(Above: Untitled, Los Angeles, California, 1960. Photograph of Duke Ellington by Gordon Parks. The Gordon Parks Foundation.)
Yesterday I wrote of Duke Ellington while writing about Countee Cullen. This weekend here in London The Times on Saturday ran a column by Ben Macintyre about a surprising Duke Ellington devotee - Queen Elizabeth. She has allowed it to be revealed that her devotion to him and to his music has been one of her long life’s deepest pleasures. Gary Crosby, the first jazz musician to be awarded the Queen’s Medal for Music, told Radio 2 that he was astonished by her knowledge and love of Ellington whom she met in 1958 at an arts festival in Yorkshire and where, according to Crosby (one presumes because she told him so), this African American Duke “politely flirted with her.” The Queen’s father had a collection of Ellington records that he passed on to her. She and Prince Philip - we are now being told - liked to dance to Ellington’s “Take the A Train.”
As London gears up for the Queens Platinum Jubilee next month, here is a little tribute to her by way of paying tribute to Duke Ellington today.
(Above: Untitled, Los Angeles, California, 1960. Duke Ellington photographed by Gordon Parks. The Gordon Parks Foundation.)
(Above: Duke Ellington Listening to Playback, Los Angeles, California, 1960. Photography by Gordon Parks. The Gordon Parks Foundation.)
(TO VIEW THE CURATED GALLERY AND READ THE CURATED QUOTES AND CONTENT - AND TO READ ABOUT THE ARTISTIC SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN ELLINGTON AND BILLY STRAYHORN, THE BOOKISH PREPPIE GAY MAN WHO WROTE “TAKE THE A TRAIN” - CONSIDER SUBSCRIBING FOR $5 A MONTH OR $50 A YEAR. THANKS.)