Happy Birthday Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was born April 29, 1899, in Washington D.C. One of the major figures of jazz from the 1920s until his death in 1974, Ellington composed some of the biggest hits of the era: It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing), Mood Indigo, Sophisticated Lady, Satin Doll, to name just a few.

In the late 20s Ellington and his musicians became the house band for the Cotton Club in Harlem and remained there until 1931. The Depression was tough for everyone, including musicians but Ellington’s band continued to perform and record. In 1939 he met Billy Strayhorn, a classically trained musician who did much to polish and codify Ellington’s compositions. They also worked on some of Ellington’s longer compositions, such as “Black, Brown, and Beige” (1943). Strayhorn composed on his own, too. His song “Take the A Train” became the Ellington band’s theme song.

After the war, the face of music changed with many solo singers such as Frank Sinatra becoming what the public wanted to hear. Smaller groups rather than the “big bands” were also more cost-effective for club owners to engage. But in July 1956 the Ellington band appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival and the reception they received revived his career. By the end of the 50s Ellington and Strayhorn began to work on film scores, the first one being “Anatomy of a Murder” (a terrific movie by Otto Preminger with Jimmy Stewart).

The 60s saw Ellington record with such legends as Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, and John Coltrane. He performed all over the world and spent much time on overseas tours. In 1967 he recorded an album with Frank Sinatra called “Francis A. and Edward K.” Ironically, only one Ellington composition, “I Like the Sunrise” was used on the record. Ellington performed his last concert at Northern Illinois University on March 20, 1974. He died May 24, 1974.

A musical genius, he wasn’t so adept at personal relationships. Leaving his wife, he lived with several other women during his life. He also let it slide when songs that Strayhorn composed were attributed to Ellington. However, if we judged every musician by his morality, we’d have precious little music to listen to. For an excellent biography of Ellington, read Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington by Terry Teachout.

And now I leave you with the original 1932 recording of “It Don’t Mean a Thing” with vocalist Ivie Anderson. Enjoy!

Robinson Crusoe

Have you ever felt isolated, as though you were by yourself on a deserted island? How do you think that you’d react if you were? Who would you turn to for help?

Robinson Crusoe spent over twenty-eight years on this island, all but five of them entirely alone. He was fortunate enough to be able to bring provisions out of the shipwrecked vessel, including arms with which to shoot game to keep himself alive. He taught himself many skills such as gardening, making a canoe, and tending a flock of goats that he captured and tamed, out of sheer necessity. He further learned to grind grain and make bread, churn butter, and make cheese. But how did he sustain his mental and spiritual state?

There were a number of Bibles in various languages on the ship that he was able to salvage. Never a religious man, he began to read the scriptures and little by little he began to believe and develop a deep faith. For many of the first years he felt despair and depression, thinking often why this had happened to him and how he could possibly escape this prison. Gradually though, he began to see God’s plan and to be thankful - thankful for saving his life, thankful for leading him to provide shelter and care for himself, thankful for bringing him to a life of faith. Very much like Betsie ten Boom in The Hiding Place, he could see why God had things happen the way they did. In her case, she could be thankful for the fleas that infested the living space so that the guards would leave the prisoners alone at night and thus enable Betsie and Corrie to read the Bible and pray with the other prisoners. In Robinson Crusoe’s case he was able to understand why he survived so long, ultimately saving the life of Friday and many others who ended up in his sphere.

Daniel Defoe (c.1660 – 1731) was a writer of fiction, non-fiction, pamphlets, and poems, and he was a merchant, journalist, and spy. Indeed, his own life rivaled the adventures of Robinson Crusoe, his first novel published in 1719. Brought up as a Presbyterian dissenter (dissenters were all those who were not members of the Church of England), religion played a large role in Defoe’s life and his fictional characters often lived lives that were not saintly, but who came to repentance. Captain Jack and Moll Flanders are other examples.

What about our own deserted islands? How can we find repentance and accept – even embrace – God’s will for us in these uncertain times? Robinson Crusoe gives us marvelous advice – spend time with the Bible getting to know and love our Lord.

In Praise of the Old Testament

Some Christians don’t pay enough attention to the Old Testament. Their love of the New Testament and the words of Jesus is admirable, but they are missing out of deeper understanding of the prophecy of the Messiah and what an amazing event it was in its fulfillment.

Take Abraham for example. He was faithful to God to the point that he was ready to sacrifice his only son. He didn’t have to go through with it, but the Son of God did sacrifice Himself. In Psalm 22 David laments “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” words that Jesus would utter from the cross. In verses 16-18 David describes a scene that would happen at the Crucifixion: “…they have pierced my hands and feet – I can count all my bones – they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots.”

Again in Isaiah 53:7 we have a prefigurement of the “trial” of Jesus: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.”

Later, after the Resurrection, Jesus meets the two men on the road to Emmaus and “he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27). The scriptures, of course, at that time referred to the Old Testament. All the readings in the temple and words that Jesus taught with came from these scriptures. The whole old covenant was preparing us for the new covenant that we’d have as disciples of Jesus. 

The New Testament and Psalms are my primary daily Bible reading, but every few years I go back and read through the Old Testament. It always deepens my appreciation and understanding of the life and teachings of our Lord.

Isaiah Redux

Who doesn’t need comfort these days? Especially the Lord’s comfort. He offers this over and over in the Scriptures. God wants all good things for us. He’s always there with His arms outstretched waiting for us to turn around and see Him, to run to Him.

Things often went poorly for the Israelites. But listen to the comfort He offers to those stiff-necked, stubborn people who were their own worst enemies (Israelites = us). This is Isaiah 52:7-10.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” Hark, your watchmen lift up their voice, together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all – individuals and nations – could accept the Lord’s peace and comfort and then offer it to one another?

American Popular Song 1

Today I’m introducing a new recurring feature called “American Popular Song.” This will be about the great composers and lyricists of the 20s – 50s, including the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers, Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer, and many more. We’ll look at the lyrics as poetry and listen to the music from clips and enjoy some of the best interpreters of the songs. I confess now that a lot of them will be sung by Frank Sinatra, my favorite singer.

The song today is “Moonlight in Vermont” written by John Blackburn and Karl Suessdorf, lyrics and music respectively. Written in 1944, Margaret Whiting introduced it the same year.

Most songs of this era are in 32-bar AABA form, where A is a verse and B is the bridge, which then returns to the verse. Rhyme is a big part of the lyrics too. However, Blackburn noticed after writing the first part of the song that there was no rhyme and decided to complete it that way. What is interesting about each verse is that it is a haiku (a Japanese verse form that has three lines, the first and third with five syllables and the second with seven syllables).

Here are the lyrics followed by the Margaret Whiting recording with the Billy Butterfield orchestra.

Moonlight in Vermont

Pennies in a stream

Falling leaves, a sycamore

Moonlight in Vermont

 

Icy finger waves

Ski trails on a mountainside

Snowlight in Vermont

 

Telegraph cables, they sing down the highway

And travel each bend in the road.

People who meet in this romantic setting

Are so hypnotized by the lovely

 

Evening summer breeze

Warbling of a meadowlark

Moonlight in Vermont

 

Happy Birthday (yesterday) Miklos Rozsa

Miklos Rozsa was one of the finest movie score composers Hollywood had. Born April 18, 1907, in Hungary, he took his musical training in Germany and worked there until 1931. He moved on to France and Great Britain and came to the United States in 1940 where he stayed until his death in 1995. His career in America was successful, garnering him 17 Oscar nominations, with three wins: Spellbound in 1945, A Double Life in 1947, and Ben-Hur in 1959.

Rozsa also wrote concert music and had his music performed by conductors such as Eugene Ormandy, Bruno Walter, and Leonard Bernstein. But it was for his film scores that he is best remembered:

To Be or Not to Be

The Lost Weekend

A Song to Remember

The Naked City

Quo Vadis

Lust for Life

King of Kings

El Cid

The Green Berets

  

Not a bad line up, but that’s only some of them.  There were over 100.

One of my favorites is 1946’s The Killers with Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner. One of the title characters was William Conrad (radio’s Matt Dillon and tv’s Cannon). This composition is significant for a musical phrase that everybody knows, even if they’ve never seen the movie (and they should, by the way).

Listen to the first four notes and see if you can name the show that Walter Schumann used this music in. Rozsa sued and got a co-credit for the music.

Shakespeare's Sonnets: VI

Many of the sonnets in the first section carry on with the idea that having children will preserve posterity and will make us live on even after we’re gone. 

Sonnet VI

Then let not winter’s ragged hand deface,

In thee thy summer, ere thou be distilled:

Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place

With beauty’s treasure ere it be self-killed.

That use is not forbidden usury,

Which happies those that pay the willing loan;

That’s for thy self to breed another thee,

Or ten times happier, be it ten for one;

Ten times thy self were happier than thou art,

If ten of thine ten times refigured thee:

Then what could death do if thou shouldst depart,

Leaving thee living in posterity?

Be not self-willed, for thou art much too fair

To be death’s conquest and make worms thine heir.