Jazz
genius Edward Kennedy "Duke Ellington was the kind of band leader who could coax a
musician to give everything he had to give during a performance, says former band member
Dr. Aaron Bell. "If you played the sweet potato, he'd make you the best
sweet potato player in the entire world," said Bell, one of the faculty members for a
symposium on Duke Ellington to be held at the University of Kentucky Oct. 28-30. Both the
dialogue and a concert, "The Best of Duke Ellington" on Friday, Oct. 29, are
open to the public.
Bell, who lives and teaches music in Mount Vernon, New York, was a bass and piano
player for the Ellington band from 1960-62. But he also "went back and forth"
recording suites and other music for Ellington for about six years.
At every opportunity, Bell now shares the fondness he holds for Duke Ellington whom he
considered "a very good man and a most sensitive individual."
"He felt other people's problems and he took care of his people," Bell
recalls. He remembered Ellington providing stipends to people around him who had suffered
bad luck. "I can remember going to him after my father died," Bell said,
"and he said to me, 'As long as I'm living, Aaron, you will always have a
father.'"
In his remarks at the symosium at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 29, Dr. Bell will discuss a
comparison of Ellington to master European composers. Following his remarks, he will
participate in a panel discussion about Ellington's musical and cultural genius.
Other panelists will be John Edward Hasse, executive producer of the Smithsonian Jazz
Masterworks Orchestra; Andrew Jaffe, music professor at Williams College, and Ann K.
Kuebler, archivist of the Duke Ellington Collection in the Smithsonian.
Panel moderator will be David Baker, Distinguished Professor of Music, Indiana
University, and Director, Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra.
The symposium is being co-produced by UK School of Music professors Richard Domek and
Miles Osland as a part of a tribute to Duke Ellington during his 100th
birthday.
Domek said the symposium has a three-fold purpose: "To explore the intricacies and
delights of Ellington's music; highlight his contributions to Twentieth Century music, and
showcase the contributions of African-American music and African-American culture to
American culture at large.
All events for the symposium, which is expected to attract musicians and academicians
from many states and other colleges and universities, will be held in the Singletary
Center for the Arts.
The symposium begins at 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28, and also features Orville Hammond, UK
piano professor, performing an Ellington recital.
"The Best of Duke Ellington" will be featured in a concert by the Kentucky
Jazz Repertory Orchestra at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29, in the Concert Hall of the Singletary
Center. The repertory orchestra is a 20-piece band assembled just for the year-long Duke
Ellington 100th birthday celebration.
Available for the first time at the concert will be a compact disc titled
"Ellington Celebration." The $15 CD includes studio-recorded selections of
Ellington compositions played by the Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra at a series of
spring concerts at UK.
Individual tickets for the concert are $8, but are included in the registration fee for
the three-day symposium. Advance registration is $35 ($25 for students). Individual
tickets are also available for other events during the symposium.
To register for the symposium or to buy individual event tickets, call the Singletary
Center for the Arts, 606-257-4929. For a detailed program and to register for the
symposium, call the School of Music office, 606-257-4900.
