Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and jazz orchestra leader during a richly varied career spanning more than fifty years.  Though he was born in Washington, D.C., Ellington called New York City home from the mid-1920s onward. His orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem generated national interest, and they toured Europe in the 1930s.  Most think of Ellington primarily as a jazz musician, and he certainly played a key role in its development, but he thought beyond that single classification.  He used "beyond category" to define this concept, and believed his music fit more aptly in a broader category of American Music.

In 1965 he published his first Sacred Concert, followed in 1968 by the Second Sacred Concert and the Third Sacred Concert in 1973.  This body of work he called "the most important thing I have ever done."  Our concert draws from the Second Sacred Concert, which premiered at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York on January 19, 1968.

 According to Wikipedia, “The Second Sacred Concert was then recorded on January 22 and February 19, 1968, at Fine Studio in New York and originally issued as a double LP on Prestige Records and reissued on one CD, minus the tracks, "Don't Get Down On Your Knees To Pray Until You Have Forgiven Everyone" and "Father Forgive". All the tracks can be found in the 24-CD box set The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (1927-1973).

Ellington composed this concert with Swedish singer Alice Babs in mind, and it was the first time she was to record with the Ellington Orchestra. In the concert she sang "Heaven" and the wordless vocal, "T.G.T.T. (Too Good to Title)". This piece is dedicated to Rev John Garcia Gensel, who was the Lutheran pastor to the jazz community at that time. The climactic ending is "Praise God and Dance", which comes from Psalm 150.”

Ellington died on May 24, 1974, of complications from lung cancer and pneumonia,  at the age of 75. His funeral was held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and was reported attended by attended by more than 12,000 people.  He is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.