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Harry Carney
. Born April 1910, Boston, Massachusetts, Carney began his professional musical career at the age of 13, playing clarinet and later the alto and baritone saxophone in Boston bands. Among his childhood friends were Johnny Hodges and Charlie Holmes, with whom he visited New York in 1927. Carney played at the Savoy Ballroom with Fess Williams before joining Duke Ellington, who was about to play in the young musician's home town, when this engagement was over Carney left for a tour with Ellington, who had taken on the role of guardian.
The job with Ellington lasted until Duke's death 47 years later. Shortly after joining Ellington, Carney was persuaded to play alto saxophone but soon gravitated to the baritone, an instrument he proceeded to make his own. Carney's rich sonority became an essential element in Ellington's tonal palette and for decades listeners gloried in the full-throated lower register which, in a band brimming with individualists, had a character all its own. Nevertheless, despite his virtuosity on the baritone, Carney would take up the clarinet on frequent occasions to show he was truly a master of the reed instruments. Carney played the instrument with a massive tone and direct style. He was an excellent, melodic soloist and anchored the sound of the sax section.
Carney's relationship with Ellington transcended that of musician and leader; he was Ellington's confidante and for decades he drove the Duke from gig to gig. The closeness of their relationship was underlined by Carney when he said: ‘It's not only been an education being with him but also a great pleasure. At times I've been ashamed to take the money.’ After Ellington's death, at the end of May 1974, Carney said, ‘Without Duke I have nothing to live for.’ He died a little over four months later. Source: James Nadal
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The Duke Ellington Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1943
by Chuck Lenatti
Duke Ellington was one of the most popular and successful jazz musicians of the first half of the 20th century and according to composer Gunther Schuller and musicologist and historian Barry Kernfeld, the most significant composer of the genre." Radio broadcasts from his residency at New York's Cotton Club beginning in 1927 extended Ellington's orchestra's national exposure and a parade of hit records, from East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" in 1926 to C Jam Blues" in 1942, among many ...
Continue ReadingDuke Ellington: Copenhagen 1958
by Ken Dryden
Duke Ellington left a formidable discography at his death at the age of 75 in 1974, and it has expanded greatly with the number of concerts that have been uncovered and issued since then. This CD is drawn from two 1958 concerts at KB Hallen in Copenhagen, though they are not sourced from the original, long lost broadcast tapes, but dubs evidently made by a fan. What makes this a valuable find is that the band is in top form ...
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