Decades After His Death, Music of Duke Ellington Lives On

By Mike Mooney, The Modesto Bee, Calif.

Feb. 29–For Barrie Lee Hall, performing the music of Duke Ellington is akin to a ministry.

“This music is soothing and fills the void,” said Hall, a trumpet player, music teacher and frontman for the Duke Ellington Orchestra. “A good church does the same thing.”

Though Ellington died more than 30 years ago, his music remains very much alive, thanks in large part to the efforts of Hall and other members of the Ellington ensemble.

The group will make its way to Modesto for a Thursday eveningperformance at the Gallo Center for the Arts.

Led by Ellington’s grandson Paul Mercer Ellington, the band plays Duke’s original charts — a musical road map for much of 20th-century America.

Last year, the orchestra traveled to four continents, bringing the music of Duke Ellington to enthusiastic crowds. The group was featured at the Tokyo Jazz Festival, as well as the Cape May Jazz Festival — one of the longest-running jazz festivals in the U.S.

Hall, 58, joined the Ellington Orchestra in 1973, making him a member of the last version of the group led by Duke.

Duke, born Edward Kennedy Ellington, died in 1974.

After his passing, Duke’s son, Mercer Ellington, assumed leadership of the band.

He led the group until his death in February 1996.

Hall said he sometimes starts to feel his age when Paul Ellington is leading the band.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I used to help diaper him.”

Hall, who also leads the Ellington group on occasion, has an extensive background in gospel music. He is a former music director of the Liberty Baptist Church in Houston.

In 2001, Hall conducted Ellington’s “Sacred Concert” with the orchestra and a 200-voice choir.

“I would love to see Ellington’s sacred works done more in the church,” he said in a recent interview with The Bee. “I have done this piece when Duke was living and it has always been powerful. It ministers to people.”

But Hall sees the same effect in Ellington’s more familiar jazz compositions, songs like “Mood Indigo,”"Sophisticated Lady,” Satin Doll,”"Take the A-Train” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If it Ain’t Got that Swing).”

At every venue, Hall said, someone is hearing Ellington’s music for the first time.

“They love it,” he said. “This music cuts across all ages. People are touched by this music. We’ve got to carry it on.”

Hall said he’s not sure which songs will be on the band’s set list when it plays the Gallo Center next week. After all, Ellington penned thousands of compositions during his lifetime.

“There are a few (signature Ellington songs) we always do,” he said. “But it’s nice to do a few people may not have heard before. We’ve got about 2,000 to choose from.”

Among the featured performers in the Ellington Orchestra is alto saxophonist Charlie Young.

Young has been a featured soloist with the Virginia Beach Symphony, leads his own quintet and has performed with the Count Basie Orchestra, as well as a slew of jazz greats, including Ella Fitzgerald and Clark Terry.

“It’s a great band,” Hall said.

But its power is derived from Ellington’s music.

“I remember a solo I played in Baltimore,” Hall said. “After the concert, a lady and her daughter wanted to meet me. The lady was crying. She explained to me how it had touched her.”

Later, Hall said he learned the woman was terminally ill.

“The relevance of that for me,” he said, “is that we never know who’s in the audience or what they’re going through.”

That’s one of things keeping Hall and the others going. The other, of course, is the music itself.

“This is the music of Duke Ellington,” he said. “I never get tired of doing it.”

Bee staff writer Mike Mooney can be reached at mmooney@modbee.com or 578-2384.

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Copyright (c) 2008, The Modesto Bee, Calif.

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