guest Bill

Saxonis, a New York City DES member. Their

stream is available at www.wcdbfm.com.

The New England Public radio service broadcasts a

daily jazz program, Jazz a la Mode, hosted by Tom

Reney and heard from 8:00 ‘til 11:00 p.m. This year

Tom will host a celebration program on Ellington on

April 28th which can be heard as a podcast for one

week. The stream may be heard at www.nepr.net

On the BBC Geoffrey Smith’s weekly jazz program

regularly plays an Ellington Celebration around April

29. There are several other jazz programs of interest

on the BBC which you can explore here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/programmes/genres/mu

sic/jazzandblues/player

There is also Colin Bray’s excellent classic jazz

program, Sugar Foot Stomp, on CIUT which

broadcasts Thursdays from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. We are

able to listen on the original steam radio at 89.5 on

the FM band Of course, the stream is available at

www.ciut.fm. Colin does not do anything special for

Duke Ellington’s birthday but he does play his music

frequently and occasionally a special Ellington

program during the regular schedule. One can listen

to Colin’s program for a week after its original

broadcast date as a podcast accessible through the

CIUT web site.

Some of the broadcast times may be inconvenient for

"live listening” and there may be some overlapping

so you may want to record some of these programs

for listening at your convenience later, unless of

course, a podcast is available. All times quoted

above are local Toronto times. If you would like to

listen to any of these radio broadcasts but find the

timing inconvenient or just miss the opportunity,

please let me know.



of each month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm

Montgomery’s Inn

4709 Dundas St. W



http://www.kucr.org/

http://www.wcdbfm.com/

http://www.nepr.net/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/programmes/genres/music/jazzandblues/player

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/programmes/genres/music/jazzandblues/player

http://www.ciut.fm/

Vol. 58 No. 6 May & June 2017

April 29th

Fundraising Concert.

The Humber Faculty Big Band led by Denny

Christianson played to a full house in Walter Hall on

April 29th at our concert held in celebration of Duke

Ellington’s 118th birthday. The concert raises funds

for further scholarships and Duke Ellington Society

outreach events designed to maintain and improve the

health of the organization and to fulfil its mandate of

promoting Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s

music. The band members were:

Denny Christianson –Leader

Saxes: Andy Ballantyne (lead alto), Alex Dean (tenor),

Pat LaBarbera (tenor), Nick Morgan (alto), Shirantha

Beddage (baritone)

Trumpets: Dave Dunlop (lead), Alex Kundakcioglu

Brian O'Kane, Steve Crowe.

Trombones: Al Kay (lead), William Carn, Christian

Overton, Pete Hysen

Drums: Mark Kelso, Piano: Brian Dickinson, Guitar:

Ted Quinlan, Bass: Mike Downes.

Bruce Barton welcomed everyone to Walter Hall and

explained that this was our 19th concert celebrating

Duke Ellington’s birth. Bruce thanked Alan and Judy

Shiels for once again organizing the concert. It was

appropriate that this year we invited the Humber

College Faculty Big Band as not only was Humber

College’s music program recognized worldwide but was

the first institution which the Toronto Duke Ellington

Society donated funds for a music scholarship. Bruce

then introduced the band’s leader, Denny Christianson

who started the concert with

Take the “A” Train featuring Pat LaBarbera and Al

Kay. Andy Ballantyne was featured on his arrangement

of Star Crossed Lovers which was followed by Andy’s

updated arrangement of In A Sentimental Mood. Brian

O’Kane, trumpet and Alex Dean on clarinet were

highlighted in Billy Strayhorn’s Boo-Dah. We then

heard Tyree Glenn’s Sultry Serenade with a strong solo

from Pat LaBarbera and spotlighting Brian Dickinson,

Mike Downes and Mark Kelso. We strayed off topic

and had a lot of fun with Moten Swing with solos from

Labarbera and Brian O’Kane. Ron Collier, who wrote

and arranged for Duke Ellington after Billy Strayhorn’s

death, taught at Humber College for many years. He

dedicated his composition Four Kisses to Duke

Ellington in which we heard a solo from Nick Morgan.

Alex Dean, Brian O’Kane and Shirantha Beddage were

featured on Strayhorn’s Upper Manhattan Medical

Group. Denny Christianson then introduced Chelsea

Bridge, firstly playing a fragment using the original

Strayhorn arrangement and then a more extended piece

using Sammy Nestico’s slower tempo version. Brian

O’Kane starred throughout. To close the set we heard a

spirited rendition of Cottontail with Alex Dean soloing,

and William Carn and Al Kay trading trombone fours

and finally brought to a close with a solo by Pat

LaBarbera.

Image of Lydia Persaud and Matt Lagan of Humber, The

Next Generation supplied by Bruce Barton.

The second set was opened by a quartet called The

Humber Next Generation with Lydia Persaud, vocals and

leader, Ewen Farncombe, piano, Matt Lagan, tenor sax.

Soren Nissen, bass and Ian Wright, drums. This all-star

group of Humber alums have each been the recipient of

either or both of, the Oscar Peterson Prize and the

Hnatyshyn Foundation Award, which is given each year

to the top post-secondary jazz student in Canada. They

started with Isfahan with a solo by Matt Lagan. Lydia

Persaud, whom we remember from several previous

The Newsletter of the Duke Ellington Society, Chapter 40, Toronto, Canada is mailed prepaid to members in good

standing. Further information pertaining to the Society’s activities may be obtained from the Editor.

1791 Pattinson Crescent, Mississauga, ON. Canada, L5J 1H6; Phone 416-453-5342; e-mail:[email protected] Web

site: www.torontodukeellingtonsociety.com

2

appearances in front of Duke Ellington Society audiences

then joined the band with an arrangement of Mood

Indigo reminiscent of Nina Simone followed by Prelude

to a Kiss. The quartet finished their set with The Ella

Fitzgerald arrangement of Just Squeeze Me.

The full band returned to the stage, but members of the

Next Generation quartet took the seats of some of the

members to provide a mixture of generations and played

Lush Life with a great vocal by Lydia of this difficult

to sing piece. The full band then resumed with an Oliver

Nelson arrangement of In A Mellotone with Al Kay

soloing on trombone. Lydia sang I Got It Bad… and

the concert was brought to a close with a Latin tinged

Do Nothing ‘til You Hear From Me featuring Ted

Quinlan. standing ovation from the audience showed

how much we appreciated the music and the band’s

performance. Many Thanks to Judy and Alan Shiels

whose hard work, once again, ensured the success of the

concert.

Minutes of the May 9th

General Meeting Bruce

Barton opened the meeting to 28 members and guests.

Bruce presented a video evening which he titled Live

Performance Videos of Ellington, Strayhorn and

Associated Tunes, played by musicians not of the

Ellington orchestra.

He opened with Sonny Rollins playing It Don’t Mean

a Thing if it Ain’t Got that Swing, recorded 1959 in

Stockholm with Henry Grimes bass and Joe Harris

Drums. This was followed by Rollins again playing

tenor on Three Little Words with a tenuous Ellington

connection. Sonny Greer was to have handled the vocal

on a 1930 recording but was unable so Paul

Whiteman’s Rhythm Boys stood in. The Rollins

version was recorded in 1965 in Denmark. A Charles

Mingus led band with Mingus on bass, Eric Dolphy

alto, bass clarinet and flute, Clifford Jordan tenor,

Johnny Coles trumpet, Jaki Byard piano and Danny

Richmond drums played Take the “A” Train

recorded in 1964 in Norway. To conclude the first half

a Ben Webster Sextet played Chelsea Bridge and C

Jam Blues. The Sextet consisted of Ben Webster,

Buck Clayton, Vic Dickinson, Hank Jones, George

Duvivier, and Jo Jones. We then took a short break

with refreshments kindly provided by Patricia Poole

and Harold Swartz. The second half of the evening got

underway with Bill Evans playing Blue Serge with

Eddie Gomez bass and Eliot Zigmund drums recorded

in Denmark in 1975. Keith Jarrett followed, playing

solo piano on Things Ain’t What They Used to Be,

Do Nothin ‘til you Hear from Me and I Got it Bad

and That ain’t Good, played in Japan in 1987. We

then concluded with two from Oscar Peterson, Satin

Doll recorded in Stockholm and C Jam Blues recorded

in Denmark with Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen. Most of

the videos for this evening were taken from Mosaic’s

Jazz Icon series.

Minutes of the June 13th

General Meeting. In the

absence of Bruce Barton, Alan Shiels opened the

meeting and welcomed 27 the members in attendance.

The evening was devoted to Members’ Choice and was

led off by Brad Perkins with two selections, Such Sweet

Thunder and Star Crossed Lovers from Ellington’s

Such Sweet Thunder album. Matt Wood provided an

excellent Sophisticated Lady played by The Denny

Christianson Big Band from Ellingtonia - A Tribute to

Duke Ellington by Justin Time Records. We were

unable to determine the band members. John Hornsby

provided a Strayhorn number Something to Live For

sung by Marian Bruce from the Fresh Sound album

Halfway to Dawn/Spotlight on Jacy Parker.

Interestingly John told us that Marian Bruce ultimately

married Dr. Arthur Logan. Chris McEvilly played The

Blues from the 1956 Bethlehem album Duke Ellington

Presents. Jim Northover played two numbers by Sidney

Bechet, The Mooche recorded in and 1941 and Never

No Lament, a live recording made in 1945.From the

Cosmic Scene Barry Tisdall selected Avalon and Mel

Manley selected Daydream from the Johnny Hodges

with Billy Strayhorn Verve album of 1961. Alan Shiels

chose Prelude to a Kiss by Warren Vache and Bill

Charlap Nagel Heyer album of 2001, 2gether. From the

Joe Henderson album Lush Life, Chris McEvilly played

Drawing Room Blues. George Davis played All Too

Soon featuring Ben Webster from the Verve Jazz Round

Midnight collection and Barry Tisdall returned with

Smada from the Duke Ellington Masterpieces

collection. To wrap up, George Davis played Passion

Flower from the Verve Jazz Club Moods collection.

The refreshments for the evening were generously

provided by Margaret and Michael Flower.

Alan Shiels brought the meeting to a close and sent

everyone off for with good wishes for the summer

season.

Events and TDES 40 Meetings: Jazz

Events:

3

Don’t forget Martin Loomer’s Orange Devils at the

Monarch Tavern 12 Clinton Street, on the second

Monday of each month.

Another jazz club has folded. The Old Chicken Deli,

renamed Seven44, 744 Mount Pleasant Ave has closed.

Summer Jazz Festivals:

At the time of writing there have been limited

announcements as to the line ups. I suggest you refer to

the individual web sites for detailed information as to

who is playing. It seems as though jazz music comprises

less and less of today’s jazz festivals but good stuff may

still be found. Good hunting.

Ottawa - June 22 – July 2

http://ottawajazzfestival.com/

Toronto – June 22 – July 2

The TD Toronto Jazz Festival will be moving to

Yorkville from June 23 - July 2nd, 2017. With more

than 100 free concerts being presented throughout

stages in Yorkville. Shows start daily at noon and finish

at 10 p.m.

June 25 at 4:30 p.m. at Christ Church, Deer Park, 1570

Yonge (St. Clair Subway) The Brian Barlow Big Band will be performing selections from Ellington's Sacred Concerts again this year. They will be joined by Heather Bambrick.

June 29 at Noon, a free concert – Brian Barlow’s Big

Band with Heather Bambrick will play a tribute to Ella

FitzGerald. OLG stage, Cumberland St. As a special

treat Bria Skonberg will appear on the OLG stage on

Cumberland Street, 8:30 p.m. Sunday July 2.

Worth going out for - be there for this one!

http://torontojazz.com/

Toronto Beaches - July 10 – July 26

http://beachesjazz.com/

Festival of the Sound – Parry Sound. July 21 – August 13

http://www.festivalofthesound.ca/

Montreal – June 28 – July 8

http://www.montrealjazzfest.com/default-en.aspx

Trenton Big Band Festival July 22 - 23

http://www.trentonbigbandfestival.com/

Oakville – There will not be an Oakville Jazz Festival

this year. It has been replaced by a “Songs of the

Summer” event.

Prince Edward County – Aug 15 - 20.

http://www.pecjazz.org/

Markham – Aug 17 – 20

http://www.markhamjazzfestival.com/

Port Hope Jazz Festival – Sadly, this festival has been

discontinued.

September 12, 2017. The first meeting of our new

season will again be a live performance, at

Montgomery’s Inn, with a trio led by John Sherwood

with Mike Murley and Pat Collins. This event is free for

members and guests though due to the limited seating,

reservations are required. At the time of writing all seats

have been reserved. If you would like to be placed on

the wait list please call Judy Shiels at 416-2392683.If

you have reserved your spot and find you are unable to

attend please let Judy know so the seat may be

reassigned. Membership dues for the new season and

cheques for the Holiday Party will be collected at the

meeting.

December 5 2017. Holiday Party. The Arts & Letters

Club has been booked for the event once again. We will

have a band led by Drew Jurecka with a trio of Adrean

Farrugia on piano and Clark Johnston on bass and Glenn

Anderson drums. Drew will play violin, sax and

clarinet. The ticket price will be $85.00 per person.

Tickets will go on sale at the September 12 general

meeting to members only who will be permitted to

invite one guest. After the October 10 General Meeting

nonmembers may purchase tickets on a first come first

served basis. Judy Shiels will compile a list of those

who wish to attend. Only 98 attendees can be

accommodated at this event.

January 9 2018 – Allan Jones will present.

April 28 2018 – TDES Fundraising Concert Walter Hall

7:30 p.m.

Newsletter:

A decision was taken by the TDES Executive

Committee to digitize as many of our archives as

practical. We are converting newsletters etc. into .pdf

















4

format and they will be made available in a manner as

yet undetermined.

This will be the last newsletter of this season. The

Editor wishes to thank the entire newsletter staff,

especially Sheila Northover, who diligently proof read

each edition.

The Executive Committee wishes to thank several

members who have contributed significantly to the

operation of the society and helped to continue its

success:

The Phone Committee headed by Matt Wood with

Barry Tisdall, Allan Jones and Mel Manley. Mel also

deserves recognition for organizing the refreshments for

the meetings. Marilyn Stix for keeping the concert

mailing list up to date, Helen Paul for sending get well

cards to ailing members and Baird Knechtel for

publicizing meetings and concerts in the newspaper and

on the radio. Many Thanks to all.

Mosaic Records:

Mosaic Records has announced that its future is not

secure and is unsure as to how the company will

proceed. In spite of the unfavorable exchange rate, if

you need a nudge to decide to buy a set that is still

available, this is it.

Welcome Mew Members:

A warm welcome to Joe Di Stefano, Debbie Wright and

John & Claudine Bailey who joined us subsequent to the

April Concert.

Toronto Jazz Treasures:

A new book, Toronto Jazz Treasures, with text by Ted

O’Reilly and illustrations by Pat Lacroix will be

published shortly. It is a 9” x 12” coffee table style book

with 100 illustrations of Toronto’s great jazz musicians.

For more information visit: http://www.torontojazztreasures.com/

Ted O’Reilly brought to my attention a new book by

Mark Miller: Claude Ranger- Canadian Jazz

Legend.

Claude Ranger was a drummer, composer, arranger, and

teacher, born Montreal 3 Feb 1941. Beginning his career

in Montréal he was a leading figure among the city's jazz

musicians. Ranger lived 1972-87 in Toronto, where he

was a member of the Moe Koffman Quintet 1978-80

and accompanied Canadian and US musicians - In 1987

he moved to Vancouver, serving as a mainstay of the du

Maurier International Jazz Festival. Ranger was

considered a jazz musician and drummer with natural

swing, displayed great stamina, and sometimes worked

against the grain of jazz in Canada. Ranger played a role

in Canada similar to the one created by Art Blakey in

the US - that of a veteran musician whose bands served

as an important platform for the development of

younger players

Reminder - Annual Dues

The TDES 40 financial year runs from September 1st through August 31st of the following year. In order to

meet the Society’s obligations for Montgomery’s Inn, rentals, postage, printing and expenses in a timely fashion, it is imperative that annual dues be paid as early

in the year as possible. Those who joined the Society subsequent to the annual concert in April 2017 are exempt from dues payment for the current year.

http://www.torontojazztreasures.com/

http://www.torontojazztreasures.com/

5

Dues are $35 for a single membership and $50 for a family membership for payments made on or before

October 12th 2017. A family is defined for our purposes as two people living together at the same address. Payments made after that date are subject to a $5.00 surcharge to offset bank penalties for late deposits. Please mail your cheques to:



10 Edgemore Drive, Toronto, ON.,

M8Y 2M8

Be sure to include your name, address, home phone

number and email address.


Ellington Society are held on the 2nd

Tuesday of each

month.

7:30 pm – 10:00pm Montgomery’s

Inn

4709 Dundas St. W



vol. 58 no. 1 september 2016 - toronto duke ellington...

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