Duke Ellington and the "Four Freedoms"..

[Bruce Swedien]

Duke Ellington and the "The Four Freedoms"

 

This is a story about Duke Ellington and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

 

In 1965, the three-man Pulitzer Prize music jury failed to settle on a single work worthy of the prize. They recommended instead that a special citation be given to a composer for his "long-term achievement in the field."

 

The Pulitzer advisory board ignored their recommendation in making its awards. Two of the three judges resigned in protest. When reporters asked the composer for his reaction, he replied: "Fate's been kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young."

 

Four years later, on April 29, 1969, the composer turned 70 years of age. He was asked to attend the White House for a birthday party in his honour.

 

The president introduced him with the following words.

 

"The President of the United States of America awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Edward Kennedy Ellington.

 

In the royalty of American music, no man swings more or stands higher than the Duke."

 

This is how Duke Ellington responded.

 

"Thank you Mr. President, Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen.

 

And of course we speak of freedom of expression, we speak of freedom generally as being very sweet and fat and things like that.

 

But at the end when we get down to the payoff, what we actually say is that we would like very much to mention the four major freedoms that my friend and writing and arranging composer Billy Strayhorn lived by and enjoyed.

 

And that was:

 

1. Freedom from hate, unconditionally.

2. Freedom from self-pity.

3. Freedom from the fear of possibly doing something that may help someone else more than it would you.

4. And, freedom from the kind of pride that could make a man feel that he is better than his brother."

 

That says it! That is the way it happened! Duke Ellington lived by those words....

 

I have more recollections of the "Duke" if anyone is interested...

 

Bruce Swedien

[Philip OKeefe]

He was obviously an incredible person. Thanks for sharing that Bruce.

[Dan Worley]

Originally posted by Bruce Swedien:

I have more recollections of the "Duke" if anyone is interested...

 

Bruce Swedien

Bruce,

 

I'll take all you can dish out. I can't get enough.

 

In all my years of studying about Duke Ellington, I've never come across one bad word said against him. Not one. Maybe I've missed them, or maybe I have blinders on because of my love for him, but I've never read or heard one bad word.

 

You're the first person I've talked to who knew him, and I'm so glad to hear the respect and love you have for him.

 

Thank you,

 

Dan Worley

[Tedster]

More!

 

Definitely making me want to take the A train to visit a sophisticated lady..

[Barandine Vondenger]

so in order to be "great", you really got to "be" great..

hmmm...

[Billster]

Norman Rockwell - The Four Freedoms

 

Freedom of Speech

http://www.nrm.org/exhibits/current/FreedomOfSpeech_72.jpg

The artist recalled how Arlington resident Jim Edgerton had stood up during a town meeting to voice a decidedly unpopular opinion. Instead of objecting to his remarks, however, the townspeople honored the man's right to have his say. Rockwell felt this act of respect perfectly illustrated the idea of Freedom of Speech.

Freedom to Worship

http://www.nrm.org/exhibits/current/FreedomToWorship_72.jpg

Freedom from Want

http://www.nrm.org/exhibits/current/FreedomFromWant_72.jpg

Freedom from Fear

http://www.nrm.org/exhibits/current/FreedomFromFear_72.jpg

[lrossmusic]

Originally posted by Dan Worley:

 

In all my years of studying about Duke Ellington, I've never come across one bad word said against him. Not one. Maybe I've missed them, or maybe I have blinders on because of my love for him, but I've never read or heard one bad word.

 

Dan ,not to be the one to spoil your image of the Duke, he was a indeed a great artist, however he was also only human and subject to shorcomings like the rest of us. I never new him personally like Bruce but I came up under a few gentlemen who played in his band. Also Duke was from DC so as a teenager our recreation department big band performed for him once at the District Building (our city hall) when the then Mayor Walter Washington presented him with the keys to the city. This may have been in 67 or 68 I am not sure. I never will forget that he told the crowd that our young band should go right out and get fitted for some tuxedos because we sounded good enough and were ready to go on the road with him. He was just kidding of course but our little budding egos expanded considerably. Later that evening we all got passes to go see him and the band perform his Sacred Music Concert at a church in the area I forget which one.

 

Anyway I knew Rick Henderson (alto sax) who introduced me to Lawrence Brown (trombone) both of whom where members of Duke's band. Rick had worked and recorded with Duke in the early fifties and Lawrence Brown had been there even long before Rick. Rick would also come to our high school from time to time with his own band so he had kind of taken me and a few other young players under his wing. Since I was a trombonist and he knew I was serious about becoming a musician he hooked me up with Lawrence Brown. Mr.Brown at that time (maybe the early 70's) had left the band and was working a day job at an office building here in DC. I don't know what type of work he was doing but he met me and Rick for lunch one afternoon. When I asked him about his experience with Duke I remember at that time he wasn't exactly a happy camper (maybe they had a falling out or something) and basically he just said something to the effect that Duke was in his opinion an egotistical S.O.B.(ouch!) Maybe he was mad about something specifically or had recently been fired or whatever I don't know but there you have it (for the record and for educational purposes only ), one reliable account of a not so complimentary comment made about the Duke from someone who had worked for him for many years.

 

Rick, who had also been out of the band for some time, shed some additional light on what it was like in Duke's band with regard to a tune he had written that Duke's management wanted to record only with Duke listed as the composer instead of him. They told Rick that this would increase the potential return on their investment. Anyway when Rick talked to Duke about it he said Duke said something to the effect that he was sorry it was like that and that he was not the one who had invented the system. Well anyway Rick refused and the tune was never recorded.

 

Rick just passed away this past April at 76 and needless to say I miss him a lot. Form my early years as a teenage musician he was constantly feeding me these liitle nuggets of the 'real deal' as far as how screwd up the music business can be especially for those who are not stars. Because of him and a few others I am blessed not to have been often lost in all the hype and glamour that often masks the harsh realities of what's really going on behind the scenes in this crazy biz of ours. Legendary bandleaderss like Duke, Benny Goodman, Ray Charles, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Buddy Rich to name a few were after all only human and while digging up the dirt, so to speak, is unneccesary when appreciating the great art they created, it does tend to help put things is a realistic context when veiwing things from a historical and social perspective. ....but like the young folks say today 'it's all good'.

 

P.S. Anyone interested in what it's like to be a sideman in James Brown's band ought to pick up trombonist's Fred Wesley's book "Hit Me Fred". According to Fred, and prehaps much unlike Duke, quite a few people would get in line to say a few choice not so nice words about the Godfather of Soul . Also I might mention that a local drummer here named Dude Brown (now deceased) worked with Loius Armstrong and told me he quit because Louis's ego had gotten so out of control he couldn't take it anymore.(That was his side anyway) The bottom line is I guess, that big stars almost always come with big egos.

[Bruce Swedien]

lrossmusic.....

 

Lincoln ---> I am so happy to meet you - you type exactly like I do! I think I'm a bit older than you, I've gotton to be pretty good at it! Keep typing!(I fixed your punctuation below.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dan, not to be the one to spoil your image of the Duke, he was indeed a great artist, however he was also only human and subject to shorcomings like the rest of us.

 

Brucie sez--->Man did you hit it! Duke was only human.... One thing that put me in absolute awe of Duke Ellington WAS his tremendous humanity! A bit flawed perhaps, but who cares!

 

He changed my life! He saw something different in me, and took the time to help me. I wanted desperately to be just like him!

 

Incidently, I worked with Fred Wesley a few years ago. Incredible! I record a Swedish Trombonist by the name of Nils Landgren. I've done many projects with Nisse and his band. Nils wife Bea, and my wife Bea and I, have become very good friends over the years. We absolutely love those two!

 

Lincoln, you're a gasser!

 

Bruce Swedien

[Tedly Nightshade]

One of my favorite Duke stories, from Charles Mingus' book Beneath the Underdog, is how Duke fired him his first day on the job, and how he left Duke feeling like he had been profoundly honored! By being fired! By such a man, in such a way.

 

Duke herded around some real misfits, immensely talented but very problematic people in some cases, and kept it all going, one way or the other, for more than 50 years! Unbelieveable.

 

A genuine cat herder. It can't be done, and it was.

 

The thing Duke did that we all can learn from- he knew his players and wrote stuff that they could just shine on, stuff that was easy and comfortable for their unique talents. The opposite of the "I can play anything" "man for all sessions" mentality of today. He didn't give a flying fuck if Johnny Hodges or anybody else could play "Scrapple From the Apple", he just had them shine on what they each did best.

 

Wonderful! Celebrating our uniqueness, our differences!

[lrossmusic]

Very happy to meet you as well Bruce. All of us here are overjoyed to have this kind of direct communication with you and really appreciate you taking time and sharing your vast knowledge and experience with us. Isn't this internet thing incredible!

 

And yes judging from clues in an earlier post on another thread I'm guessing you might be around 65 whereas I will be 55 in April.

That means you qualify for a complimentary copy of one of our "Sexy Senior Citizen" blues CD we did a few years back. PM me and let me know where to send it. It's just a rouchy old down home blues type song like you 'older guys' might dig'. The lead vocalist just turned 75.

 

Did you ever run into Frank Rosilino or Carl Fontana (two more great trombonists)in the studio? Also I have heard of Nils Landgren but have yet to really check him out good. Everybody says he's so bad that there ought be a law against playing that much trombone. Now that I know you recorded him I will definitely move on it.

 

A friend of mine here in DC is suppose to hook me up with Fred Wesley soon so I can tell him directly how much I enjoyed his book which had me ROTFLMAO. (in case you didn't know that's shorthand for 'Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Ass Off'. Especially the part where he descibes how James got so mad at the pilot of his private plane once that he pulled a gun out on him while they where still in flight! Fred said he thought he was going to have to kick JB's ass that day because he wasn't about to die in no plane crash over some dumb ego shit.

No business like show business without a doubt.

[lrossmusic]

Originally posted by Tedly Nightshade:

...

The thing Duke did that we all can learn from- he knew his players and wrote stuff that they could just shine on, stuff that was easy and comfortable for their unique talents. ..

Yes he sometimes even wrote the specific name of the player on each part. That's what I heard anyway. Also I heard that some of Mingus's book was dramatized a bit because Mingus felt he would sell more books by adding a little yeast to some of the stories(especially those involving sex). Could be, I don't know. Somebody said they overheard Mingus telling a student something to that effect.

[Tedly Nightshade]

Also I heard that some of Mingus's book was dramatized a bit because Mingus felt he would sell more books by adding a little yeast to some of the stories(especially those involving sex). Could be, I don't know. Somebody said they overheard Mingus telling a student something to that effect.[/QB]

Yes, great liberties were taken!

[LiveMusic]

I happen to know a very famous musician. Often, someone will be saying this musician is just the nicest person ever on the planet and accolade after accolade... and I have always kept my mouth shut. But this musician has got an ego that is through the roof. It's SO obvious and a big turnoff for me.

 

As for Duke taking credit for songs he did not actually write, if that is true, that's a bummer. If someone says they wrote something, by golly, I want to know he did. I know it was common but that doesn't make it right. Fake as can be. I suppose maybe they actually did think it was the right thing to do. I can only hope.

[Dan Worley]

Originally posted by LiveMusic:

As for Duke taking credit for songs he did not actually write, if that is true, that's a bummer. If someone says they wrote something, by golly, I want to know he did. I know it was common but that doesn't make it right. Fake as can be. I suppose maybe they actually did think it was the right thing to do. I can only hope.

Oh it's true. Ellington took credit for Strayhorn's songs, and the copyrights. The latter was extremely upsetting to Strayhorn, and I have no idea how the two of them finally worked it out. As far as taking credit for Strayhorn's work, I think they had an agreement to do that because Strayhorn was gay--quite openly gay for those days. If he received a lot of public attention and people found out he was gay, it would have been a disaster for both Strayhorn and Ellington. Remember we're talking about the late thirties and early forties here. Being gay was bad enough, but being gay and black was public relation's suicide. I think they had an agreement so as not to draw too much attention to Strayhorn.

 

Among other things, Ellington said of Strayhorn, "He is my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my

head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine."

 

Sounds like credit to me.

 

c-ya,

 

Dan Worley

[Tedly Nightshade]

When Strayhorn and Ellington first started working together, there was some kind of ASCAP/BMI disaster that precluded Duke from publishing anything. I'm in real danger of mangling this story, but it has to do with the whole publishing business that I cannot wrap my head around. But there were legitimate reasons for publishing one man's work under the other man's name.

 

And there were cases like Caravan, Juan Tizol's brilliant chart, where Duke just hung a throwaway, generic bridge on it and took credit. Apparently anything good being played, Duke regarded as fair game and stole.

 

Shady business arrangements were the story from the time in the 20's when Irving Mills starting managing Ellington with incredible success. Mills appears as the co-composer of many charts- yeah, right! And he actually sings on a few tunes- it's not that painful really. But Mills enabled Duke to run the highest paid band in jazz, for 30 years or so. In the mid-50's times were grim for the big bands and Ellington had to finally make some compromises, but when you worked for Duke, you were on salary and on call 24/365.

 

One of the reasons Duke is our single greatest American composer and one of the greatest ever, is that he had a luxury very few composers have ever had, and he had it all the time. He could assemble any combination of his players and have them try his new idea, an unusual voicing, whatever, at any time. Compare to a composer who has to guess what it will sound like until it is finally performed! No contest.

 

Strayhorn finally got to appear with full credits and in the crucial roles he filled with a couple early 60's albums. But he did a whole lot of the work for very little of the credit for a long, long time. Nonetheless, he was living the Lush Life of social sophistication and glamour that Duke could only dream of, while Duke was out on the road forever, grinding away.