Duke Ellington Programme, Signed (2 results)

Large Booklet. Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. A souvenir brochure from a show at the Colston Hall in Bristol. Has a ticket for the show pasted onto the inside front cover, just below Duke Ellington's signature in blue ink. Stapled with some very light creaing to rhe spine, o/w fine. A really lovely copy of a very rare item. Please contact for pictures. Signed by Duke Ellington.

A fan's penciled note on the front cover says it all: "massivement enrichi de signatures des musiciens de Duk". This attractive special number of the pioneering French magazine is graced by the autographs of an excellent gathering of essential Ellingtonians, headed by Billy Strayhorn, Johnny Hodges, Ray Nance (twice), Sonny Greer, Laurence Brown, Don Byas, and the ill-starred Al Killian. Additional signatories include Butch Ballard, Wendell Marshall, Alvin McCain, Ernie Royal, Harold "Shorty" Baker, Russell Procope, and the singer Kay Davis. A dozen band members have signed across the centre-spread illustration, which shows the full orchestra. The trumpeter Al Killian's autograph is noticeably scarce, as he was tragically murdered on 5 September 1950 by a "psychopathic landlord" (cited in Spencer, p. 76). He was just 33 and is described by Gunther Schuller as "without doubt the greatest of the Late-Swing-Era high-note lead trumpeters. [He] was a stunning loss to jazz". In the present example he has nicely underlined his signature with a stylized sketch of a trumpet. This well-produced Jazz Hot special includes an essay on Duke by editor Charles Delaunay, a potted history of the orchestra from 1923 up to 1950, and a "panorama de l'oeuvre" covering the years from 1940. In April 1950, Ellington returned to Europe after an 11-year hiatus and embarked on a gruelling schedule, playing 74 dates in 77 days across France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, and West Germany. Things did not start auspiciously in Paris, where concertgoers reacted adversely to the band's new material. However, "though not all the audiences were happy with Ellington's selection of tunes, the concert tour. gave him inspiration" (Hasse, p. 196). The present crop of signatures was almost certainly gathered when the band played two concerts at Lille on Tuesday 11 April, as this copy bears the local music shop stamp of J. Gras to page 1. The exhaustive website ellingtonweb also notes that there was a cocktail party after the two shows, so it is tempting to put a bibulous spin on the provenance. John Edward Hasse, "'A New Reason for Living': Duke Ellington in France" in Cerchiari, Cugney, Kerschbaumer, eds., Eurojazzland: Jazz and European Sources, Dynamics and Contexts, Boston, 2012. Quarto. Original pictorial wrappers, wire-stitched as issued. Illustrated throughout. Light signs of handling, general pale toning, touch of rust to staples, overall very good.