I rarely pass along promotional announcements, but this one is too intriguing not to deserve an exception.
STANLEY CROUCH, GEORGE AVAKIAN AND MICHAEL JAMES WITH CHRISTOPHER LYDON TONIGHT AT 7 PM (EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME) TO DISCUSS DUKE ELLINGTON, NEWPORT JAZZ AND THE AMERICAN CENTURY
On Open Source On WGBH 89.7
Open Source airs Monday through Thursday from 7pm-8 pm on WGBH 89.7 and streams at wgbh.org/listen
On July 7, 1956, Duke Ellington played the Newport Jazz Festival. Paul Gonsalves soloed for six minutes on “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue,” the crowd exploded, an album was cut and our century – the American century, the Jazz century – found its high point. Christopher Lydon says, “Fifty summers after the Newport Suite and Paul Gonzalves’ 27 choruses of blues, we’re going savor a golden moment in American life with (music critic and author) Stanley Crouch; the Columbia record producer George Avakian; the Newport impresario then and now, George Wein; and with Duke Ellington’s ever-eloquent and all-witnessing nephew Michael James.”
Crouch, Avakian and James are articulate men of, shall we say, firm opinions. Lydon is a skilled interviewer. It would be surprising if they were boring on the subject of Ellington.