Black, Brown and Beige is an extended jazz work written by Duke Ellington for his first concert at Carnegie Hall, on January 23, 1943. It tells the history of African Americans and was the composer's attempt to transform attitudes about race, elevate American music, specifically jazz, to be seen as on par with classical European music, and challenge America to live up to its founding principles of freedom and equality for all.[1]
Black, the first movement, is divided into three parts: the Work Song; the spiritual Come Sunday; and Light. Brown also has three parts: West Indian Influence (or West Indian Dance); Emancipation Celebration (reworked as Lighter Attitude); and The Blues. Beige depicts "the Afro-American of the 1920s, 30s and World War II" according to Leonard Feather's notes for the 1977 release of the original 1943 performance.
Historyedit
Ellington introduced the piece at Carnegie Hall on January 23, 1943 as "a parallel to the history of the Negro in America."[2] In writing Black, Brown and Beige, Ellington endeavored to create a Jazz composition as sweeping as any classical work, with the following bold statement, "...unhampered by any musical form, in which I intend to protray the experiences of the colored races in America in the syncopated idiom...I am putting all I have learned into it in the hope that I shall have achieved something really worthwhile in the literature of music, and that an authentic record of my race written by a member of it shall be placed on record."[3] At the December 11, 1943 concert at Carnegie Hall, Ellington said, "We thought we wouldn't play it (Black, Brown and Beige) in its entirety tonight because it represents an awfully long and important story and that I don't think too many people are familiar with the story. This is the one we dedicate to the 700 Negroes who came from Haiti to save Savannah during the Revolutionary War",[4] a reference to the Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Domingue who fought at the siege of Savannah.
Music critics, mistakenly judging it by classical music standards, gave the 1943 concert mixed reviews. Ellington responded to critics, saying "Well, I guess they just didn't dig it."[5] He never performed the entire work again, breaking it into shorter excerpts. Ellington reworked a partial version ("Black" only) of the suite for his 1958 album Black, Brown, and Beige, after which "Come Sunday" (featuring Gospel artist Mahalia Jackson on the album's vocal version of that piece) became a jazz standard.[6] The album notes for Wynton Marsalis's 2018 performance states that Black, Brown and Beige has "received its overdue praise with the passage of time."[7]
Black, Brown and Beige (RCA Records, 1988 compilation) - includes 1943 excerpts, the first re-released instances of Black, Brown and Beige segments available on modern commercial recordings[9]
The Private Collection, Vol. 10: Studio Sessions New York & Chicago, 1965, 1966 & 1971 (LMR Records, 1987 release) - a privately recorded revision of the three-movement piece into a nine-part work, and the most complete studio version of the suite. Eight of the nine parts were recorded in 1965; the other, "The Blues," was recorded in 1971 with vocalist Tony Watkins[11]
Black, Brown and Beige (Blue Engine Records, 2020 release) - a live performance of the complete original suite recorded by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in 2018[12]
Referencesedit
^Barbera, Karen (January 25, 2022). Duke Ellington - The Notes The World Is Not Ready To Hear. Estes Park, CO: Armin Lear Press, Inc. pp. 293–294. ISBN978-1-956450-04-0.
^This description also appeared in the original Carnegie Hall program, repr. in Mark Tucker, ed., The Duke Ellington Reader (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1993), 160–165.
^Barbera, Karen (January 25, 2022). Duke Ellington - The Notes The World Was Not Ready To Hear. Estes Park, CO: Armin Lear Press, Inc. p. 35. ISBN978-1-956450-04-0.
^Liner notes Duke Ellington Live at Carnegie Hall, December 11, 1943 Storyville 1038341
^DeVeaux, Scott (1993). "'Black, Brown and Beige' and the Critics". Black Music Research Journal. 13 (2): 125–146. doi:10.2307/779516. JSTOR 779516. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
^Black, Brown & Beige. Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis(PDF) (Media notes). 2018. p. 11. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
^"The Duke Elington Carnegie Hall Concerts, January 1943". Allmusic. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
^"Black, Brown and Beige [RCA Box] – Duke Ellington". Allmusic. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
^"Black, Brown and Beige – Duke Ellington". Allmusic. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
^"The Private Collection, Vol. 10: Studio Sessions, New York & Chicago, 1965, 1966 & 1971 - Duke Ellington". Allmusic. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
^"Black, Brown & Beige". Wynton Marsalis. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
Further readingedit
Burrows, George "Black, Brown and Beige and the politics of Signifyin(g): Towards a critical understanding of Duke Ellington." Jazz research journal, 1 (May 2007): 45-71 ISSN 1753-8637
Gaines, Kevin. "Duke Ellington, Black, Brown, and Beige, and the cultural politics of race" in Radano, Ronald Michael ed., Music and the racial imagination (Chicago, IL, USA : University of Chicago Press, 2000), 585–602.
Tucker, Mark, ed. The Duke Ellington Reader (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1993), 153-204 reprints original 1943 journalistic coverage as well as later analytical articles. ISBN0-19-505410-5
Helen M. Oakley. "Ellington to Offer 'Tone Parallel'" repr. from Down Beat (15 January 1943), 13. Preview of the concert.
Howard Taubman. "The 'Duke' Invades Carnegie Hall." repr. from New York Times Magazine (17 January 1943), 10, 30. Preview of the concert.
Program for the first Carnegie Hall Concert repr. from the Duke Ellington Collection, Smithsonian.
Paul Bowles. "Duke Ellington in Recital for Russian War Relief" repr. from New York Herald-Tribune (25 January 1943). Review of the concert.
Mike Levin. "Duke Fuses Classical and Jazz!" repr. from Down Beat (15 February 1943), 12–13. Review of the concert.
John Hammond. "Is the Duke Deserting Jazz?" repr. from Jazz 1/8 (May 1943), 15, accompanied by Leonard Feather's rebuttal in the same issue, pp. 14 & 20. Bob Thiele continued this discussion with "The Case of Jazz Music" in Jazz 1/9 (July 1943), 19–20.
[Kurt List], review of abridged 1944 Victor recording in Listen 7/6 (April 1946), 13
Robert D. Crowley. "Black, Brown and Beige after 16 Years" Jazz 2 (1959), 98-104.
Brian Priestley and Alan Cohen. "Black, Brown & Beige." Composer 51 (Spring 1974), 33–37; 52 (Summer 1974), 29–32; 53 (Winter 1974-75), 29–32.
Tucker, Mark, ed. Duke Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige, a complete commemorative 50th-anniversary issue of Black music research journal 13/2 (Fall, 1993) ISSN 0276-3605, with articles by:
Mark Tucker, "The genesis of Black, Brown and Beige"
Andrew Homzy, "Black, Brown and Beige in Duke Ellington's repertoire, 1943-1973"
Kurt Dietrich, "The role of trombones in Black, Brown and Beige"
Scott DeVeaux, "Black, Brown and Beige and the critics"
Sief Hoefsmit & Andrew Homzy, "Chronology of Ellington's recordings and performances of Black, Brown and Beige"
Maurice Peress, "My life with Black, Brown and Beige"
Knauer, Wolfram. "Simulated improvisation in Duke Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige." The black perspective in music, 18 (1990): 20–38.
Claude Bolling, Bolling's Orchestra plays Ellington: Black, Brown, and Beige, Frémeaux et associés, FA489, 1990. This is the entire recreation of the suite.
Massagli, Luciano and Volonte, Giovanni. The New Desor: an updated edition of Duke Ellington's Story on Records, 1924-1974, Parts One and Two. 1999, Milan, Italy.
Peress, Maurice (26 February 2004). "Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige". Dvorak to Duke Ellington. Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 171–191. ISBN978-0-19-509822-8.
External linksedit
"Black, Brown, and Beige" about the recreation by Claude Bolling
"Black, Brown, and Beige" Essay by Will Friedwald
"Black, Brown, & Beige" Richard Wang
"Black, Brown, & Beige:Duke Ellington's Historic Jazz Symphony" Indiana Public Media
October 28, 2023
black, brown, beige, albums, 1946, album, 1958, album, extended, jazz, work, written, duke, ellington, first, concert, carnegie, hall, january, 1943, tells, history, african, americans, composer, attempt, transform, attitudes, about, race, elevate, american, m. For the albums see Black Brown and Beige 1946 album and Black Brown and Beige 1958 album Black Brown and Beige is an extended jazz work written by Duke Ellington for his first concert at Carnegie Hall on January 23 1943 It tells the history of African Americans and was the composer s attempt to transform attitudes about race elevate American music specifically jazz to be seen as on par with classical European music and challenge America to live up to its founding principles of freedom and equality for all 1 Black Brown and Beige Song by Duke EllingtonWritten1943GenreJazz symphonyComposer s Duke Ellington Contents 1 Form and characteristics 2 History 3 Recordings 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External linksForm and characteristics editBlack the first movement is divided into three parts the Work Song the spiritual Come Sunday and Light Brown also has three parts West Indian Influence or West Indian Dance Emancipation Celebration reworked as Lighter Attitude and The Blues Beige depicts the Afro American of the 1920s 30s and World War II according to Leonard Feather s notes for the 1977 release of the original 1943 performance History editEllington introduced the piece at Carnegie Hall on January 23 1943 as a parallel to the history of the Negro in America 2 In writing Black Brown and Beige Ellington endeavored to create a Jazz composition as sweeping as any classical work with the following bold statement unhampered by any musical form in which I intend to protray the experiences of the colored races in America in the syncopated idiom I am putting all I have learned into it in the hope that I shall have achieved something really worthwhile in the literature of music and that an authentic record of my race written by a member of it shall be placed on record 3 At the December 11 1943 concert at Carnegie Hall Ellington said We thought we wouldn t play it Black Brown and Beige in its entirety tonight because it represents an awfully long and important story and that I don t think too many people are familiar with the story This is the one we dedicate to the 700 Negroes who came from Haiti to save Savannah during the Revolutionary War 4 a reference to the Chasseurs Volontaires de Saint Domingue who fought at the siege of Savannah Music critics mistakenly judging it by classical music standards gave the 1943 concert mixed reviews Ellington responded to critics saying Well I guess they just didn t dig it 5 He never performed the entire work again breaking it into shorter excerpts Ellington reworked a partial version Black only of the suite for his 1958 album Black Brown and Beige after which Come Sunday featuring Gospel artist Mahalia Jackson on the album s vocal version of that piece became a jazz standard 6 The album notes for Wynton Marsalis s 2018 performance states that Black Brown and Beige has received its overdue praise with the passage of time 7 Recordings editThe Duke Ellington Carnegie Hall Concerts January 1943 Prestige Records a double CD on Prestige 2PCD 304004 2 a recording of the January 23 1943 Carnegie Hall premiere 8 Black Brown and Beige RCA Records 1988 compilation includes 1943 excerpts the first re released instances of Black Brown and Beige segments available on modern commercial recordings 9 Black Brown and Beige Columbia Records 1958 release a partial Black only reworked suite with Mahalia Jackson on vocal 10 The Private Collection Vol 10 Studio Sessions New York amp Chicago 1965 1966 amp 1971 LMR Records 1987 release a privately recorded revision of the three movement piece into a nine part work and the most complete studio version of the suite Eight of the nine parts were recorded in 1965 the other The Blues was recorded in 1971 with vocalist Tony Watkins 11 Black Brown and Beige Blue Engine Records 2020 release a live performance of the complete original suite recorded by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in 2018 12 References edit Barbera Karen January 25 2022 Duke Ellington The Notes The World Is Not Ready To Hear Estes Park CO Armin Lear Press Inc pp 293 294 ISBN 978 1 956450 04 0 This description also appeared in the original Carnegie Hall program repr in Mark Tucker ed The Duke Ellington Reader New York Oxford Univ Press 1993 160 165 Barbera Karen January 25 2022 Duke Ellington The Notes The World Was Not Ready To Hear Estes Park CO Armin Lear Press Inc p 35 ISBN 978 1 956450 04 0 Liner notes Duke Ellington Live at Carnegie Hall December 11 1943 Storyville 1038341 DeVeaux Scott 1993 Black Brown and Beige and the Critics Black Music Research Journal 13 2 125 146 doi 10 2307 779516 JSTOR 779516 Retrieved 5 August 2022 Gioia Ted 2012 The Jazz Standards A Guide to the Repertoire Oxford University Press pp 66 68 ISBN 978 0 19 993739 4 Black Brown amp Beige Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis PDF Media notes 2018 p 11 Retrieved 5 August 2022 The Duke Elington Carnegie Hall Concerts January 1943 Allmusic Retrieved February 8 2021 Black Brown and Beige RCA Box Duke Ellington Allmusic Retrieved February 8 2021 Black Brown and Beige Duke Ellington Allmusic Retrieved February 8 2021 The Private Collection Vol 10 Studio Sessions New York amp Chicago 1965 1966 amp 1971 Duke Ellington Allmusic Retrieved February 3 2022 Black Brown amp Beige Wynton Marsalis Retrieved February 12 2021 Further reading editBurrows George Black Brown and Beige and the politics of Signifyin g Towards a critical understanding of Duke Ellington Jazz research journal 1 May 2007 45 71 ISSN 1753 8637 Gaines Kevin Duke Ellington Black Brown and Beige and the cultural politics of race in Radano Ronald Michael ed Music and the racial imagination Chicago IL USA University of Chicago Press 2000 585 602 Tucker Mark ed The Duke Ellington Reader New York Oxford Univ Press 1993 153 204 reprints original 1943 journalistic coverage as well as later analytical articles ISBN 0 19 505410 5 Helen M Oakley Ellington to Offer Tone Parallel repr from Down Beat 15 January 1943 13 Preview of the concert Howard Taubman The Duke Invades Carnegie Hall repr from New York Times Magazine 17 January 1943 10 30 Preview of the concert Program for the first Carnegie Hall Concert repr from the Duke Ellington Collection Smithsonian Paul Bowles Duke Ellington in Recital for Russian War Relief repr from New York Herald Tribune 25 January 1943 Review of the concert Mike Levin Duke Fuses Classical and Jazz repr from Down Beat 15 February 1943 12 13 Review of the concert John Hammond Is the Duke Deserting Jazz repr from Jazz 1 8 May 1943 15 accompanied by Leonard Feather s rebuttal in the same issue pp 14 amp 20 Bob Thiele continued this discussion with The Case of Jazz Music in Jazz 1 9 July 1943 19 20 Kurt List review of abridged 1944 Victor recording in Listen 7 6 April 1946 13 Robert D Crowley Black Brown and Beige after 16 Years Jazz 2 1959 98 104 Brian Priestley and Alan Cohen Black Brown amp Beige Composer 51 Spring 1974 33 37 52 Summer 1974 29 32 53 Winter 1974 75 29 32 Tucker Mark ed Duke Ellington s Black Brown and Beige a complete commemorative 50th anniversary issue of Black music research journal 13 2 Fall 1993 ISSN 0276 3605 with articles by Mark Tucker The genesis of Black Brown and Beige Andrew Homzy Black Brown and Beige in Duke Ellington s repertoire 1943 1973 Kurt Dietrich The role of trombones in Black Brown and Beige Scott DeVeaux Black Brown and Beige and the critics Sief Hoefsmit amp Andrew Homzy Chronology of Ellington s recordings and performances of Black Brown and Beige Maurice Peress My life with Black Brown and Beige Knauer Wolfram Simulated improvisation in Duke Ellington s Black Brown and Beige The black perspective in music 18 1990 20 38 Claude Bolling Bolling s Orchestra plays Ellington Black Brown and Beige Fremeaux et associes FA489 1990 This is the entire recreation of the suite Massagli Luciano and Volonte Giovanni The New Desor an updated edition of Duke Ellington s Story on Records 1924 1974 Parts One and Two 1999 Milan Italy Peress Maurice 26 February 2004 Ellington s Black Brown and Beige Dvorak to Duke Ellington Oxford University Press USA pp 171 191 ISBN 978 0 19 509822 8 External links edit Black Brown and Beige about the recreation by Claude Bolling Black Brown and Beige Essay by Will Friedwald Black Brown amp Beige Richard Wang Black Brown amp Beige Duke Ellington s Historic Jazz Symphony Indiana Public Media Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Black Brown and Beige amp oldid 1150028179, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
