Trombonists Booty Wood and Britt Woodman/ the former great with the plunger mute, the latter great with high notes, were both proof of Duke’s way of finding new voices with personal traits. Aside from Terry, a non-soloing but important lead voice in the trumpet section is that of Andres Merenguito, also known as Fats Ford, who had served in Louis Armstrong’s last big band. He came into his own with Duke but left after feeling that he got little to play other than his feature, Perdido. Some observations regarding personnel: An important new voice in the trumpet section was that of Clark Terry, previously with Charlie Barnet and Count Basie, most prominently. Yes, dear reader, in 1932! The discs, of a nice silvery hue, of course required a phonograph that could accommodate the required speed which was quite reasonably priced. It makes its first appearance on records when Victor Records, in the depth of the Depression, introduced the Long-Playing Record. The Medley has a longer history than even serious students of Ellingtonia know. It also was subject to constant change, some due to new voices in the band, but most caused by Ellington’s own way of not making it a bore for his musicians. Critics often chided Duke for (in their opinion) overdoing this staple, but in fact it was not only a clever way of dealing with what undoubtedly would have been audience requests for beloved Ducal standards, but also a way of celebrating the continued life of his musical heritage.
The music starts with the Ellington Medley, by then a standard concert opener in varied embodiments. What we have here is the welcome memento of Duke Ellington and his band’s 1959 European tour.īerlin’s Sportpalast is not a concert hall and during the cursed Nazi reign often was the site of speeches by Hitler and his fellow criminals, but the hall can be said to have been thoroughly purified by sounds of jazz by the time of this concert.
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