Duke Ellington Still Great As Ever at 72

by Marilyn Nason, The Post-Star, July 2, 1971

Duke Ellington simply can’t be 72 years old.

The way he played, danced, clowned, sang, conducted, quipped and moved about the vast stage of Saratoga Performing Arts Center last night defies his age.

And what a tremendous evening it was for the nearly 1,200 attending the more than three hour concert. Everything that has made Ellington famous and honored around the world was there in full measure. All his greatest songs, ones that have become an established part of the American heritage of the finest contemporary music were offered.

Many were in the style of their original writing, but others were offered in a new-as-tomorrow rock jazz styling, with an ample portion of the big band sound throughout.

Biggest of All

The stage was alive with the 16 musicians, Ellington and his two vocalists, and Duke seemed to be having the biggest ball of all.

He conducts in a thorouğhly unorthodox fashion—sometimes sitting at the piano totally engrossed in his playing, other times standing directly in front leading in true Sammy Kaye fashion and, then again, breaking into a delightful shuffle dance step taking him across the front of the stage. But the nodding of the head keyed the musicians to each tune. The full, rich, famed Ellington sound was wonderful, not over-amplified, and what a joy to hear the melody for a change.

He played encore after encore and the audience would have been happy to have him stay for breakfast. It was that kind of an adulation crowd.

No slouch in the sartorial department either, the tall, handsome Duke first wore a pale blue suit, matching shirt, and white string tie, then, for the second half, changed to blue striped belled pants, red jacket, navy shirt and tasseled tie. And, get this, long hair hanging generously over the back of his jacket collar!

Many of his musicians offered solos, but certainly the best was the ageless Cootie Williams on trumpet with “Take The A Train.”

Latest Addition

Duke’s humor was much in evidence throughout the evening, especially at the outset. He introduced the band, then said, “And here’s the latest addition to our group, our piano player.” At that, he dashed to the piano just in time for the spotlight to turn on him and this brought down the house.

This Washington, D.C., native, often referred to as “The Greatest Living Practitioner of the art of top hat jazz,” was truly a phenomenon. He introduced song after song he had written over the decades and the sheer preponderance of these tunes became almost impossible to believe emanating from a single man.

Tonight at 8:30 it’s a return engagement for Al Hirt.