Duke Ellington: Four Symphonic Works - American Composers Orchestra, Maurice Peress

Four SYMPHONIC WORKS Duke Ellington liner notes

Among the papers of Duke Ellington held by his sister Ruth Boatwright, there appears a 33-page verse narrative, entitled Black, Brown & Beige, by Ellington. It traces the history of an African named Boola, and tells of his arrival in America by slave ship, of his servitude in a strange and beautiful land, his emancipation, and his discovery of the blues. We then move to Harlem; Duke describes its many ironies and its hope for a new world a­comin', the promise of equality, heralded by the Second World War. That Ellington read a great deal of scholarly history about his people is evident throughout. Yet, in the midst of a tale of cruelty and degradation, Ellington creates in his characters a positive sense of self. They are people endowed with a rich and ancient civilization believing in ultimate justice and with a gift for finding joy in love and living. The narrative Black, Brown & Beige is Ellington's philosophical metaphor for black survival in a white world. It very well could have been the original program for his music of the same title which he called "a tone parallel to the history of the American Negro."