Duke Ellington: Music is my Mistress

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

66

text excerpt

[Sidney Bechet joined Duke Ellington’s band] in 1926 during the summertime, when we were working around New England for Charlie Shribman… Bubber Miley and Bechet used to have a cutting contest nightly, and that was a kick. They would play five or six choruses at a time, and while one was playing the other would be backstage taking a nip. They were two very colorful gladiators. Often, when Bechet was blowing, he would say, "I'm going to call Goola this time!" Goola was his dog, a big German shepherd. Goola wasn't always there, but he was calling him anyway with a kind of throaty growl. Call was very important in that kind of music. Today, the music has grown up and become quite scholastic, but this was au naturel, close to the primitive, where people send messages in what they play, calling somebody, or making facts and emotions known. Painting a picture, or having a story to go with what you were going to play, was of vital importance in those days. The audience didn't know anything about it, but the cats in the band did. Most of the time, Bechet played soprano saxophone, but now and then he would take out his clarinet. Although it wasn't really his thing, he had the world's greatest wood tone on that instrument. You don't hear that wood in what most clarinetists play today, but I love it--and miss it.

excerpt from 'Duke Ellington: Music is my Mistress' pp. 66 (239 words)

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