“The frustrating problem with being a pioneer is you often have to wait for society to catch up to you before your contributions can be fully appreciated. And often it doesn’t happen their lifetime.”
DUKE ELLINGTON was a pianist, bandleader and composer; a musical and stylistic icon.
He became a highly successful and famous jazz musician. He wrote and performed hit songs like…
• It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)
• Sophisticated Lady
• Caravan
• Do Nothin’ ‘Till You Hear From Me
• I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)
In fact, over a 50-year career, he became, “The most significant and prolific composer in Jazz History and one of the most famous American composers of any Genre. Ellington’s music helped define what jazz was…and could be (and certainly influenced the civil rights movement (1950-1970’s).” – Wikipedia
BUT AFTER YEARS OF SUCCESS AND ACCEPTANCE, DUKE ELLINGTON EXPERIENCED A DEVASTATING REJECTION BY THE MUSICAL ESTABLISHMENT
At the height of his career he composed an opus piece…not for the nightclubs, but for the concert hall. It was a deeply felt, musical tone poem called Black, Brown and Beige which offered a musical look at the three distinct phases of the American slavery experience:
• BLACK – The arrival of slaves in the New World (Negro work songs and spirituals)
• BROWN – The American/Caribbean slave experience, the Emancipation Proclamation and The Great
Depression (Blues/Downheartedness)
• BEIGE – Harlem in the 1920’s – A time of great optimism (Swing and Big Band)
He proudly debuted Black, Brown & Beige at Carnegie Hall and London in 1943…and it was roundly panned by the critics who felt that a man who “belonged in the jazz clubs had no business writing music for the church. “
Duke Ellington never performed the piece in its entirety in public again.
In later years, Ellington wrote and performed three Sacred Concerts, one in San Francisco (1965), one in New York (1968) and one in London (1972). Ellington called these three Sacred Concerts “The most important thing I have ever done.”
Years ago, critics and audiences were not ready to hear Duke Ellington’s pioneering music and its healing message. But today, it is especially timely and relevant for Ellington’s little known and under-appreciated Sacred Musical to be rediscovered and its inherent message of love, tolerance and healing, heard anew.