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State of Mind
Independence Day is the concentrated celebration of American independence from British Rule. With the passage of time there is no thought of return to colonial rule, at least in the USA. So, this holiday reminds us where we have come from AND inspires us to celebrate many personal and immediate present day freedoms. Keep reading »
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De Cadi a New Orleans a la Montreal
We played an experimental and fun concert last night to open the 30th Montreal Jazz Festival. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra was joined by the great Spanish pianist Chano Dominguez and his group. We performed movements from my 'Vitoria Suite' written for the great jazz festival in that city in the Basque region of Spain and a 20 minute piece of Chano's entitled 'De Cadi a New Orleans'. Keep reading »
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Crossover to What? (Part I)
In reflecting on the tragic and sudden death of Michael Jackson and the narrative that has emerged, I am compelled to make some observations to sweeten the pot of opinions that feed this democratic dialogue. I spoke to Mr. Jackson once in the 1980's by telephone in the offices of Sony Records. He asked if I would like to open on his family tour. Keep reading »
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Transcript from the Q&A on June 24th
In case you weren't able to join me for the Q&A, here are the questions and the answers I gave. Keep reading »
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And the Band Played On
This is a busy week. Over the weekend we drove to Evanston, IL for the commencement of Northwestern University. After working on the commencement address for several days and nights, rain necessitated the reading of the first and last pages only. Keep reading »
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Our brother Ellis “commanded” the stage
The Duke Ellington Jazz Festival presented my father with a lifetime achievement award on Monday night. The festival touches all corners of Washington, DC from the spacious outside mall to small neighborhood restaurants and clubs and the venerated concert stages of the Kennedy Center. Almost our entire family was there, all the brothers, wives and children. Keep reading »
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The House of people
Yesterday was a full, beautiful day. We participated in education events at the White House luminously hosted by Michelle Obama. Three rooms of the house were filled with ecstatic students and first-class educators. In one quarter, Professor Massey of the famed Foxboro High School in Massachusetts conducted Davey Yarborough's Duke Ellington School of the Arts in a clinic on Duke's great music with the assistance from the exuberant virtuoso Sean Jones. Keep reading »
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Daily Doses: “How I’m gon’ be mad at a kid with freckles?”
I had the good fortune to work with the middle school band at a Kindergarten through 12th grade school on the lower east side of Manhattan imaginatively named "New Explorations into Science, Technology and Math". Keep reading »
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Daily Doses ... (part 2)
These are some of the things I love most about writing a serious and involved piece of music. Keep reading »
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Daily Doses… (part 1)
This morning author Stanley Crouch addressed the staff of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He spoke about the specifics of the art of jazz and the importance of human substance in a technological age. Keep reading »