"When Betty Met the Duke" tonight on Night Lights

[ghost of miles]

This week on Night Lights it’s “When Betty Met the Duke.” “Betty Roche was an unforgettable singer,” Duke Ellington wrote of his former vocalist in 1973. “She never sounded like anybody but Betty Roche.” Roche, the so-called “blues specialist” whom some consider to be one of the best vocalists Ellington ever had, replaced the popular Ivie Anderson in Ellington’s band in late 1942, just as the American Federation of Musicians ban on commercial recordings was about to take effect; it was the first of several bad breaks that gave her an undeserved low profile on records. In this program we’ll hear nearly all of the live, transcription, and studio recordings that Roche did with Ellington, including her landmark performance of “The Blues” from Ellington’s famous January 1943 Black, Brown and Beige concert at Carnegie Hall; her 1952 scat-vocal interpretation of “Take the ‘A’ Train”, and broadcasts from the Hurricane nightclub in New York City. We’ll also hear Roche with Earl Hines and some Ellingtonians in 1944, as well as her post-Duke solo takes on “Rocks In My Bed” and “All Too Soon.” “When Betty Met the Duke” airs Saturday, September 30 at 11:05 p.m. on WFIU and at 10 p.m. Central Time on WNIN. It can also be heard at 10 p.m. EST Sunday evening on Michigan's Blue Lake Public Radio.

Next week: "1959" on WFIU & WNIN; "The Jazz Scene" on Blue Lake

[alocispepraluger102]

This week on Night Lights it’s “When Betty Met the Duke.” “Betty Roche was an unforgettable singer,” Duke Ellington wrote of his former vocalist in 1973. “She never sounded like anybody but Betty Roche.” Roche, the so-called “blues specialist” whom some consider to be one of the best vocalists Ellington ever had, replaced the popular Ivie Anderson in Ellington’s band in late 1942, just as the American Federation of Musicians ban on commercial recordings was about to take effect; it was the first of several bad breaks that gave her an undeserved low profile on records. In this program we’ll hear nearly all of the live, transcription, and studio recordings that Roche did with Ellington, including her landmark performance of “The Blues” from Ellington’s famous January 1943 Black, Brown and Beige concert at Carnegie Hall; her 1952 scat-vocal interpretation of “Take the ‘A’ Train”, and broadcasts from the Hurricane nightclub in New York City. We’ll also hear Roche with Earl Hines and some Ellingtonians in 1944, as well as her post-Duke solo takes on “Rocks In My Bed” and “All Too Soon.” “When Betty Met the Duke” airs Saturday, September 30 at 11:05 p.m. on WFIU and at 10 p.m. Central Time on WNIN. It can also be heard at 10 p.m. EST Sunday evening on Michigan's Blue Lake Public Radio.

Next week: "1959" on WFIU & WNIN; "The Jazz Scene" on Blue Lake

cant wait!

[ghost of miles]

"When Betty Met the Duke" is now archived. Special thanks again to Pete B & to Michael McGerr for providing several hard-to-find recordings.

[ghost of miles]

We are getting ready to re-air this program next weekend (you can already listen online to the archived version), but I had to revive the thread right now because I just found something I'd been looking for:

Betty Roche & Ellington band do "A Train" from 1943 film REVEILLE WITH BEVERLY

Couldn't find this last autumn when I was working on the show... not sure the film has ever been released on VHS or DVD. The site linked to above posted it about five months ago... it's set on a train, and Betty Roche has a hip, swingin' appearance (with members of the band backing her on vocals). Any viewing of the early-1940s Ellington orchestra tends to induce religious-like feelings of ecstasy in me (I'm not kidding) and to see Betty Roche pop out from behind the passenger-car curtains just sent me.

I've posted the video link on the archived show page as well.

[JSngry]

And Ray Nance looking like he just came from a Greek Show!

Edited July 16, 2007 by JSngry

[Larry Kart]

Great stuff. Also, I had no idea that Roche's phrasing and timbre were that boppishly plastic back in '43. Sounds like she and Sarah Vaughan were thinking along related lines at the same time, when before I thought that Sassy was the progenitor. But then the quality of Roche's voice was so unusual that it's hard to imagine how she could have sounded otherwise.

[AllenLowe]

wow - that's the kind of stuff that makes me want to go back and revise Devilin Tune - also like Duke's block chords -

[ghost of miles]

Great stuff. Also, I had no idea that Roche's phrasing and timbre were that boppishly plastic back in '43.

Yes, & finally seeing this clip surprised me--when I was researching the show last autumn, this version of "A Train" was described as being much more straightahead than the 1952 Roche/Duke recording... but the boppish approach is already there, you're right.

Is this the first vocal version of "A Train"? I'll have to take a look at ELLINGTON DAY BY DAY FILM BY FILM when I get home, but I think it might be.

[ghost of miles]

DAY BY DAY & FILM BY FILM (which has an extensive section on REVEILLE WITH BEVERLY) says the recording was made on the morning of Oct. 8, 1942, with filming to playback taking place that afternoon. Evidently the trio backing was a reprise of something they'd done with Ivie Anderson in the 1937 movie HIT PARADE, even employing two of the same band members (Stewart and Carney), with Ray Nance replacing Hayes Alvis in the later film. Stratemann implies that this is indeed the first vocal treatment of "A Train," and that Nance took over subsequent vocal versions after Roche left the band in 1944. It seems to have been played most often as an instrumental during this period, however, since Duke was already using it as his theme.

[ghost of miles]

Up for broadcast tonight at 11:05 on WFIU and at 9 p.m Central Time on WNIN; also tomorrow night at 10 p.m. on Blue Lake Public Radio. Already available for online listening.