This edition of Giants of Jazz focuses on a true legend in American music, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899-1974). Ellington led a distinctive-sounding orchestra, made up of equally distinctive instrumentalists who each contributed unique voices as soloists, and occasionally as composers. The Ellington organization was a hub of creative activity, attracting the best and brightest musicians of the swing era and beyond.
Among the genre-defining compositions that sprung out of the orchestra are “Take the ‘A’ Train,” “Mood Indigo,” “In a Sentimental Mood” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).”
“The idea of using up four [78 rpm] sides, 12 minutes on one selection! [Brunswick Records] were getting ready to throw me out there and then.” — Duke Ellington on his composition "Reminiscing in Tempo," as related to Hot Air host, Bob Smith
Ellington’s larger scale compositions include "Reminiscing in Tempo," "Black Brown and Beige" and "Such Sweet Thunder," inspired by his performances at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario. These pieces challenged the norms of big band writing and set new standards for composers who followed Ellington's lead.
Ellington toured the world and earned many distinctions, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1966), a Presidential Medal of Freedom (1969), a French Legion of Honour medal (1973) and the Pulitzer Prize (awarded posthumously in 1999).
Hot Air host Bob Smith had a lifelong fascination with Ellington and interviewed him no fewer than three times for the CBC. This featured conversation, perhaps Smith’s magnum opus as an interviewer, captures Ellington in a chatty and casual mood, with a surprise visit from the legend’s close collaborator, Billy Strayhorn.
[listen]Listen to Bob Smith's 1962 interview with Duke Ellington, 20 minutes and 41 seconds.
Interview backgrounder
The interview has not survived in its original form. The existing recording stops before the conclusion of the conversation.
The other interloper in the interviewer (apart from Strayhorn) is vocalist Milt Grayson, who performed with the Ellington Orchestra from 1960–63. Grayson was a Juilliard conservatory-trained musician who also appeared on Broadway, and in later years sang with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, directed by Wynton Marsalis.
During his stay in Vancouver in 1962, Ellington was booked at Isy’s Supper Club, a now defunct nightclub with a colourful history.
The archive
The Bob Smith Hot Air archive is a treasure trove of approximately 50 interviews Smith recorded with some of the greatest stars of the day, from the world of jazz and beyond. Captured between 1950 and 1982, these interviews include conversations with Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Harry James, Oscar Peterson and Lena Horne, as well as Sammy Davis Jr., Bill Cosby, Harry Belafonte, Liza Minnelli and many others.
The interviewer
The cigar-smoking, erudite and opinionated Smith was an old-time broadcaster who forged friendships with an A-list of entertainers who always seemed to have time for a sit-down with Smith — and sometimes a little "taste" of something special that Smith had corked away for just such occasions. His habitual sign-off to his weekly jazz show, Hot Air, now undeniably the longest-running program on CBC Radio, was "God bless jazz fans everywhere."
Related:
Giants of Jazz: Herbie Hancock
Giants of Jazz: Tony Bennett, part 1
Giants of Jazz: Louis Armstrong
Giants of Jazz: Oscar Peterson