|
THE DUKE ELLINGTON
CENTER FOR THE ARTS
PLANS MULTIPLE EVENTS
TO CELEBRATE ‘DUKE ELLINGTON WEEK’
AND ELLINGTON’S 112TH
BIRTHDAY (APRIL 29)
New
York, NY –
The Duke Ellington Center For The Arts has scheduled
a number of events and activities during New York’s “Duke
Ellington Week” (April 24-30) to celebrate the 112th
birthday of the internationally acclaimed musician,
composer, orchestra leader and jazz innovator, it was
announced here today by Mercedes Ellington, the
renowned dancer/choreographer who is founder and President
of the Duke Ellington Center For The Arts in New York
City.
“This
is one of the most exciting weeks of the year for me, all
jazz lovers and for Duke Ellington aficionados,” Mercedes
says. “With more than 3,000 compositions, Ellington was the
20th century’s most prolific composer in both
volume and variety. His fame spread worldwide and he built a
fantastic career as a musician, composer, songwriter,
orchestra leader and innovator of American Music that began
in the 1920’s and continued non-stop until his death in
1974. His music is as popular today as it was during his
lifetime. And it is the mission of the Duke Ellington Center
for the Arts to support the inspiration of all people to
become Ambassadors for Peace and Harmony through the magic
of the Arts—one note at a time.”
Here
are the events scheduled for Duke Ellington Week:—
Easter Sunday, April 24, 7:00 PM
(Inaugural Ceremony for the Duke Ellington “Beyond Category”
Award)
A
Black Tie Cocktail Reception and Dance will highlight
the inaugural ceremony for the 1st Annual
Duke Ellington “Beyond Category” Award. Reaffirming
its commitment to support individual excellence, The Duke
Ellington Center for the Arts has established a
charitable endowment to fund scholarships for arts
education. The endowment will support scholarships through
this Special Award, which will be presented annually to an
individual who has demonstrated impact beyond category.
Award recipients will determine which school receives the
scholarship. The recipient of the Inaugural Award is
Donald Saddler, the renowned choreographer, dancer and
theatre director. Structured as a fund-raiser for the
endowment, the evening’s program will feature The Dance
Times Square Jitterbuggers choreographed by Melanie
LaPatin.
Location: Dance Times Square Studio
(156 West 44th Street): Tickets: $125
Monday, April 25, at 7:30 PM
30 Year Anniversary Sophisticated Ladies
Original Broadway Cast Reunion
Birdland, 315
West 44th Street
The 30th
Anniversary Reunion Performance of the Original 1981
Broadway production of the Ellington-themed musical
Sophisticated Ladies will be presented at
Birdland, 315 West 44th Street. The musical
ran 767 performances at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater (3/1/1981
– 1/2/1983) and featured Duke Ellington’s music with his son
Mercer Ellington heading the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Many
of the original cast members, including Mercedes
Ellington, will perform at this reunion. Other original
cast members performing include: Ty Stephens, Adrian
Bailey, P.J. Benjamin, Hinton Battle, Val Pettiford, Terri
Klausner, Wynonna Smith, Ken Hanson, Priscilla Baskerville,
Michael Lichtefeld, Faruma (“Woody”) Williams, Paula-Lynn
Wagner and Bruce Heath. Frank Owens will
head the on-stage orchestra.
Cover Charge: $40 Reservations required.
Call Birdland at 212/581-3080
Thursday, April 28, at
9 PM
(Ellington Birthday Eve Countdown Concert)
Swing 46 Jazz & Supper
Club, 349 West 46th Street
Hosted
by Swing 46—one of New York’s finest jazz clubs,
complete with dance floor—The Blue Millennium
Orchestra invites musicians from far and wide to join
them in heralding Duke Ellington’s 112th
Birthday in the heart of Manhattan’s theater
district. The Orchestra features original Ellington alumni
Patience Higgins and
James Zollar on reeds and trumpet. Christopher
Cherney, Director of Music Education at The Duke
Ellington Center, directs the ensemble from piano. The
performance begins at 9 PM and culminates with a
New-Year’s-Eve-Style countdown to the Maestro’s birthday at
midnight when all attending musicians will be asked to get
out their instruments so that everyone can play Take
The A Train together. Mr. Cherney and The Blue
Millennium Orchestra have been involved with the development
and presentation of several of Ellington’s extended
compositions—including A Drum is a Woman and
Such Sweet Thunder.
Cover Charge: $20 (Instrumentalists arriving after 10 PM
for the Midnight Jam will be charged $10)
Friday, April 29, at 1:00 PM
(Duke Ellington Day Celebration Concert) The
Duke Ellington Statue, Fifth Avenue & 110th
Street
Focusing on the importance of music and the arts programs in
public schools, the highlight of Duke Ellington Week
is a FREE musical Tribute Concert
in front of the Duke Ellington Memorial Statue at the
northeast corner of Central Park (110th Street &
Fifth Avenue) -- the Gateway to Harlem. Several school jazz
bands, including The Middle School Jazz Academy of
Jazz at Lincoln Center and the PS 345
Concert Band in Brooklyn, as well as Christopher
Cherney’s Blue Millennium Orchestra, will
perform. Guest artists, including Darby Dizard,
and the Dance Times Square Jitterbuggers will round
out a musical program featuring Duke Ellington
Favorites. During a rousing Finale, all 60
participating musicians will join together to perform the
Duke Ellington standard, Satin Doll
FREE! No admission charge.
Saturday, April 30, at 5 PM
(Duke Ellington at Woodlawn)
Woodlawn Cemetery—The Bronx
Duke
Ellington died on
May 24, 1974—and like many of New York’s Jazz Greats—
was laid to rest at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx. To
commemorate his birthday, Woodlawn and The Duke
Ellington Center will present a special concert of
all-Ellington music. The concert will take place in The
Woolworth Chapel at Woodlawn, and feature live music,
song and dance. The concert will be hosted by
Mercedes Ellington, who will also present excerpts from
Duke Ellington’s repertoire of literary
compositions.
Admission: $20 Reservations required. Please contact
Woodlawn at
718/920-1470.
Edward
Kennedy “Duke” Ellington
(April 29, 1899 – May 24,
1974)
·
With over
3,000 compositions, he was the 20th century’s
most prolific composer in both volume and variety.
·
He started
playing piano age 7, formed his first band when he was 25;
kept it going for more than 50 years.
·
1920s: He
began calling his compositions American Music
when it was popular to view only classical music as
“cultural.” Duke was determined to change that and make
American Music something to be proud of
worldwide. He succeeded.
·
1930s and
1940s: He took his band all over the globe, bringing
American Big Band Music, Jazz, American-style
Sacred Music and Blues to audiences large and small on every
continent.
·
1950s and
1960s: The US State Department launched its Jazz
Ambassador program, and Duke became a key component
of that highly successful exercise in global cultural
diplomacy. He received the Presidential Gold Medal in 1966
from Lyndon Johnson, and the Medal of Freedom in 1969 from
Richard Nixon.
·
1970s: The
Jazz Ambassador initiative ended in 1972 after
Duke, though battling terminal cancer, made his last
Goodwill Tour through Africa. He died two years later.
·
Honored
posthumously in 1999 with a Pulitzer Prize, Duke Ellington
is a source of immense pride for Americans of all races. He
felt that racial integration was just a stepping stone to a
much more important universal goal: “Human harmony beyond
category.”
The Duke Ellington
Center for the Arts
Founded in 2004 by
Mercedes Ellington, director/ choreographer/performer
and producer who is Duke Ellington’s granddaughter. The
Duke Ellington Center for the Arts is a not-for-profit
501(c)(3) organization that was created with a mission to
support the inspiration of all people to become Ambassadors
for Peace and Harmony through the magic of the Arts—one note
at a time.
Among its goals, The Duke
Ellington Center plans on developing Duke Ellington’s
staggering number of musical compositions into
multi-disciplinary theatrical presentations, to be performed
in many different types of venues in many countries. By
revisiting his many diverse compositions, The Center will be
following in the example of Ellington himself by exploring
new directions that will breathe new life and excitement
into those exemplary
works.
###########
Contacts for The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts
Public
Relations: Les Schecter (LS Communications)
917/854-3286
lester.schecter@gmail.com
Marketing: Andrew Graham (The Salak
Group) 646-385-0189
andrewgraham.nyc@gmail.com
|