Duke Ellington Orchestra - Coventry Cathedral 1966

 

Duke Ellington Orchestra - Coventry Cathedral 1966.

by Pete Clemons

Despite groups like The Beatles riding high, Revolver was just around the corner, a concert by the Duke Ellington Orchestra during the mid 1960s was still seen as an incredibly important event.

In fact it was predicted 'Far from being a joke, Harold Davison's conception of teaming Ella and Ellington promises to be the musical highlight of 1966'. As such any UK dates were met with much excitement and expectation. Although for the Coventry gig Ella Fitzgerald did not feature despite, it being said, stole the show during the European dates.

A late announcement mentioned that 'Duke Ellington and his band, who were due to end their 1966 visit to the UK on Sunday February 20 with concerts at London's  Hammersmith Odeon, will stay over on Monday 21 to perform at Coventry Cathedral for ABC television'.

The programme, it was promised, would be similar to those performed at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco during 1965 and at New York's Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church on Boxing Day same year, and is built around Ellington's then new work 'In the Beginning, God'.

'This piece is based on the first four words in the Bible  - In the Beginning, God. This will be the first thing we play using the orchestra and a choir' Ellington told music paper the Melody Maker.

Everything else that happens will follow 'In the Beginning' That we know, but the rest of the programme is not yet set. 'In San Francisco and New York we did something special, and no doubt, we will do something special in Coventry'.

'I've been invited to do this programme in many churches and I'm always honoured of course. When the chance came to play at Coventry I was delighted. But no I've not seen the cathedral yet'.

The European leg of the tour had seen drama. Poll winning drummer, Elvin Jones, was a last minute replacement for regular Sam Woodyard within the Ellington Orchestra. For one show the band featured Jones and the relatively unknown Skeets Marsh. But both drummers informed Melody Maker that they were unhappy with the arrangement. 'It isn't working out' said Elvin Jones 'and I'm not happy with a big band'.

By the time of the British dates the issue had resolved itself with Woodyard returning to the percussion seat. Woodyard had, in fact, re-joined the band in Switzerland.

 And indeed the momentous event in Coventry was filmed and broadcast by ITV and on the Midlands ABC channel as part of their Easter programming that year. The footage was long presumed lost, but was unearthed by Studio Canal, and restored by archive television company Kaleidoscope and the University of Warwick.

And this possibly explains why a subsequent CD release has 'In the Beginning' at the heart of it and not the opening piece as mentioned by Ellington. That said it is great to have rather than not.

The centre piece of the concert was not for everyone. One critic panned 'In The Beginning God' saying it was Ellington at his worst, overblown and pretentious. At one point George Webb chants, 'Matthew, Mark, Luke and John...' inviting the childish follow-on, ...'went to bed with their trousers on'. That said, it was just one of several sacred pieces performed.

But there were many though that did enjoy the concert where Ellington brought the full force of his repertoire. Out-tempo ballads, swinging sections and music that kept shifting and changing both thematically and rhythmically were all on display. There was also a section that featured The Cliff Adams Singers (for those who remember sing something simple?) who added their forte of easy listening, reverential chanting.