Duke Ellington Treasury Broadcasts - Eddie Lambert’s introduction to this daunting collection

Here is a chapter from Eddie Lambert’s Duke Ellington: A Listener’s Guide in which he gives his appreciation of Duke Ellington’s Treasury Broadcasts. The broadcasts are available on 50 CDs issued between 2000 and 2018. To facilitate sampling the various tracks discussed by Eddie Lambert, I have put the dates in bold in his comments and included the list of all CDs with the corresponding recording dates.

Storyville Record CDs (with links to Bandcamp):

Volume 1

  • tracks 1-16: 400 Restaurant, NYC, April 7, 1945
  • tracks 17-21: Radio City Studios, May 1, 1943
  • tracks 22-29: 400 Restaurant, NYC, April 14, 1945
  • tracks 30-45: Treasury Star Parade broadcast, NYC, June 1943

Volume 2

  • tracks 1-15: 400 Restaurant, NYC, April 21, 1945
  • tracks 16-23: Treasury Star Parade 223, NYC, June 1943
  • tracks 24-40: 400 Restaurant, NYC, April 28, 1945
  • tracks 41-46: New Zanzibar, NYC, October 7, 1945

Volume 3

  • tracks 1-20: Adams Theatre, Newark, May 5, 1945
  • tracks 21-25: New Zanzibar, NYC, October, 1945
  • tracks 26-47: Radio City Studios, NYC, May 12, 1945
  • tracks 48-52: New Zanzibar, NYC, November, 1945

Volume 4

  • tracks 1-22: Paradise Theatre, Detroit, May 9, 1945
  • tracks 23-30: New Zanzibar, NYC, October 10, 1945
  • tracks 31-51: Regal Theatre, Chicago, May 26, 1945

Volume 5

  • tracks 1-20: Percy-Jones Center, Battle Creek, Michigan, June 2, 1945
  • tracks 21-30: New Zanzibar, NYC, September 18, 1945
  • tracks 31-53: Paramount Theatre, Toledo, Ohio, June 9, 1945

Volume 6

  • tracks 1-17: Franklin Gardens, Evansville, Indiana, June 16, 1945
  • tracks 18-27: New Zanzibar, NYC, October 28, 1945
  • tracks 28-48: Palace Theatre, Akron, Ohio, June 23, 1945

Volume 7

  • tracks 1-17: Apollo Theatre, NYC, June 30, 1945
  • tracks 18-23: New Zanzibar, NYC, October 11, 1945
  • tracks 24-38: Radio City Studios, NYC, July 7, 1945
  • tracks 39-44: New Zanzibar, NYC, October 7, 1945

Volume 8

  • tracks 1-21: RKO Theatre, Boston, July 14, 1945
  • tracks 22-30: New Zanzibar, NYC, September 21, 1945
  • tracks 31-49: Fieldstone Ballroom, Marshfield, MA, July 21, 1945

Volume 9

  • tracks 1-18: State Theatre, Hartford, Connecticut, July 28, 1945
  • tracks 19-27: New Zanzibar, NYC, November 28, 1945
  • tracks 28-41: Radio City Studios, NYC, August 4, 1945

Volume 10

  • tracks 1-16: Radio City Studios, NYC, August 11, 1945
  • tracks 17-26: New Zanzibar, NYC, September 26, 1945
  • tracks 27-45: Radio City Studios, NYC, August 18, 1945
  • tracks 46-51: 400 Restaurant, NYC, May 4, 1945

Volume 11

  • tracks 1-20: Fieldston Ballroom, Marshfield, MA, August 25, 1945
  • tracks 21-24: New Zanzibar, NYC, October 7, 1945
  • tracks 25-42: Earle Theatre, Philadelphia, September 1, 1945
  • tracks 43-47: New Zanzibar, NYC, October 18, 1945

Volume 12

  • tracks 1-16: Radio City Studios, NYC, September 8, 1945
  • tracks 17-23: New Zanzibar, NYC, October 1, 1945
  • tracks 24-36: Radio City Studios, NYC, September 15, 1945

Volume 13

  • tracks 1-15: Radio City Studios, NYC, September 22, 1945
  • tracks 16-26: New Zanzibar, NYC, September 24, 1945
  • tracks 27-46: Radio City studios, September 1, 1945

Volume 14

  • tracks 1-25: Radio City Studios, NYC, October 13, 1945
  • tracks 26-51: Radio City Studios, NYC, September 1, 1945

Volume 15

  • tracks 1-17: Radio City studios, NYC, October 27, 1945
  • track 18: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, May 23, 1943
  • tracks 19-22: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, May 28, 1943
  • tracks 23-25: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, June 6, 1943
  • tracks 26-47: Radio City studios, NYC, November 3, 1945

Volume 16

  • tracks 1-22: Radio City studios, NYC, November 10, 1945
  • tracks 23-24: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, June 7, 1943
  • track 25: unkown location, NYC, probably in June 1943
  • tracks 26-37: Radio City studios, NYC, November 17, 1945
  • tracks 38-49: Radio City studios, NYC, May 10, 1943
  • tracks 50-56: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, September 5, 1943

Volume 17

  • tracks 1-18: Radio City studios, November 24, 1945
  • tracks 19-22: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, April 19, 1944
  • tracks 23-28: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, April 20, 1944
  • tracks 29-41: Civic Opera House, Chicago, January 20, 1946
  • tracks 42-44: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, April 21, 1944
  • tracks 45-47: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, April 27, 1944

Volume 18

  • tracks 1-3: KABC Studios, San Antonio, Texas, April 13, 1946
  • tracks 4-16: KABC Studios, San Antonio, Texas, April 20, 1946
  • tracks 17-24: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, April 28, 1944
  • tracks 25-41: Municipal Auditorium, Worcester, MA, April 27, 1946
  • tracks 42-49: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, May 12, 1944

Volume 19

  • tracks 1-15: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, May 4, 1946
  • tracks 16-21: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, September 3, 1943
  • tracks 22-42: Radio City studios, NYC, May 18 & 25, 1946
  • tracks 43-49: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, September 1, 1943

Volume 20

  • tracks 1-12: Paramount Theatre, NYC, June 1, 1946
  • tracks 13-17: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, September 10, 1943
  • tracks 18-37: WEEU Sudios, Reading, PA, June 8, 1946
  • tracks 38-42: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, September 7, 1943

Volume 21

  • tracks 1-14: Million Dollar Theatre, Los Angeles, July 6, 1946
  • tracks 15-17: El Patio Ballroom, Denver, July 14, 1942
  • tracks 18-32: Orpheum Theatre, San Diego, July 27, 1946
  • tracks 33-35: Trianon Ballroom, South Gate, CA, May 2, 1942

Volume 22

  • tracks 1-16: Golden Gate Theater, San Francisco, August 3,1946
  • tracks 17-20: El Patio Ballroom, Denver, on July 15, 1942
  • tracks 21-36: Meadowbrook Garden Café, Culver City, California, August 17, 1946
  • tracks 37-39: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, August 21, 1943

Volume 23

  • tracks 1-22: Meadowbrook Garden Café, Culver City, California, August 24, 1946
  • tracks 23-26: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, August 26, 1943
  • tracks 27-47: Lincoln Theatre, Los Angeles, August 31, 1946
  • tracks 48-53: Radio City studios, NYC, October 5, 1946

Volume 24

  • tracks 1-9: Blue Note, Chicago, June 24, 1953
  • tracks 10-18: Blue Note, Chicago, July 1, 1953
  • tracks 19-24: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, April 1, 1944
  • tracks 25-43: Blue Note, Chicago, June 1953

Volume 25

  • tracks 1-9: Blue Note, Chicago, June 1953
  • tracks 10-18: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, June 6, 1943 (bonus material)
  • tracks 19-22: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, September 23, 1943
  • tracks 23-27: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, April 22, 1944
  • tracks 28-34: Hurricane Restaurant, NYC, May 5, 1944

Eddie Lambert - Duke Ellington: A Listener’s Guide

In April 1945, Duke Ellington began what was to be the largest single recording project of his career, though it is most unlikely that he or anyone else thought of it in such terms at the time. At the beginning of the month, he opened at the 400 Restaurant and Supper Club in New York and signed an agreement with the newly formed American Broadcasting Company to broadcast a series of hour-long Saturday afternoon network shows under the title “A Date With The Duke.” These were to be transmitted live and relayed from the band’s current location (actually some of the later New York broadcasts were done from a Radio City studio), starting with this residency. They were “sustaining” (i.e. not commercially sponsored) broadcasts, financed by the United States Treasury Department. With the very first transmission on April 7, the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) began to record the shows for the purpose of editing them into a series of half-hour broadcast transcription discs, again using the title “A Date With The Duke.” The recordings of these complete broadcasts, preserved by either ABC or AFRS and augmented by the 78 half-hour “Date With The Duke” AFRS transcriptions, make up the largest single block of material in the Ellington discography.

The Treasury Department transmissions continued from a variety of locations up to November 24, 1945, after which Ellington went on a tour which would have made the weekly Saturday afternoon location broadcasts impossible. He had already made 33 broadcasts of one hour or more, plus a half-hour memorial to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which had replaced the scheduled transmission on April 14, 1945. None of the music from this special memorial broadcast was used by AFRS. The ABC “Date With The Duke” broadcasts resumed on April 13, 1946, and the arrangement between ABC and AFRS continued as before. This second series consisted of seventeen programs, the last of which dates from August 31, 1946. Not all the music from the Treasury Department shows appear on the AFRS transcriptions, and since these were edited into programs tailored to fill exactly 30 minutes of air time, some selections were used more than once when their length was just what the engineers required. These “Date With The Duke” transcriptions are miracles of editing considering that tape technology had not yet become available.

Several individual items from these broadcasts appeared on V-Disc. The locations of the “Date With The Duke” broadcasts include theaters, ballrooms, radio stations, and U.S. Army posts, most with an audience, some without.

One feature of the series is the excellent sound quality. When excerpts from the transcriptions began to be issued on LP in the sixties, the sound was often poor, since the recordings were derived from tapes which had passed through several generations of copying before appearing on disc. But gradually the sources improved, and for some years an eight-LP set of DWTD selections on the Fairmont label led the field. Then, in 1980, a special Duke Ellington Treasury Series (D.E.T.S.) label was set up to issue entire broadcasts, by Jerry Valburn, an American collector and record producer who had been responsible for the engineering on a number of highly regarded LP issues. The D.E.T.S. releases, issued on a subscription basis by Valburn’s Meritt Record Society, contain almost an hour’s program per LP: indeed, each of the first 25 contains a full Treasury Department broadcast, but some programs of about 75 minutes duration disrupt this pattern from Volume 26 onwards. The recordings are taken directly either from surviving archival acetates or from AFRS transcription discs, whichever proved the better source for a given item when more than one could be found. Taken directly from originals and transferred with great skill and care, the sound quality of these discs is excellent, and the series, which runs to 48 LPs, is one of the most exciting ever produced.

The kind of programs Ellington presented on these “Date With The Duke” broadcasts can be shown from the first one, which is typical. There are two concert works, Blutopia and The Perfume Suite; a revival from the twenties, Creole Love Call; a couple of pieces from the early forties, Subtle Slough and Passion Flower; two of Ellington’s current popular songs, I’m Beginning To See The Light and I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But The Blues; and four recent Ellington and Strayhorn compositions, Midriff, Suddenly It Jumped, Frustration, and Air Conditioned Jungle.

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Broadcast which replaced the second scheduled D.E.T.S. transmission has been issued several times and makes for fascinating listening. On the death of President Roosevelt, the American air waves were filled with solemn martial or classical music. The only dance band allowed on the air, the only one considered capable of offering music of an appropriate kind, was Ellington’s. For that time, this was a very rare kind of recognition for black artists. The memorial program consisted of Moon Mist, New World A-Comin’ (in a shortened version for solo piano), Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen (sung by Al Hibbler), Mood Indigo (one chorus), Chant For F.D. Roosevelt (piano solo), Come Sunday, A City Called Heaven (sung by Kay Davis), Creole Love Call (sung by Kay Davis, one chorus only), and Moon Mist recapitulated to close a historic broadcast.

One of the most important aspects of the D.E.T.S. broadcasts is that virtually the whole vast Ellington repertoire is brought into play. This repertoire ranges from lengthy concert works on the one hand to the slightest popular songs on the other, so that the series offers a complete picture of the 1945-46 Ellington Orchestra as a working band. So far as the performances are concerned, the listener should remember that the greater relaxation of the band’s playing away from the recording studios sometimes resulted in a falling off in precision, which might surprise those unversed in the ways of the Ellingtonians. But the warmth and the surging, powerful swing so characteristic of these performances are qualities rarely captured fully in the more restraining climate of the recording studio. The D.E.T.S. broadcasts often find the band playing with a spontaneity and ease usually heard only in small improvising jazz groups.

Since the music in the D.E.T.S. series is so diverse, it is best discussed within the various broad categories into which it can be sorted - concert works, recent compositions, revivals from the twenties, thirties, and early forties, Strayhorn material, popular standards, Ellington’s popular songs, and current popular songs.

We have already noted that Blutopia and The Perfume Suite were performed on the first D.E.T.S. broadcast. Both were repeated later, The Perfume Suite clearly gaining from the band’s greater experience with the music when it reappears on the broadcast of July 7, 1945. A further advantage of the D.E.T.S. versions of The Perfume Suite is that the second movement, Strange Feeling, is heard complete while a whole chorus had to be omitted to fit it onto one side of the Victor 78 discs. Both of the Ellington “piano concertos” are heard, Blue Belles Of Harlem twice and New World A-Comin’ in the excellent version which was also issued on VDisc.

The selections from Black, Brown And Beige which appeared on V-Discs are from the D.E.T.S. broadcast of April 21, 1945, and Ellington presented excerpts from this work at intervals throughout the series. Overall, these are the finest of all interpretations of Black, Brown And Beige, the music by now more thoroughly absorbed by the band than on the earlier recordings. The extracts heard are Work Song, Come Sunday, Light (or Montage - these three pieces comprising the whole of Black), The Blues, West Indian Dance, Emancipation Celebration, and Sugar Hill Penthouse. As might be expected, the selections are more generously proportioned than on the 1944 Victor recordings. The first part of Come Sunday, for example, is heard complete on the D.E.T.S. broadcasts. Outstanding among these Black, Brown And Beige excerpts are several swinging performances of Emancipation Celebration, all with superbly alert and jaunty interpretations of the cornet part by Rex Stewart.

The band recorded the second of Duke’s concert pieces, Reminiscing In Tempo, on July 21, 1945; the work dates from 1935, the year of the only previous recording. It is perhaps rather surprising that the only new concert piece from the D.E.T.S. broadcasts is The Magazine Suite. The first D.E.T.S. version (from July 14, 1945) predates the previously mentioned World Transcription recording and is definitive. The Suite reappears on August 4, 1945, but here the movements are scattered throughout the program. Duke also chose to revive Diminuendo And Crescendo In Blue at this time, and he now appears to have become dissatisfied with the two-movement formula. He started to experiment with the use of one of his other compositions as a “slow movement” between the two parts. Rocks In My Bed, I Got It Bad, Carnegie Blues, and Transblucency were all pressed into service at different times during these broadcasts, but Ellington did not settle permanently on any one. By 1947, he was using an extended piano solo as the central section. The problem was finally solved in the fifties by the Paul Gonsalves tenor saxophone interlude which caused such a sensation at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. The several combinations of Diminuendo And Crescendo In Blue with other material on the D.E.T.S. broadcasts are introduced as a Blues Cluster, and the radio announcer usually brings Duke to the microphone to explain the contents of the Cluster. Leaving aside the suitability of the various pieces used to divide the two sections, there can be little doubt that the finest recorded performances of Diminuendo And Crescendo In Blue come from these broadcasts. That of June 9, 1945, (combined with Rocks In My Bed, vocal by Marie Ellington) has a very sensitive and mellow reading of Crescendo. The slightly more robust version of July 7, 1945, has Carnegie Blues as its centerpiece, and all three segments are well played; when this recording was used on VDisc, Carnegie Blues was edited out and only Diminuendo And Crescendo issued. By October 13, 1945, one chorus of I Got It Bad (sung by Hibbler in a highly sentimental manner) had replaced Carnegie Blues; here the outer sections are taken slightly more slowly than on the previous version, powered by the great swing of Sid Catlett, who was deputizing for Sonny Greer. Perhaps the most exciting of all the Blues Cluster recordings stems from the broadcast of May 4, 1946. The filling in this particular musical sandwich is an excellent version of Transblucency, while Diminuendo And Crescendo is taken rather faster than before. The playing of the blues riffs that make up the melodic content of the work is of maximum swing and warmth, and the climax, topped by Cat Anderson’s highnote trumpet, is tremendously effective.

Quite a number of the newer Ellington pieces heard on the D.E.T.S. broadcasts are cast in concerto form - Frantic Fantasy for Stewart, Blue Cellophane for Brown, Air Conditioned Jungle for Hamilton, The Mood To Be Wooed and Hop, Skip And Jump for Hodges. The Suburbanite for Sears, and Frustration for Carney. The only one not previously mentioned is The Suburbanite, premiered at a Carnegie Hall concert in January 1946 and subsequently also recorded for Capitol Transcriptions. It is a minor work, a bustling, busy piece which uses the resources and devices of Sears’s tenor style rather less well than the later Hiawatha.

The D.E.T.S. series includes excellent versions of three of Ellington’s stomps of recent vintage - Three Cent Stomp, Stomp, Look And Listen and Suddenly It Jumped. All these are in the tradition of Ellington orchestral pieces inspired by Duke’s liking for the Harlem stride piano style. Suddenly It Jumped is a particularly impressive example and features Jordan as the main soloist, although Hamilton, Raglin, and Ellington himself also have important parts. This piece lost much of its effectiveness when Jordan left the band; his solos were taken over by Harold Baker who played them cleanly but without Jordan’s drive and punch. Fickle Fling at medium-fast and Riff ‘n’ Drill at fast tempo are more conventional exercises, while Let The Zoomers Drool approaches the newly emerging Rhythm and Blues music in style and is reminiscent in places of the music of the Buddy Johnson Orchestra. Less conventional are Fancy Dan, a piece which was not fully realized until Duke created the 1951 arrangement, and Unbooted Character, which emerged in 1945 with an unusual theme and a concluding trumpet chase passage, played on the initial D.E.T.S. version by Jordan and Baker.

The blues are not as well represented in the contemporary Ellington output, the only notable new item being Carnegie Blues, a variation of The Blues from Black, Brown And Beige, which was sometimes introduced, wrongly, as a selection from that work. There is a new piece which is given a variety of titles - Ultra Blue, Ultra Violet and How Blue Can You Get? - with composer credits given to Jimmy Hamilton. The most effective new tone poem is without doubt Transblucency, which features Kay Davis’s wordless soprano, although Ellington’s song Tonight I Shall Sleep is given performances which more closely resemble this genre than is usually the case with his popular song arrangements.

Considering the number of revivals which Ellington worked into the D.E.T.S. broadcasts, it is perhaps surprising that only Creole Love Call, Black And Tan Fantasy, and Black Beauty come from the twenties. Creole Love Call is the most frequent of these, with Kay Davis featured in Adelaide Hall’s old role along with Ray Nance on trumpet and, in Bigard’s absence, Harry Carney on clarinet. There are two versions of Black And Tan Fantasy, both having solos by Hardwick on alto and Nanton on trombone. On that of May 5, 1945, Nance takes the trumpet choruses, while on August 25, Rex Stewart gave his only known interpretation of this solo with the Ellington band. Black Beauty is heard only as part of a piano medley on the broadcast of July 28, 1945, but Duke’s performance is a loving one.

From the earliest years of the thirties Rockin’ In Rhythm, Mood Indigo, and Ring Dem Bells are heard, but as these had remained standard items in the Ellington repertoire the excellent interpretations here have a familiar air; the Mood Indigo of August 25, 1945, includes a fine clarinet solo by Carney. On the broadcast of May 19, 1945, Ellington combined three of his thirties numbers, which he had revived for Victor recordings five days earlier - In A Sentimental Mood, It Don’t Mean A Thing, and Solitude. Al Sears’s solo on It Don’t Mean A Thing is one chorus longer than on the Victor and also a shade more vulgar, the tenor working up to a honking and squealing climax as if this were a Lionel Hampton big band date. Otherwise the routines are identical to the Victors with three vocalists employed on It Don’t Mean A Thing and four on Solitude. It Don’t Mean A Thing was performed frequently during these broadcasts, often with the vocal chorus in the form of a duet between Nance and Jordan and with a Nanton solo added to its other delights. Between September 1945 and April 1946, Nance was out of the band; during this time Jordan took over the vocal chores on It Don’t Mean A Thing, this being the only occasion on which Ellington took advantage of Taft’s considerable abilities as a jazz singer. Jordan also takes a trumpet chorus here at the point at which on other versions he duets with Nance’s violin. The version of this piece from April 21, 1945, is used on the first of the two V-Disc issues. Other revivals from the first half of the thirties heard on the D.E.T.S. broadcasts include Sophisticated Lady, Stompy Jones, In A Jam, and the Rex Stewart concerto Trumpet In Spades.

Of the Ellington pieces from the second half of the thirties, the D.E.T.S. broadcasts contain versions of Prelude To A Kiss (used on V-Disc) and Caravan very similar to those recorded for Victor in May 1945. It is interesting to note that while Nance was out of the band, the violin solo which he usually took on Caravan was allocated to Carney’s baritone! There are pretty straight revivals of Way Low (which allow us to compare Hamilton’s interpretation of the clarinet part with Bigard’s and to enjoy some excellent Stewart cornet), Solid Old Man, The Jeep Is Jumpin’, and Old King Dooji.

The version of Tootin’ Through The Roof from June 23, 1945, opens with a sprightly stride piano chorus from Ellington, but its most arresting feature is the trumpet chase played by Stewart and Jordan. Taft had joined Ellington when Rex departed temporarily in 1943 and in taking over many of Rex’s solo spots had become quite adept at the half-valve technique. When they came to the duet in Tootin’ Through The Roof, they seemed to regard it as a half-valve challenge match and utilize the tricks of that trade to excellent, humorous (and occasionally outrageous) effect. For all Taft’s skills, however, Rex remained the master of half-valve and would undoubtedly have been proclaimed the winner if this had been a contest. He further reveals his mastery on the D.E.T.S. versions of Boy Meets Horn.

Another unexpected revival from the late thirties is Ridin’ On A Blue Note, from the broadcast of October 13, 1945. This broadcast deserves special attention because on it Sonny Greer is replaced by Sid Catlett. Catlett had been on the Victor recording session five days earlier and seems to have worked as deputy drummer for about a week - Greer is clearly on the next D.E.T.S. broadcast of October 20, 1945. The recording from October 13 enables one to hear Catlett making a vital contribution to the music and he clearly knows the Ellington routines on such numbers as Hop, Skip And Jump and the Blues Cluster. The Ridin’ On A Blue Note follows the pattern of the long version heard on the broadcast of May 1, 1938, rather than the truncated arrangement used on the studio recording of that year. The solos on the former were by Williams on trumpet and Hodges on soprano; on this new version they are taken by Stewart on cornet and Hodges on alto. Stewart is heavily featured, both with plunger mute and on open horn, in dialogue with Hodges and in solo. It is a brilliant performance, reminding us that underneath all the tricky stuff, Stewart was basically a swinging jazz musician. The band is also outstanding for its swing, and the performance overall suffers only in comparison with the 1938 studio recording, which remains, despite its brevity, the finest of all versions of Ridin’ On A Blue Note.

Several of the outstanding compositions which Ellington had presented to the world in 1940 appear in the course of the D.E.T.S. broadcasts. From May 12, 1945, comes the version of Harlem Air Shaft issued on V-Disc. Stewart takes over Williams’s role here and, though he is a trifle less effective, the band’s performance is outstanding, full of fire and drive and revealing, compared with the 1940 original, different aspects of the work. Several versions of Cotton Tail have been issued from the series; the best being from June 16, 1945. With Ben Webster out of the band, the solo responsibility is passed to Al Sears. Although not a virtuoso in the Webster class, Sears was a very effective swinger, especially at medium tempos. Ellington therefore slows down Cotton Tail, and the band digs in and really rocks. This is one of those Ellington performances in which spirit and vigor take precedence over precise and tidy ensemble playing. Sears swings mightily in the long tenor passages, and Carney and Ellington sparkle during their brief solos, but primarily this is a triumph of swinging band playing, to which the fiery lead trumpet work of Cat Anderson makes an important contribution. Cotton Tail from November 10, 1945, is, by contrast, taken at a very fast tempo and again the band playing is outstanding. Once more Anderson makes a vital contribution, but the swing is less and Sears’s solos, by comparison with the June recording, are mediocre. Other important 1940 compositions which receive first-class performances in the Treasury Series include Pitter Panther Patter, Subtle Slough (in the full band arrangement which became Just Squeeze Me), Jack The Bear, In A Mellotone, Day Dream, and Ko-Ko, the last at the faster tempo which seems always to diminish the impact of the piece. On the broadcast of November 17, 1945, the great bassist Oscar Pettiford was new to the band; on Jack The Bear, he reproduces Jimmy Blanton’s original part note for note with great accuracy and swing. Never No Lament appears in its popular song guise as Don’t Get Around Much Anymore from July 21, 1945, with Hibbler sounding unsure of the lyrics. The original Never No Lament arrangement is still used, and, after the vocal, Johnny Hodges gives a supreme demonstration of the art of melody playing.

Among the pieces from the early forties are several Strayhorn compositions. On the broadcast of June 30, 1945, a “Strayhorn Medley” was made up of Chelsea Bridge, Something To Live For, Clementine, and My Little Brown Book. Billy himself is on piano for this grouping, and it is unfortunate that Clementine is interrupted by a War Bond announcement, preventing us from hearing Nance’s variation on Stewart’s usual solo. A complete performance of Clementine, with Rex providing an outstanding version of this solo, is heard on the broadcast of May 5, 1945, while the Strayhorn medley (without My Little Brown Book) reappears on September 8, 1945, a station break cutting off the very end of Clementine. On this broadcast the versions of Chelsea Bridge and Clementine are outstanding. Other Strayhorn compositions heard on these broadcasts include Johnny Come Lately, with fine Nanton, from June 9, 1945, and versions of After All from August 25, 1945 and October 13, 1945, the latter a rather disappointing interpretation. The most frequently performed Strayhorn piece heard on these broadcasts is Midriff, the version from May 26, 1945, being typical and including an easy performance by Brown of a solo which he sometimes played rather stiffly.

At this time, both Perdido and C Jam Blues were in the first years of their success, and there are several performances of each on these broadcasts. In Perdido, Duke was experimenting with separate choruses for the trumpet, trombone. and saxophone sections, and although only that for the trombones survived for any length of time (the chorus for saxophones used in the fifties is different from the one found here), all three can be heard on these recordings. The versions of C Jam Blues allow each soloist two choruses instead of the one on the studio recording and there are some fine solos to be heard here. Things Ain’t What They Used To Be appears (under its temporary title of Time’s A-Wastin’) on September 22, 1945 and October 13, 1945, and receives outstanding performances with extended solos for Hodges and fine contributions from Jordan and Brown. Jump For Joy is given a very relaxed, swinging performance on June 23, 1945, on which Nance proves that he is the ideal vocalist for the number. On August 18, 1945, Duke introduces an extended performance of the 1941 Bugle Breaks by holding a conversation with Stewart’s “talking” cornet. Other outstanding performances of material from the early forties include fine versions of Moon Mist, Main Stem, Blue Serge, Jumpin’ Punkins, Just ASetting’ And A-Rockin’, What Am I Here For?, Someone, and the Hodges showcases Warm Valley, Sentimental Lady, and Passion Flower.

On the broadcast of October 20, 1945, Russell Procope is featured as guest star. This was eight months before he joined the band on a regular basis, and his appearance is due to the fact that he had just been demobilized from the U.S. Army. Duke tells his audience this and promises that from now on each broadcast will feature a guest musician returning to civilian life after a spell in the armed forces, yet no other such broadcasts seem to have taken place. Procope is featured on Honeysuckle Rose and also joins the band for a version of Perdido in which he takes a couple of solo choruses. The arrangement of Honeysuckle Rose used here had become a Jimmy Hamilton clarinet showcase and appears as such on other D.E.T.S. broadcasts.

One of the features of these broadcasts was the interruption of the music, sometimes in midperformance, by War Bond promotion announcements. After the first few broadcasts these were done live by Duke himself, and a particularly annoying example occurs during the course of an excellent Body And Soul from the June 23, 1945, session. This is a long performance at medium-fast tempo which opens with an Ellington piano solo, continues with a chase chorus between the warm, emotional trumpet of Nance and the cool, detached clarinet of Hamilton (an excellent contrast), and is climaxed by a long tenor solo by Sears. Big bands at this time often featured a tenor saxophone soloist in heated, declamatory solos in the manner pioneered by Illinois Jacquet with Lionel Hampton. Al Sears did this job for Ellington with an admirable lack of complication, and this Body And Soul is one of the best examples of his work in this vein. Unfortunately, Duke makes his appeal for War Bonds just as Sears’s solo starts to build to its climax. (This performance has also been issued with the bond appeal edited out; on at least one issue, it appears complete under the title Bonds, Body And Soul.) A second version of Body And Soul, from September 1, 1945, was unknown to collectors prior to its D.E.T.S. issue. It follows the same routine up to and including an Ellington bond announcement during Sears’s solo, the latter in a rather more mellow mood. But here Sears is followed by Lawrence Brown, starting quietly but building to a shouting trombone climax, unfortunately cut off by a station break.

One of the best of the many Ellington adaptations of standard material on the D.E.T.S. broadcasts is Frankie And Johnnie. The version from May 26, 1945, was used on VDisc and is definitive. By now the multitempo structure of the 1941 Standard Transcription arrangement had been extended from a mere three minutes to over seven and incorporates solo parts for Nanton, Nance (violin), and Raglin (who has an important role throughout) in an arrangement which also features Duke’s piano in a variety of moods. Jazz enthusiasts often complained that Ellington did not feature himself enough on piano, but in the forties he gave many superb demonstrations of his abilities using this arrangement as his setting. An equally brilliant adaptation of a popular standard is In The Shade Of The Old Apple Tree, in fact a revival of Ellington’s 1933 score. There are two D.E.T.S. versions, from May 26, 1945 and July 14, 1945. Both feature Stewart, Nanton, and Hodges, plus outstanding bass from Raglin. These are very close to the version for World Transcriptions in August 1945, already noted.

During the early and middle forties Duke employed a series of arrangers to assist Strayhorn and himself in the preparation of popular songs, mainly for broadcast use. They included Dick Vance, Chappie Willet, Luther Henderson, Buck Clayton, and Bobby Williams. One of the best of these is My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms, by Williams, who was in the same U.S. Army band as Clayton and Mercer Ellington. It would appear that Mercer was responsible for several of the highly talented players in this unit being given arranging commissions by Duke. My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms is heard on the broadcast of May 26, 1945, with solos by Hodges and Anderson and a very swinging vocal by Ray Nance. This D.E.T.S. version is perhaps fractionally less good than the air shot of May 1944 or the Victor recording of September 1946, but all three are different in ways which show how the Ellington band continually adjusted even a conventional score by an outside arranger. And they show, too, how Nance’s vocals are varied in just the same way that an instrumental solo would be.

Another outstanding recording of a popular standard is On The Sunny Side Of The Street, from June 16, 1945. This is an extension of the version heard on the Cotton Club broadcast of April 24, 1938, with the vocal omitted but with two choruses each from Hodges and Brown instead of one. Both soloists are in top form. The Treasury Series also includes an excellent On The Alamo with some delightful Hodges, playing against the trombone section, and versions of Blue Skies which show the arrangement moving nearer to Trumpet No End with the introduction of a final chorus of highnote trumpet by Anderson. A selective listing of titles will suffice to indicate the range of standards covered by the band in this series: Sentimental Journey, Yesterdays, Laura, Summertime, Indiana, Tea For Two (featuring Jordan), Dancing In The Dark, I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With Me, How Deep Is The Ocean (featuring Hamilton and Jordan in a very swinging performance), Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea (featuring Stewart), Time On My Hands (featuring Hamilton), I Can’t Get Started, and Just You, Just Me.

The best known outside arranger Ellington employed at this time was Buck Clayton, who contributed a number of instrumental scores. The most famous is his arrangement of One O’Clock Jump, which remained in the band’s performing repertoire over several decades. This extensive use of Count Basie’s famous signature tune is eloquent expression of the regard in which Basie was held by Duke, and it allowed the band, including its leader (who always took a prominent part on piano), to exploit yet another way of playing the blues. The title One O’Clock Jump makes its first appearance in the Treasury Series on June 30, 1945, with solos by Ellington, Sears, Brown, Hodges, and Jordan, and it is interesting to note how the character of the Ellington band is immediately established in music so closely associated with the Basie style. On later recordings, there is a coda consisting of two-bar breaks for drums, trumpet, and trombone plus a two bar ensemble tag; the first version simply has six bars of drums and two of ensemble, and one assumes that this is the way it was originally scored. Later D.E.T.S. versions have similar solo routines and the final version of the coda. There are excellent One O’Clock Jumps from July 28, 1945 and September 1, 1945, and April 20, 1946, but the most remarkable version from the forties is from an air shot dated July 9, 1947, done after the D.E.T.S. broadcasts had finished. This must be the slowest version of the number on record. (Collectors should note that late in the 78 era some of these Ellington broadcast recordings of One O’Clock Jump were issued on disc as Half Past Midnight Tempo and Two 0’Clock Jump, titles which were also used on some early LP releases.)

In addition to arranging One O’Clock Jump and Earle Warren’s 9:20 Special, Clayton also contributed two originals to the Ellington book - Hollywood Hangover and Blues On The Double. Both are uptempo numbers in the twelve-bar format and feature soloists plus riff ensembles; both appear several times in the D.E.T.S. broadcasts. Hollywood Hangover was taken from the broadcast of May 26, 1945, for use on a V-Disc; the recordings of this number are unique in being the only Ellington items since the very early thirties to feature open trombone solos by Nanton.

There seems to have been very little new material written by the musicians in the band at this time, the few exceptions including Hamilton’s previously mentioned Ultra Blue and a slight piece by Carney, called Jennie. One number heavily featured by Ellington on the D.E.T.S. broadcasts but never recorded for public release was Cat Anderson’s Teardrops In The Rain. Despite the title, this is a sprightly piece and the various versions all have good solos by the composer. It is interesting to note that in introducing solos by Anderson at this period both the station announcers and Duke himself refer to him as “Bill.” The feline nickname had apparently not yet been fully established.

Some jazz enthusiasts have objected to the number of popular songs on the D.E.T.S. broadcasts, but it is essential to realize that these were the staple diet of the big bands of the day, and Ellington’s was no exception. Actually he featured fewer of them than most leaders, and many of these were his own or Strayhorn’s usually superior examples of the genre. As is usual when jazz groups use even the most ephemeral pop tunes, many such Ellington performances feature good solos or bits of fine scoring or band playing. Of the Ellington songs, those most heavily featured are I’m Beginning To See The Light, Kissing Bug, I Ain’t Got Nothing But The Blues, Every Hour On The Hour, Everything But You, and Strayhorn’s sentimental My Little Brown Book. Less frequently heard are I Don’t Mind, Don’t You Know I Care, and Go Away Blues. The version of I Don’t Mind from August 25, 1945, has a particularly fine trombone solo by Brown. Ray Nance is best of the singers on the pop tunes, but he appears less frequently than the specialist singers. Of these, Joya Sherrill shows a degree of taste and artistry no matter how dire the song. Some of her vocals are superbly judged interpretations, and she is certainly a singer well suited to the needs of Ellington’s music.

Among the best of the non-Ellington pop songs on D.E.T.S. are those which have Nance vocals, outstandingly several versions of the nonsense song Riff Staccato, with its swinging dialogue between Nance’s singing and Jordan’s trumpet. On the first from April 21, 1945, no vocal appears, and Sears plays the chorus usually taken by Nance and Jordan. On a couple of the D.E.T.S. versions of Riff Staccato from October 1945, Sherrill takes the vocal in Nance’s absence, but the song is not suited to her style. It was then dropped until Nance’s return in April 1946, when it enjoyed a brief revival. Another song which features Nance’s vocal abilities (and his trumpet too) is Candy: there are three recordings of it from the first few months of the Treasury broadcasts.

It would be tedious and unnecessary to list all the popular songs in the Treasury series, but the following selection gives some idea of the variety in terms of both the quality and types of songs heard: Accentuate The Positive, A Friend Of Yours, All At Once, Autumn Serenade, Blue Is The Night, Can’t You Read Between The Lines, 11:60 PM, Homesick That’s All, I’d Do It All Over Again, If I Love You, If You Are But A Dream, I’ll Buy That Dream, I Miss Your Kiss, I Should Care, Out Of This World, Tell It To A Star, The More I See You, There’s No You, The Wish I Wish Tonight, and Waitin’ For The Train.

Some of these popular songs are dull, some of the performances of Ellington compositions are not as good as the better known studio versions, and some of the solo work is uninspired. But the majority of the pop tunes have at least some positive musical features; most of the instrumentals are played with a greater swing and flow than in the more staid studio versions, and not only are the solos often more inspired but they also benefit from the ease and relaxation of the environment. These solos are often longer than on contemporary studio recordings, for here the length of the performances is dictated by musical considerations rather than by the duration of the 78. Typical of the unexpected delights these broadcasts offer is Get On Board Little Children, an otherwise forgettable feature for a guest vocal group, the Mellotones, backed by a beautifully pointed trombone obbligato by Brown.

The D.E.T.S. broadcasts show the band to have absorbed the lessons provided by Jimmy Blanton when he brought new ideas and a dynamic personality into the Ellington rhythm section five years earlier. The band swings powerfully, with the little appreciated Junior Raglin playing a vital part as Blanton’s successor. Oscar Pettiford is superb when he takes over on bass, while the long session with Sid Catlett finds the band responding to the playing of one of the master jazz drummers in an odd way. Catlett said afterwards that he did not find Ellington’s band easy to play with, and clearly his few days with them did not give him time to really settle in. His fills and decorations do not always sound appropriate, and one is aware that the band swings fully in its own fashion irrespective of the drummer. To listen to this session and the one that followed with Sonny Greer back on drums throws into relief the eccentricity of Sonny’s style and its rightness for the band. The trumpets play with bite and power as well as great sensitivity of phrasing and dynamics through a wide range of music. The trombones, as always with Ellington, are at the heart of affairs and the saxes contribute greatly, not least in rhythmic terms. As usual, the band was packed with top soloists and even those of lesser stature, such as Al Sears, were sure swingers. Even when important musicians like Rex Stewart and Ray Nance were out of the band, there were always deputies fully capable of taking over their roles. The great range of material on the Treasury series is a challenge with which the orchestra deals in a delightfully casual manner, enhancing its reputation as a truly great musical ensemble without diluting in any way the jazz qualities of its playing.