On this track… I offer the music of one of the most stylish and innovative orchestras in the history of jazz, popular songs, big bands, or modern classical-form compositions… and that is the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
Duke Ellington was a charismatic leader… featuring stylish arrangements, memorable performances and a broad range of talented vocalists and solo performers.
Radio played a huge role in the Ellington Orchestra’s popularity… starting in the early 1930’s with weekly broadcasts from the Cotton Club, 1940’s late-night remote broadcasts from a variety of ballrooms and hotels, and appearing on many popular network variety shows.
During the end of WW II, to help promote the United States Treasury Department War Bond Drive, they sponsored a series of broadcasts that featured live in-person performances by Ellington and his orchestra.
The shows were aired on the newly formed ABC Radio Network and they were entitled “Your Saturday Night Date with the Duke”… the shows were broadcast from a variety of night clubs or theaters where the Ellington band was featured and always attended by a very enthusiastic crowd… the music menu featured a wide array of compositions old an new.
Military personnel heard the shows via the Armed Forces Radio Service which chose to record and edit the shows into 30 minute broadcasts via shortwave… they re-titled the show “Date with the Duke” and distributed them on 16” vinyl transcriptions. This way people from all over the world were able to hear the swinging, smooth, and rousing sounds of a band that many consider one of Ellington’s very best.
The track you are going to hear is from 1945.. from the 400 Club in NYC. Such songs as: Take the A Train, Frustration, Air Conditioned Jungle, Someone, My Little Brown Book, The Kissing Bug, and Ring Them Bells!
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