''Sacred Concert'' by

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

is one of the following realisations: * 1965 - ''Concert of Sacred Music'' * 1968 - ''Second Sacred Concert'' * 1973 - ''Third Sacred Concert'' Ellington called these concerts "the most important thing I have ever done". He said many times that he was not trying to compose a

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

. The critic

Gary Giddins Gary Giddins (born 1948) is an American jazz critic and author. He wrote for ''The Village Voice'' from 1973; his "Weather Bird" column ended in 2003. In 1986, Gary Giddins and John Lewis created the American Jazz Orchestra which presented conc ...

has characterized these concerts as Ellington bringing the Cotton Club revue to the church.

''Concert of Sacred Music''

Grace Cathedral in San Francisco planned a "Festival of Grace", with a variety of cultural works and speakers, to occur during the first year the cathedral was open, and Ellington's concert was to be a part of it. (The "festival" also included a performance by

Vince Guaraldi Vincent Anthony Guaraldi (; birth name, né Dellaglio, July 17, 1928 – February 6, 1976) was an American jazz pianist best known for composing music for animated television adaptations of the ''Peanuts'' comic strip. His compositions for this s ...

.) The concert premiered on September 16, 1965, and was recorded by KQED, a local public television station. The performance was released on CD as ''A Concert of Sacred Music Live from Grace Cathedral'' and on DVD as ''Love You Madly/A Concert of Sacred Music at Grace Cathedral''. The official album on RCA, ''A Concert of Sacred Music'', was recorded at two concerts at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York on December 26, 1965. Additional material from these concerts, not found on the original album, can be found on the 24-CD

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

''The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (1927-1973)''. The concert mixed existing and new material, with "New World A-Comin and "Come Sunday" from ''Black Brown and Beige'' and "Heritage (My Mother, My Father)" from the show ''My People''. A new piece, the song "In the Beginning God", was awarded a Grammy Award in 1967. It was performed again at Grace Cathedral on its 25th and 50th anniversaries, in 1990 and 2015.

Reception

The

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review by Richard S. Ginell awarded the album five stars and stated "the concert taps into Ellington's roots in showbiz and African-American culture as well as his evidently deep religious faith, throwing it all together in the spirit of universality and sealing everything with the stamps of his musical signatures".Ginell, R. S. Allmusic Reviewaccessed June 8, 2010 ''

Ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also includes the persimmon tree. A few ''Diospyros'' species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is fin ...

'' magazine called the piece "historic", situating it as part of a larger movement in the mid-'60s that brought together

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and religion.

Track listing

:''All compositions by Duke Ellington'' # "In the Beginning God" - 19:36 # "Will You Be There?" - 1:23 # "Ninety Nine Percent" - 2:23 # "Ain't But the One" - 3:31 # "New World a'Coming" - 9:56 # "In the Beginning, God II" - 4:31 # "Heritage" - 3:42 # "The Lord's Prayer" - 3:16 # "Come Sunday" - 5:30 # "David Danced Before the Lord With All His Might" - 9:00 # "The Lord's Prayer II" - 4:56 The album was recorded at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church on December 26, 1965.

Personnel

–

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

* Cat Anderson, Mercer Ellington, Herb Jones,

Cootie Williams Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams (July 10, 1911 – September 15, 1985) was an American jazz, jump blues, and rhythm and blues trumpeter. Biography Born in Mobile, Alabama, Williams began his professional career at the age of 14 with the Yo ...

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

* Lawrence Brown, Buster Cooper,

Quentin Jackson Quentin "Butter" JacksonFe ...

–

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

*Chuck Connors –

bass trombone The bass trombone (, ) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to facilitate low register playing, and u ...

* Russell Procope, Jimmy Hamilton –

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

Johnny Hodges Johnny Hodges (July 25, 1907 – May 11, 1970) was an American alto saxophone, alto saxophonist, best known for solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years. Hodges was also featured on sop ...

– alto saxophone * Paul Gonsalves –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

Harry Carney Harry Howell Carney (April 1, 1910 – October 8, 1974) was a jazz saxophonist and clarinettist who spent over four decades as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He played a variety of instruments, but primarily used the baritone saxophon ...

–

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

* John Lamb –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

Louie Bellson Louie Bellson (born Luigi Paolino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni, July 6, 1924 – February 14, 2009), often seen in sources as Louis Bellson, although he himself preferred the spelling Louie, was an American jazz drummer. He was a composer ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Brock Peters Brock Peters (born George Fisher; July 2, 1927 – August 23, 2005) was an American actor, best known for playing the villainous "Crown" in the 1959 film version of ''Porgy and Bess'', and Tom Robinson in the 1962 film ''To Kill a Mockingbird ...

, Queen Esther Marrow, Jimmy McPhail –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

*The Herman McCoy Choir –

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

* Bunny Briggs –

tap dancing Tap dance (or tap) is a form of dance that uses the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion; it is often accompanied by music. Tap dancing can also be performed with no musical accompaniment; the sound of the taps is its ow ...

(track 10)

''Second Sacred Concert''

Ellington's ''Second Sacred Concert'' premiered at the

Cathedral of St. John the Divine The Cathedral of St. John the Divine (sometimes referred to as St. John's and also nicknamed St. John the Unfinished) is the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. It is at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue in the Morningside Heights neighborhoo ...

in New York on January 19, 1968, but no recording of this performance has surfaced. The ''Second Sacred Concert'' was then recorded on January 22 and February 19, 1968, at Fine Studio in New York and originally issued as a double LP on

Prestige Records Prestige Records is a jazz record company and label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock in New York City which issued recordings in the mainstream, bop, and cool jazz idioms. The company recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz music ...

and reissued on one CD minus the tracks "Don't Get Down On Your Knees To Pray Until You Have Forgiven Everyone" and "Father Forgive".A Duke Ellington Panorama
accessed May 17, 2010 All the tracks can be found in the 24-CD box set ''The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (1927-1973)''. This concert is the first time Swedish singer

Alice Babs Hildur Alice Nilson (26 January 1924 – 11 February 2014), known by her stage name Alice Babs, was a Swedish singer. She worked in a wide number of genres – Swedish folklore, Elizabethan songs and opera. While she was best known internationall ...

recorded with the Ellington Orchestra. In the concert she sang "Heaven", "Almighty God", the wordless vocal "T.G.T.T. (Too Good to Title)", and "Praise God and Dance".

has a "growl" trumpet feature on "The Shepherd (Who Watches Over the Night Flock)". This piece is dedicated to Rev. John Garcia Gensel, Lutheran pastor to the jazz community. The climactic ending is "Praise God and Dance", which comes from Psalm 150. At the invitation of the Harvard Episcopal Chaplaincy, Ellington gave the concert again at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Boston on April 20, 1969.

Reception

The

review by Richard S. Ginell awarded the album 4 stars and stated "the material is fresh, not a patchwork of old and new like the first concert — and in an attempt to be as ecumenical as possible, Ellington reaches for novel techniques and sounds beyond his usual big band spectrum".Ginell, R. S. Allmusic Reviewaccessed June 8, 2010

Track listing

:''All compositions by Duke Ellington'' # "Praise God" - 3:09 # "Supreme Being" - 11:45 # "Heaven" - 4:55 # "Something About Believing" - 8:12 # "Almighty God" - 6:32 # "The Shepherd (Who Watches over the Flock)" - 7:10 # "It's Freedom" - 13:00 # "Meditation" - 3:10 # "The Biggest and Busiest Intersection" - 3:57 # "T.G.T.T. (Too Good to Title)" - 2:25 # "Don't Get Down On Your Knees To Pray Until You Have Forgiven Everyone" - 5:13 Omitted from CD reissue # "Father Forgive" - 2:49 Omitted from CD reissue # "Praise God And Dance" - 10:49 **Recorded at Fine Studio in New York on January 22 (tracks 3, 5, 7, 10 & 13) and February 19 (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11 & 12), 1968.

Personnel

–

narration Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

* Cat Anderson, Mercer Ellington, Money Johnson, Herb Jones,

–

* Lawrence Brown, Buster Cooper,

Bennie Green Bennie Green (April 16, 1923 – March 23, 1977) was an American jazz trombonist. Born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, Green worked in the orchestras of Earl Hines and Charlie Ventura, and recorded as bandleader through the 1950s and ...

–

*Chuck Connors –

* Russell Procope –

– alto saxophone * Jimmy Hamilton – clarinet,

* Paul Gonsalves – tenor saxophone *

–

*Jeff Castleman –

* Sam Woodyard, Steve Little –

, Devonne Gardner, Trish Turner, Roscoe Gill –

*The AME Mother Zion Church Choir, Choirs Of St Hilda's and St. Hugh's School, Central Connecticut State College Singers, The Frank Parker Singers –

''Third Sacred Concert''

The ''Third Sacred Concert'' was built around the skills of

, and Ellington himself on the piano. It was premiered at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

on October 24, 1973, and released on LP in 1975 but has only been issued on CD as part of the 24-disc ''The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings (1927-1973)'' collection. At this point in his life, Ellington knew he was dying. Author Janna Tull Steed has written that of all the concerts that Ellington is addressing God facing his mortality.Steed page 148 Alice Babs sings "Is God a Three Letter Word for Love?" and "My Love". Tenor saxophonist Harold Ashby is featured on "The Brotherhood", which is a tribute to

The United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among ...

Reception

The

review by Richard S. Ginell awarded the album 3 stars and stated "the weakest of the sacred concerts. It lacks the showbiz kick and exuberance of the first concert and even more eclectic impulses of the second, now burdened with a subdued solemnity and the sense that the ailing Ellington knew his time was drawing to a close (he would be dead exactly six months later)".Ginell, R. S. Allmusic Reviewaccessed June 8, 2010

Track listing

:''All compositions by Duke Ellington'' # ''Introduction By Sir Colin Crowe'' - 1:28 # ''Duke Ellington's Introduction'' - 1:26 # "The Lord's Prayer: My Love" - 7:49 # "Is God A Three-Letter Word For Love? (Part I)" - 4:27 # "Is God A Three-Letter Word For Love? (Part II)" - 3:46 # "The Brotherhood" - 5:46 # "Hallelujah" - 3:32 # "Every Man Prays In His Own Language" - 11:10 # "Ain't Nobody Nowhere Nothin' Without God" - 4:20 # "The Majesty Of God" - 7:27 **Recorded at Westminster Abbey, London on October 24, 1973.

Personnel

–

Johnny Coles John Coles (July 3, 1926 – December 21, 1997) was an American jazz trumpeter. Early life Coles was born in Trenton, New Jersey, on July 3, 1926. He grew up in Philadelphia and was self-taught on trumpet. Later life and career Coles spent his ...

, Mercer Ellington, Barrie Lee Hall, Money Johnson –

* Art Baron, Vince Prudente –

*Chuck Connors –

* Harold Minerve –

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

* Russell Procope –

* Harold Ashby –

*Percy Marion – tenor saxophone *

–

, clarinet,

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

* Joe Benjamin –

*Quentin Whit –

, Tony Watkins –

* John Alldis Choir –

Notes

References

*Steed, Janna Tull ''Duke Ellington: A Spiritual Biography (Lives & Legacies)'' {{Authority control America Records albums Sacred Concerts 1966 live albums 1968 albums America Records live albums 1975 live albums Duke Ellington albums Live album series Duke Ellington live albums Christian liturgical music