''My People'' is an album by American pianist, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington written and recorded in 1963 for a

stage show A theatrical production is any work of theatre, such as a staged play, musical, comedy or drama produced from a written book or script. Theatrical productions also extend to other performance designations such as Dramatic and Nondramatic theatre, a ...

and originally released on

Bob Thiele Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals * Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname ...

's short-lived Contact label before being reissued on the

Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' ( nl, De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the seven seas forever. The myth is likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Du ...

label and later released on CD on the

Red Baron Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

label.A Duke Ellington Panorama
, accessed May 28, 2010.Anderson, D
Derek's Blog: Duke Ellington's My People
accessed May 14, 2019 The album features recordings of compositions by Ellington for a stage show presented in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

as part of the Century of Negro Progress Exposition in 1963.

Reception

Released in 1965 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. The reviewer for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "''My People'' is a snapshot of a specific era and is most interesting as a representation of its time, not as an individual work.".

Track listing

:''All compositions by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn'' # "Ain't But the One/Will You Be There?/99%" - 5:16 # "Come Sunday/David Danced Before the Lord" - 6:09 # "My Mother, My Father (Heritage)" - 2:50 # "Montage" - 6:54 # "My People/The Blues" - 8:56 # "Workin' Blues/My Man Sends Me/Jail Blues/Lovin' Lover" - 5:57 # "King Fit the Battle of Alabam'" - 3:25 # "What Color Is Virtue?" - 2:49 :''Recorded at Universal Studios, Chicago on August 20 (tracks 1a, 2, 4, 5b, 6a, 6c & 7), August 21 (tracks 1b, 1c, 3, 5a & 8) and August 27 (tracks 6b & 6d), 1963.''

Personnel

* Duke Ellington –

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

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 ...

Ray Nance Ray Willis Nance (December 10, 1913 – January 28, 1976) was an American jazz trumpeter, violinist and singer. He is best remembered for his long association with Duke Ellington and his orchestra. Early years Nance was the leader of his ow ...

- cornet *Bill Berry, Ziggy Harrell,

Nat Woodard Nat or NAT may refer to: Computing * Network address translation (NAT), in computer networking Organizations * National Actors Theatre, New York City, U.S. * National AIDS trust, a British charity * National Archives of Thailand * National ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

Booty Wood Mitchell W. Wood, better known as Booty Wood (December 27, 1919 – June 10, 1987) was an American jazz trombonist. Career Wood played professionally on trombone from the late 1930s. He worked with Tiny Bradshaw and Lionel Hampton in the 1940s ...

, Britt Woodman -

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

*Chuck Connors - bass trombone * John Sanders -

valve trombone A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

* Rudy Powell - alto saxophone * Pete Clark,

Russell Procope Russell Keith Procope (August 11, 1908 – January 21, 1981) was an American clarinetist and alto saxophonist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra. Before Ellington Procope was born in New York City, United States, and grew up in ...

- alto saxophone, clarinet * Harold Ashby -

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 (while ...

, clarinet * Bob Freedman - tenor saxophone * Billy Strayhorn -

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

* Joe Benjamin - bass *

Louis Bellson Louie Bellson (born Luigi Paulino 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 * Juan Amalbert - conga *

Joya Sherrill Joya Sherrill (August 20, 1924 – June 28, 2010) was an American jazz vocalist and children's television show host. Sherrill was born in Bayonne, New Jersey on August 20, 1924. Her first ambition was to become a writer: she was the editor of her ...

, Lil Greenwood, Jimmy McPhail, Irving Bunton Singers -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

References

{{Authority control Flying Dutchman Records albums Duke Ellington albums 1963 albums Red Baron Records albums Albums produced by Bob Thiele