Jazz

Video Chat: The Berklee College of Music’s Jeff Claassen on the Importance of Duke Ellington

The Daily Music Break’s first video chat features Jeff Claassen, a trumpet player and Associate Professor of Harmony at the Berklee School of Music. Jeff provided deep insight on the great Duke Ellington.

It is interesting that one of the major accomplish with which he credits Ellington is the fact that he kept a band together for about 50 years. We look back on icons as having wholly successful careers, playing big venues and being generally being showered in adulation for the length of their careers. It’s not really that way, however. The stars – those that have long careers – have down periods. An older Johnny Cash hit a drought that lasted until Rick Rubin rightly recognized his cultural significance and resurrected him. Frank Sinatra had his down period. Louis Armstrong was thought to be out of touch for years. The list goes on.

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Photo: Richard Avedon. Copyright: The Richard Avedon Foundation

It is interesting that one of the major accomplish with which he credits Ellington is the fact that he kept a band together for about 50 years. We look back on icons as having wholly successful careers, playing big venues and being generally being showered in adulation for the length of their careers. It’s not really that way, however. The stars – those that have long careers – have down periods. An older Johnny Cash hit a drought that lasted until Rick Rubin rightly recognized his cultural significance and resurrected him. Frank Sinatra had his down period. Louis Armstrong was thought to be out of touch for years. The list goes on.

It’s not that these musicians were not as great as they now are thought to be. It’s that tastes change and leave them behind. A career should be seen in aggregate, which only is possible to do when it is over. This all means that keeping a working band together for five decades a pretty remarkable achievement. Apparently, Ellington’s side job was writing some of the greatest music in American history.

The trend in the 1950s for smaller groups. Jeff pointed out that the Ellington band played ice shows, for instance. In addition to simply finding work, Ellington had to deal with many personalities — some no doubt tempormental — logistics and everything else that comes with running a big and highly mobile organization. The includes money. Ellington had to worry about paying musicians and support staff. The overhead — instruments, the bandstand, transportation and other things — must have been great.

It was another time. The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and others essentially sit in their palaces and wait until the creative or financial spirit moves them. They go on the road and are rewarded spiritually and monetarily. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. They earned it. The fact is, however, that it was much harder back in the day.

Thus, Duke Ellington is a giant for his ability to keep his band together as well as for his music. I’ve purposely not mentioned the music in this intro. Jeff handles that very well.

The Daily Music Break has featured Duke Ellington previously. These include a five song playlist, a version of “Mack the Knife” with Ella Fitzgerald, an excerpt from the movie “Anatomy of a Murder,” a note on the day that “I’m Just a Lucky So and So” was recorded and a performance of “Perdido” alongside Billy Taylor and the great Willie “the Lion” Smith.

Jeff sent some videos of his composition and playing. The site will feature them in the near future.

This video is far closer to Ed Wood than Martin Scorsese. I’m aware of its shortcomings. The audio is unbalanced, there is a bit of choppy editing and the software didn’t accurately switch between Jeff and me. I learned a lot and feel that the finished products will be better in the future. The interviews are fun. The editing process, however, is very frustrating for a beginner.

Our New Things: Links to Music Sites and Info on Analog Tech and Vinyl

TDMB has focused on music and musicians. We will continue to do that, of course. We're also expanding our coverage to include vinyl and analog equipment.

More specifically, we'll look at this huge and interesting world from the perspective of music lovers who want a better experience, not committed non-audiophiles.

Check out is some of what we've written so far:

-- Assessing the Value of Vinyl Records: An Overview

-- 7 Quick Tips on Optimizing Your Turntable Cartridge

-- Why Vinyl Records Continue to Thrive

-- Finding the Best Amplifier

-- Finding the Best Phono Preamp

-- What Speakers Do I Need for My Turntable?

Check out more articles on analog equipment and vinyl.

The site also is home to The Internet Music Mapping Project, an effort to list and describe as many music-related sites as possible.

Our Music

--A Tribe Called Quest to The Dick Hyman Trio (In other words, A to H)

--Indigo Girls to Queen Ida (I to Q)

--Radiohead to ZZ Top (R to Z)

Reading Music

The stories of the great bands and musicians are fascinating. Musicians as a group are brilliant, but often troubled. The combination of creativity and drama makes for great reading.

Here are some books to check out.

Duke Ellington brought class, sophistication and style to jazz which, until that point, was proudly unpolished and raucous. His story is profound. The author, Terry Teachout, also wrote "Pops," the acclaimed bio of Louis Armstrong. Click here or on the image.

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What else is there to say? Here is the story behind every song written by The Beatles. Click here or on the image.

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The Grateful Dead don't get enough credit for the profound nature of its lyrics. Many of the band's songs are driven by a deep and literate Americana ("I'm Uncle Sam/That's who I am/Been hidin' out/In a rock and roll band" and "Majordomo Billy Bojangles/Sit down and have a drink with me/What's this about Alabama/Keeps comin' back to me?").

David Dodd's exhaustive study tells the story, song by song. Click here or on the image.

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