Duke                                    Mercedes                            Mercer

Duke Ellington produced a staggering amount of music in his lifetime.

His constant fascination, even to an obsessive degree, was with creating not only the melodies and lyrics but also the scenarios.

In order to facilitate his ‘habit’, he took the band into the recording studio as often as possible and constantly traveled with a piano.  There was always a piano in his hotel room.  There was even an upright piano ay the foot of his deathbed in the hospital.

Forward and back, forward and back: exploring with new tunes, revisiting tunes and rhythms he’d already written.  However, when asked which of his compositions he favored, he’d reply: “The next one…….”  I remember when we went to Russia in the early 1970’s, he requested a copy of Tchaikovsky’s original score of The Nutcracker Suite.  It is my belief that he intended to complete or at the very least, augment his own version of the same.  The Ellington/Strayhorn scores primarily reflect the variations from the second act.

We, The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts, are on a mission to develop these compositions into multi-disciplinary theatrical presentations, to be performed in many types of venues.  Following the example set by Ellington himself, a great deal can be learned by revisiting these compositions with theatrical treatments.

Love You Madly, 

Mercedes