Duke Ellington fans gathered to celebrate his birthday through personal stories

Band leader Brian Barlow speaks to an appreciative crowd about Ellington’s connection to Shakespeare through the upcoming concert Stratford Swings Ellington with the Brian Barlow Big Band July 13 at the Festival Theatre.

On a crisp Saturday afternoon jazz fans and musicians of all ilk came together to celebrate the birthday of Duke Ellington through speakers with personal stories of when Ellington came to Stratford and the music scene then, singing with Ellington, growing up with Ellington around the house and stories of his music from band leader Brian Barlow.

The event was hosted by jazz aficionado Tim Elliott as a prelude to the planned concert by the Brian Barlow Big Band this July 13 at 7:30 p.m., where they will be performing the rarely-heard suite Such Sweet Thunder, inspired by the works of Shakespeare as seen at the Stratford Festival in 1956 by Duke Ellington.

Ellington came to Stratford in 1956, 1957, 1965 and 1968. That first visit to this city enthralled and enchanted him. With an invitation from Louis Applebaum, he came to play at what was then the Stratford Music Festival in conjunction with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. But he was so struck that he stayed as long as he could and went to plays. A little-known fact was that Ellington and his partner Billy Strayhorn were both Shakespeare scholars and had the entire works at home.

Local resident Laura Pogson was on hand to share those early days as she remembered them from her childhood. She began by reminiscing of a young boy born in Stratford, who when in Grade 11 was inspired with a project by his English teacher Miss Rose McQueen.

“She assigned the class to come up with an economic project that would spare the city after its loss of the main industry, the railroad. As the young Tom (Patterson) sat in class, inspired by Miss McQueen, who had a passion for Shakespeare, he came to the river in front of my house to talk to my dad about an idea that he had. … It inspired Tom to say, ‘Why don’t we have a theatre here like they do in England?’ As a child I was most excited to think of a theatre in the park. As we all know, it became reality in 1953,” recalled Pogson.

The amazing composer, Louis Applebaum, was brought to town to lead the music of the plays. Most famously, he created the fanfare that still plays today. Applebaum would stay at Pogson’s house where he would compose. In 1955 Applebaum created the Stratford Music Festival and had many famous musicians come through the years.

In 1956, once in Stratford, Ellington was commissioned to compose a piece for the festival and he conceived of the suite Such Sweet Thunder which was performed in 1957 for the first time.

Former resident Gordon Conroy was in the Merry Wives of Windsor as a boy soprano, he served as an usher and in 1968 sang in Ellington’s Concert of Sacred Music as a member of St. John’s United Church Choir under the direction of Gordon Scott and graciously shared his memories.

“Tickets to Ellington were awfully expensive. I know my mom got to hear a couple of concerts on the inside of that building but I never did. That hill (beside), that’s where I heard him. They would open the windows of the building as it was awfully hot in there. I would drift by and be there for the beginning and make a decision. If they were really good, then I would stay and listen. Ellington was of course playing stuff like ‘Sophisticated Lady’ and ‘Take the A Train’. Those were things I listened to in the living room on ‘78s. What a joy to hear and to actually connect with Duke Ellington. That was the first time I got to meet him,” shared Conroy.

Bill Harris, who some may know as director of the Stratford Film Festival and an American ex-pat, knew Ellington simply as Uncle Edward growing up as a child in New York. Ellington was a close family friend of his Aunt Marion and physician Uncle Arthur.

“My uncle Arthur was a prominent doctor and a lifelong friend who treated Edward through various medical crises and performance issues, sometimes even backstage at important events. Arthur and Marion were a New York power couple very steeped in the civil rights movement, bringing money and political power. As a kid sitting there in the open floating mid-century stairs, listening to all the strategizing going on around the dining table, I was really unaware of the historical importance or even creative significance,” Harris said.

The final speaker of the afternoon was none other than the band leader Barlow.

Much of Ellington’s work was not transcribed initially, in fact, only three movements of the suite have been published. In order to perform this in concert, Barlow has had to painstakingly transcribe the orchestration himself, a task that brought him closer to the composer.

“Ellington was a prolific composer. The Smithsonian has all of his papers which include over 3,000 compositions. He is the most recorded jazz composer of all time, and by composer we usually mean a jazz musician who also created music for initially, other jazz musicians. He was also a terrific piano player which often gets overlooked. Then there’s Billy Strayhorn, who Ellington referred to as his right and left hand. Strayhorn was a wonderful pianist, composer and orchestrator. Ellington was the idea man, the showman. He commanded the spotlight but Strayhorn made sure that the musicians always had something to play on the music stands,” said Barlow.

He went on to talk about the upcoming concert of Such Sweet Thunder. The second half will see Heather Bambrick joining in for a selection of Ellington classics. Barlow will be joined by some of the finest musicians in Canada, 15 in total.

The afternoon concluded with Tim Elliott accompanying the crowd to a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday to both Duke Ellington, whose birthday is April 29 and William Shakespeare, also an April baby. Those in attendance left with a sense of anticipation for the July 13 concert at the Festival Theatre at 7:30 p.m.