Ellington Plays the Cathedral
Diocesan Press Service. February 6, 1968 [62-2]
Great jazz and crowds - these were the impressions one came away with after hearing the premier of A Sacred Concert presented by Duke Ellington Friday, Jan. 19 at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York City.
The program, a benefit for Exodus House, a rehabilitation center for narcotics addicts, provided more than good music. As Duke Ellington wrote in his introduction to the program, "I think of myself as a messenger boy, one who tries to bring messages to people, not people who have never heard of God, but those who were more or less raised with the guidance of the Church."
A crowd of 7500, as varied as the population of New York, was there to hear the message of God's greatness, the joy of praising God, and freedom, conveyed in the Duke's own manner.
Fittingly, the organ prelude was entitled "Praise Him in the Sound of the Trumpet" and the opening theme, "Praise God," The prelude featured the Cathedral Church organist, Alec Wyton; and Harry Carney of Duke Ellington's orchestra soloed the opening theme.
The Duke, dressed in a light tan suit with pink shirt and matching string tie, then led his orchestra into "99 ½% Won't Do," featuring Jimmy McPhail as vocalist.
The slow, easy pace of the first two numbers changed drastically with "Supreme Being." This "section of cacophony representing the scene before the Supreme Being created order" featured the choirs of the A. M. E. Mother Zion Church, St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's School and the men of the Cathedral Choir. These choirs spoke rather than sang and several members of St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's school had solo parts.
Although the beginning of the concert was slow, and could have been tightened up, the Duke reached his pace with "Something About Believing," "Almighty God," and "Heaven", and maintained it thereafter. The latter two numbers featured the voice of Miss Alice Babs, a soprano from Sweden, whose quality of voice, control and range made her the vocal highlight of the concert, She sang solo, as part of a group, and in a later piece, T. G. T. T. (Too Good To Title) functioned as an instrument.
A long selection "It's Freedom" dealt joyously with this theme which had already been indirectly introduced. It employed all parts of the company and included a particularly catchy segment "Freedom is Sweet, Fat and That," suggested by Willie "The Lion" Smith, a colleague of Ellington's who worked with him during his early days in New York. In another of the number's eight segments Ellington paid tribute to Billy Strayhorn, his arranger and co-composer, who died last spring.
"Meditation" featured the Duke at the piano, accompanied by Jeff Castleman on bass, "Don't Get Down on Your Knees to Pray Until You Have Forgiven Everyone", which incorporated the litany "Father Forgive," used in Coventry Cathedral, featured the voice of Tony Watkins. "The Shepherd (Who Watches over the Night Flock)" was dedicated to Pastor Gensel, a Lutheran clergyman who ministers to the jazz community, and featured Cootie Williams on trumpet.
The percussion section of the Ellington orchestra then had its chance in "The Biggest and Busiest Intersection," described as "a fire and brimstone sermonette telling of that last intersection before the gate. "
After T.G.T.T., already mentioned, the entire company joined with dancers to perform "Praise God and Dance." The dancers were divided into two groups--one in white costumes doing modern interpretative dancing and the other in multicolor costumes doing a very stylized dance. The dance began at the main crossing where the band was located, and proceeded down the main aisle. The choreography made effective use of limited space but it was impossible to see the entire dance from any one location.
The acoustics in the Cathedral Church were not ideal and, as a result, the words of the choirs were not understandable, but the quality of the music was undeniable.
The concert was a sequel to that introduced at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, and performed in major churches, cathedrals and temples in the United States and abroad.