Portrait of Mercer Ellington, Part I (Podcast #24-002)

“At Columbia University’s New College, where I was studying engineering, my instructors constantly inquired whether I had written any songs. I was persuaded to sit down and play several of my compositions for them. Next they demanded why I wasn’t studying music formally. Their insistence convinced me that I ought to take a try.”

Mercer Ellington, Negro Digest, May 1951

https://ellingtonreflectionsdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/portrait-of-mercer-ellington-part-i.mp3

Mercer Kennedy Ellington

Mercer Ellington can be seen briefly as part of one of the dancing couples in this 1941 video  

 

 

 

 

 

The recordings heard on this podcast episode:

Jumpin’ Punkins / Moon Mist (LP: “The Hollywood Bowl Concert” Unique Jazz UJ-001)

Recorded 31 August 1947 Live at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles

Shelton Hemphill, Dud Bascomb, Francis Williams, Harold Baker – trumpets; Ray Nance – trumpet, violin; Lawrence Brown, Claude Jones, Tyree Glenn – trombones; Jimmy Hamilton, Russell Procope, Johnny Hodges, Al Sears, Harry Carney – reeds; Duke Ellington – piano; Fred Guy – guitar; Oscar Pettiford – bass; Sonny Greer – drums.

He Should’a flip’d when he flop’d (CD: “Cootie Williams and his Orchestra 1945-1946” Classics 981)

Recorded 29 January 1946, New York City

Cootie Williams, Bob Merrill, Ermit V. Perry, George Treadwell, Billy Ford, Gene Redd – trumpet; Ed Burke, Bob Horton, Edward “Jack Raggs” Johnson – trombone; Rupert Cole, John Jackson– alto sax; Everett Gaines, Sam Taylor – tenor sax; Bob Ashton – baritone sax; Arnold Jarvis – piano; Sam “Christopher” Allen – guitar; Norman Keenan – bass; Butch Ballard – drums, Johnny Mercer – vocal.

— Our closing music—-

It’s Something You Ought To Know (Paul Gonsalves – “Ellingtonia Moods and Blues,” RCA Victor / RCA63562)

Recorded 29 February 1960, New York City

Paul Gonsalves- tenor sax; Johnny Hodges – alto sax; Ray Nance – cornet; Mitchell “Booty” Wood – trombone; Jimmy Jones – piano; Al Hall – bass; Oliver Jackson – drums.