Post by erik on Oct 15, 2022 19:53:10 GMT -5
The final composition of the legendary Duke Ellington, one that pays (at least in part) tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Duke Ellington: THREE BLACK KINGS
The legendary Edward Kennedy Ellington—Duke Ellington to the public at large—was more than just a big-band leader and a prime mover in African-American circles; he was known to combine the worlds of jazz and classical music much as Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin did. The big difference is that he was very overt in his own people’s influences. Works like “Solitude”, “Black, Brown, And Beige”, “Night Creature” “Harlem”, and his 1970 ballet score “The River” are very much reflective of that. The same can be said for his final composition, “Three Black Kings”. Composed during the first half of 1974, this was Ellington’s elegy to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the great American civil rights leader and humanitarian who had been shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. But as was very common for Ellington, the final notes of the piece were usually not completed until the day of the premiere; and before the work could even be premiered, Ellington himself had passed away. Thus it was up to Ellington’s son Mercer to guess how it ultimately should be finished. “Three Black Kings” is in three movements: (1) King of the Magi, which refers to King Balthazar, the black king of the Nativity; (2) King Solomon; and (3) Martin Luther King—and it usually takes about eighteen minutes to perform. The work was orchestrated first for jazz orchestra by Luther Henderson for a 1976 White House tribute to Ellington; and later it was given the symphonic scoring treatment by Ellington’s long-time friend Maurice Peress. It is now a very real part of the American classical repertoire in the 21st century.
Detroit Symphony Orchestra/NEEME JARVI (DSO Label)
Included (Ellington And The Modern Masters):
Anthony Davis: NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND
Alvin Singleton: BLUESKONZERT (Piano URSULA OPPENS)
Olly Wilson: SHANGO MEMORIES
Jonathan Holland: MARTHA’S WALTZ
Jonathan Holland: FANFARES AND FLOURISHES
Duke Ellington: THREE BLACK KINGS
The legendary Edward Kennedy Ellington—Duke Ellington to the public at large—was more than just a big-band leader and a prime mover in African-American circles; he was known to combine the worlds of jazz and classical music much as Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin did. The big difference is that he was very overt in his own people’s influences. Works like “Solitude”, “Black, Brown, And Beige”, “Night Creature” “Harlem”, and his 1970 ballet score “The River” are very much reflective of that. The same can be said for his final composition, “Three Black Kings”. Composed during the first half of 1974, this was Ellington’s elegy to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the great American civil rights leader and humanitarian who had been shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. But as was very common for Ellington, the final notes of the piece were usually not completed until the day of the premiere; and before the work could even be premiered, Ellington himself had passed away. Thus it was up to Ellington’s son Mercer to guess how it ultimately should be finished. “Three Black Kings” is in three movements: (1) King of the Magi, which refers to King Balthazar, the black king of the Nativity; (2) King Solomon; and (3) Martin Luther King—and it usually takes about eighteen minutes to perform. The work was orchestrated first for jazz orchestra by Luther Henderson for a 1976 White House tribute to Ellington; and later it was given the symphonic scoring treatment by Ellington’s long-time friend Maurice Peress. It is now a very real part of the American classical repertoire in the 21st century.
Detroit Symphony Orchestra/NEEME JARVI (DSO Label)
Included (Ellington And The Modern Masters):
Anthony Davis: NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND
Alvin Singleton: BLUESKONZERT (Piano URSULA OPPENS)
Olly Wilson: SHANGO MEMORIES
Jonathan Holland: MARTHA’S WALTZ
Jonathan Holland: FANFARES AND FLOURISHES