HELP! The Beatles, Duke Ellington, and the Magic of Collaboration
Thomas Brothers
(W.W. Norton & Company)
This book about Ellington and the Beatles on the surface is about musical collaboration but a key theme is the denigration of Ellington. Of course, Ellington collaborated with his musicians. In some cases, he made their ideas into rich orchestral music in ways that they could not have achieved. The downgrading of Ellington follows on from the Terry Teachout book on Ellington and is merely a rehash of the Teachout conclusions. David Hajdu wrote a well researched book detailing the work of Billy Strayhorn who some thought had not been awarded what he deserved.
Throughout the Brothers’ book the criticisms of Ellington are relentless, portraying him as a kind of musical shyster, even referring to him ‘a failed tunesmith’.
Ellington’s main collaborator was Billy Strayhorn who entered the Ellington orbit in 1939. The Strayhorn-Ellington relationship is both complex and mutually beneficial. Ellington provided Strayhorn with financial security and an orchestra that would feature his work. and throughout their lives Ellington acknowledged Strayhorn’s contribution repeatedly. Ellington wrote: ‘Billy Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine.’ Strayhorn for a time worked on his own but his efforts attracted little attention.
Ellington was completely unlike any other composer. He felt it was a necessary part of his musical life to be surrounded by his orchestra so that he could hear his compositions as soon as he had written them. The collaboration between Ellington and the musicians who were with him for long periods is probably unparalleled in musical history. Instead of celebrating all that, Brothers seems to imply that Ellington was guilty of musical theft on a grand scale.
An interesting sidelight, related in the David Hajdu book on Strayhorn, came from the trombone player Billy Byers who in 1960 worked with Strayhorn and Ellington in Paris on their second film score ‘Paris Blues’. Byers ended up spending most of his time with Strayhorn. ‘Duke worked all the time. He was a very organized man. Every day he got up and wrote for about four hours, no matter how late he had been up…Billy's role was this; he did what he could when he could. But he was always out getting drunk in the Mars Club…After working and living with him like that, so closely, my perception of Ellington and Strayhorn completely reversed. It turned upside down…I had always understood that Duke was a free, creative spirit and a bon vivant, and I had always pictured him with a bottle of champagne in one arm and a blonde in the other, gliding through the club car and saying to Stray, "I just got an inspiration: DA DA DA-DA, DA DA [The opening melody of the lyric "missed the Saturday dance"]! Go and do something with it.' Nothing could have been further from the truth. It turned out that Strays was the indulgent artist and Ellington was the professional; Ellington worked like a dog, and Strayhorn was the playboy. He was drunk and hanging out all the time…Duke kept Strayhorn around knowing the output might be small and getting smaller, but wanting it all.’
After Strayhorn’s death, a period not dealt with by Brothers, Ellington produced: The Latin American Suite, The Togo Brava suite, The Goutelas Suite, The Degas Suite, The River, The New Orleans Suite and numerous single pieces like the wonderful La Plus Belle Africaine.. Ellington’s writing style in those pieces was rather like his piano playing hard edged.
Undoubtedly, it is an interesting wheeze to compare Ellington and the Beatles. As a marketing concept it has much to recommend it but as an intellectual proposition it is incoherent. Creativity works in mysterious ways. Lennon and McCartney gained from each other. The acidity of Lennon was balanced by the popular sentimentality of McCartney. The Beatles existed from 1960 to 1970. Ellington as a creative force worked from 1924 to 1974. All that time he lead an orchestra of virtuosi touring across the world.
Final thought: how many Shakespeare plots are original? As Picasso noted ‘Good artists copy; great artists steal.’
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
Thomas Brothers
(W.W. Norton & Company)
This book about Ellington and the Beatles on the surface is about musical collaboration but a key theme is the denigration of Ellington. Of course, Ellington collaborated with his musicians. In some cases, he made their ideas into rich orchestral music in ways that they could not have achieved. The downgrading of Ellington follows on from the Terry Teachout book on Ellington and is merely a rehash of the Teachout conclusions. David Hajdu wrote a well researched book detailing the work of Billy Strayhorn who some thought had not been awarded what he deserved.
Throughout the Brothers’ book the criticisms of Ellington are relentless, portraying him as a kind of musical shyster, even referring to him ‘a failed tunesmith’.
Ellington’s main collaborator was Billy Strayhorn who entered the Ellington orbit in 1939. The Strayhorn-Ellington relationship is both complex and mutually beneficial. Ellington provided Strayhorn with financial security and an orchestra that would feature his work. and throughout their lives Ellington acknowledged Strayhorn’s contribution repeatedly. Ellington wrote: ‘Billy Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine.’ Strayhorn for a time worked on his own but his efforts attracted little attention.
Ellington was completely unlike any other composer. He felt it was a necessary part of his musical life to be surrounded by his orchestra so that he could hear his compositions as soon as he had written them. The collaboration between Ellington and the musicians who were with him for long periods is probably unparalleled in musical history. Instead of celebrating all that, Brothers seems to imply that Ellington was guilty of musical theft on a grand scale.
An interesting sidelight, related in the David Hajdu book on Strayhorn, came from the trombone player Billy Byers who in 1960 worked with Strayhorn and Ellington in Paris on their second film score ‘Paris Blues’. Byers ended up spending most of his time with Strayhorn. ‘Duke worked all the time. He was a very organized man. Every day he got up and wrote for about four hours, no matter how late he had been up…Billy's role was this; he did what he could when he could. But he was always out getting drunk in the Mars Club…After working and living with him like that, so closely, my perception of Ellington and Strayhorn completely reversed. It turned upside down…I had always understood that Duke was a free, creative spirit and a bon vivant, and I had always pictured him with a bottle of champagne in one arm and a blonde in the other, gliding through the club car and saying to Stray, "I just got an inspiration: DA DA DA-DA, DA DA [The opening melody of the lyric "missed the Saturday dance"]! Go and do something with it.' Nothing could have been further from the truth. It turned out that Strays was the indulgent artist and Ellington was the professional; Ellington worked like a dog, and Strayhorn was the playboy. He was drunk and hanging out all the time…Duke kept Strayhorn around knowing the output might be small and getting smaller, but wanting it all.’
After Strayhorn’s death, a period not dealt with by Brothers, Ellington produced: The Latin American Suite, The Togo Brava suite, The Goutelas Suite, The Degas Suite, The River, The New Orleans Suite and numerous single pieces like the wonderful La Plus Belle Africaine.. Ellington’s writing style in those pieces was rather like his piano playing hard edged.
Undoubtedly, it is an interesting wheeze to compare Ellington and the Beatles. As a marketing concept it has much to recommend it but as an intellectual proposition it is incoherent. Creativity works in mysterious ways. Lennon and McCartney gained from each other. The acidity of Lennon was balanced by the popular sentimentality of McCartney. The Beatles existed from 1960 to 1970. Ellington as a creative force worked from 1924 to 1974. All that time he lead an orchestra of virtuosi touring across the world.
Final thought: how many Shakespeare plots are original? As Picasso noted ‘Good artists copy; great artists steal.’
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
