Search the Community

A couple of years ago I did five big-band programs based on Duke Ellington's 1945 Treasury shows. These were weekly broadcasts that Ellington did for the U.S. government to help sell war bonds; they were called "Your Saturday Date With the Duke," and they were often done while Duke was on the road somewhere. The music is a mix of contemporary pop hits, staples from the Ellington songbook, and Ellington/Strayhorn compositions that sometimes were never (or rarely) performed or recorded again. (Previous Organissimo discussion of the Treasury shows here. Generally the band did two, three, or four numbers, and then the MC and/or Duke made a pitch to buy war bonds. The programs I did were distillations from 4 CDs' worth of broadcasts, presented with some background about the times and the music, each one representing a month's worth of shows (these were done as 60th-anniversary commemorations for the end of World War II). Yesterday I posted April 1945 and today I posted Duke Ellington Treasury Shows May 1945. Over the next three days I'll post June, July, and August 1945. Still hoping that Storyville will resume/finish the D.E.T.S. series (they're halfway through but have slowed significantly--owing, I'd imagine, to Karl Emil Knudsen's passing away).