Home > News > UCLA TO KICK OFF DUKE ELLINGTON CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION WITH STAR-STUDDED CONCERTS AT ROYCE HALL APRIL 29-30

UCLA TO KICK OFF DUKE ELLINGTON CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION WITH STAR-STUDDED CONCERTS AT ROYCE HALL APRIL 29-30

Carolyn Campbell (ccampbel@arts.ucla.edu) (310) 825-6540
For Immediate Use Friday, April 02, 1999.

A stellar lineup of some of the country’s finest jazz musicians will light up UCLA’s Royce Hall for two nights on April 29-30 to commemorate the 100th birthday of the late jazz great Edward Kennedy (Duke) Ellington. The concerts will pay tribute to the life and music of the world-renowned composer, bandleader and pianist.

Presented by the Jazz Studies Program in UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture, the evenings will feature such notables in the music world as Herbie Hancock, Lalo Schifrin, Billy Childs, Jimmy Smith, Milt Jackson, Ray Brown, Kenny Burrell and former Ellington band members Bill Berry and Louie Bellson. Proceeds from the event will benefit the UCLA Jazz Studies Program and establish scholarships in Ellington’s name.

Ellington is recognized as the 20th century’s most prolific composer – both in number of pieces (nearly 2,000) and variety of musical forms, influencing jazz, popular and sacred music, rock and beyond. A genius for instrumental combinations, improvisation and jazz arranging, Ellington has been indelibly linked with the finest creations in big band and vocal jazz. He wrote such hit songs as “Mood Indigo,” “Sophisticated Lady” and “Satin Doll,” suites such as “Black, Brown and Beige” and, late in life, considerable sacred music.

Under the direction of Kenny Burrell, legendary jazz guitarist and director of UCLA’s Jazz Studies Program, an “All-Star Big Band” concert will kick off the celebration on Thursday, April 29 --- the day of the 100th anniversary of Ellington’s birth in Washington, D.C. The evening will feature a 16-piece Big Band, including artists Jeff Clayton, Gary Foster, Terry Harrington, Herman Riley, Jack Nimetz, George Graham, Rick Baptist, Walt Johnson, Carl Saunders, George Bohanon, Tom Ranier, Gerald Wiggins, Dave Carpenter and Jeff Hamilton.

Ellingtonians Berry and Bellson will join in the festivities -- as both performers and special guest conductors – and share their insights into the music-making genius of Ellington. Other guest conductors include John Clayton, three-time Grammy nominee Gerald Wilson and James Newton. Performing solo works for the evening are Barbara Morrison, Bellson and Burrell, who has twice been named Number One jazz guitarist by the Jazz Times International Readers Poll. Chuck Niles, the country’s leading jazz disc jockey will serve as master of ceremonies.

On Friday, April 30, internationally acclaimed musicians Herbie Hancock, Lalo Schifrin, Burrell and Billy Childs will take part in “Symphonic Ellington and the Great Masters of Jazz and Latin Jazz.” Artists slated to perform include Milt Jackson, Ray Brown, Billy Higgins, Jimmy Smith and Bobby Rodriguez.

Styles ranging from Latin jazz to blues and the avant-garde will be represented by various artists, further demonstrating the continuing influence of Ellington and the widespread admiration for his music. The groundbreaking musical fusion Ellington created also will be demonstrated by combining the sounds of UCLA’s Big Band and the Philharmonia orchestra. Schifrin will serve as the evening’s main conductor, along with John Clayton and Luther Henderson III.

“Duke Ellington is revered and respected around the world, and the admiration for him continues to grow as more and more people come to realize his true contribution to 20th-century music,” said Burrell, a professor in both the Department of Music and the Department of Ethnomusicology at UCLA’s School of the Arts and Architecture. “While Ellington centennial celebrations abound throughout the world, this event is unique in that it brings together a diverse array of musicians representing a broad spectrum of musical forms all influenced by Ellington.”

Burrell, considered the foremost authority on the music of Duke Ellington, has been at the helm of UCLA’s Jazz Studies Program since its inception in 1996. For more than 20 years, he has taught “Ellingtonia,” a course dealing with the life and work of Duke Ellington. The course was the first regular college course on Ellington in the world. A specialist in jazz performance, improvisation, history and performance, he is one of the world’s most respected jazz artists. Burrell has worked alongside such jazz icons as Ellington, Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Tony Bennett, Billie Holiday, Quincy Jones, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker and Oscar Peterson, among others.

With the goal of preparing students to become the next generation of innovators and leaders in jazz arrangement, performance, research and teaching, the UCLA Jazz Studies Program is at the forefront of jazz training. The program offers more than 15 courses ranging from the development and history of jazz to African-American musical heritage, jazz theory and keyboard harmony. The curriculum includes lectures, private lessons, combo classes, big band ensembles and improvisation classes. Moreover, seminars and workshops with such artists such as Tito Puente, Bellson, Hancock, Diana Krall and Yusef Lateef have been presented at UCLA.

“The UCLA Jazz Studies Program has the best jazz faculty in the country,” said Hancock, referring to the A-list of performers and jazz experts teaching in the program. In addition to Burrell, the program boasts an impressive group of scholars and performers that include world-renowned band leader, composer and jazz artist Gerald Wilson; Steve Loza, an expert in Latin jazz; Cheryl Keyes, a composer, flutist, pianist and songwriter who specializes in African-American music; Gordon Henderson, who directs the 250-member Bruin Marching Band; performer and composer Ali Jihad Racy; and classical jazz musician and contemporary music critic Robert Walser, an accomplished guitarist, trumpeter and vocalist.

Performers working as adjunct faculty are saxophonist Harold Land, pianist Billy Childs, trumpeter Oscar Brashear, trombonist and arranger Garnett Brown, drummer Billy Higgins, bassist and composer Roberto Miranda, trombonist George Bohanon, multi-instrumentalist and composer Tom Ranier, and vocalists Ruth Price and Barbara Morrison.

Tickets to the concerts are available for $30, $24, $19 and $13 (for UCLA students with full-time I.D.) at the UCLA Central Ticket Office at the southwest corner of the James West Alumni Center and online at http://www.cto.ucla.edu. For more information or to charge by phone, call (310) 825-2101. Patron seats with special benefits are available for $1,000 and $500. To purchase patron seats, the public should call (310) 825-2059.

For members of the media interested in covering the concerts, call Carolyn Campbell at (310) 825-6540.

In addition to the concerts, UCLA will host a free two-day jazz symposium, a dedication of a commemorative Ellington statue by sculptor Robert Graham, two library exhibits, an Ellington film festival, a four-day photography exhibition and three special lectures on the jazz icon. For more information on the Duke Ellington Centennial Celebration at UCLA, call Diana de Cardenas at (310) 206-1464.

Contact: Carolyn Campbell
Phone: (310) 825-6540
Email: ccampbel@arts.ucla.edu