Duke Ellington: Live in Concert, London, England, 1963 & 1964

Duke Ellington THE GREAT LONDON CONCERTS liner notes

"LONDON was the first city we went to on the other side of the Atlantic," Duke Ellington wrote in his autobiographical Music Is My Mistress, "and we could not have had a better steppingstone to Europe." London made a big impression on him, just as he and his band did on London. But what with World War II and a protracted squabble between the British and American musicians' unions, it was fated that they should not return for a quarter of a century. After they played the Leeds Festival and Ellington had been presented to Queen Elizabeth II in 1958, younger musicians in the band were astonished to be confronted by fans bearing autographed programs of the concerts given in 1933. "You guys must really have been playing back then," they told their seniors. On that first visit, the band had played at the Palladium, then probably the most prestigious variety theater in the world. They were the major attraction, the thirteenth act on a bill that included comedians, singers and all kinds of entertainers. Although they were a huge success, they got to play only eight numbers in each show, and this was not enough to satisfy musicians and enthusiasts already educated in Ellington's music by records and critics in the jazz press. Dissatisfaction was such that two special concerts were organized at the Trocadero, the largest moviehouse in Europe Both were sold out to audiences largely consisting of musicians, professional and amateur. For a warm reception and applause beyond applause, veteran Harry Carney once declared there was no comparison until the band went to Buenos Aires in 1968. The concerts were in fact the first genuine jazz concerts performed anywhere in the world, and they set a precedent Ellington was fully aware of when he was able to tour Britain regularly. The program on this disc actually derives from two performances, one in 1963 and the other a year later. The selection has been made by Mercer Ellington to show how his father expressed appreciation of London audiences with numbers seldom heard and unusual treatments of others more familiar. The debonair humor of the maestro's announcements was always a big factor in gaining approval, but it is also evident that his band was very much on its toes-and ready to blow---on each occasion.