Duke Ellington Celebration

The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, the Friends of Jazz at UCLA, the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, and the UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology present a celebration honoring the music of Duke Ellington on Monday, April 29, 2013 in Schoenberg Hall on the UCLA campus. It also celebrates 35 years of Ellingtonia, the first regular college course on Duke Ellington in the United States and the world, created and taught at UCLA by Kenny Burrell.

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The events for the day will feature a lecture, panel discussion, and concert focusing on the many contributions of Duke Ellington. Grammy-award winning musician and UCLA Ethnomusicology professor Kenny Burrell will deliver a lecture entitled “The Magic and Mystery of Ellingtonia.” The lecture will be followed by a panel of distinguished faculty and musicians discussing the legacy of Ellington. Before the concert starting at 7:00 PM, the Friends of Jazz at UCLA will host a reception (for information about the reception, please contact 310-206-6468 or email events@arts.ucla.edu).  The concert, lecture, and panel are free of charge. Due to space limitations for the concert, seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.  Free tickets will be issued beginning at 6:00 PM on the day of the event.

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and big-band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions. In the opinion of Bob Blumenthal of The Boston Globe, “[i]n the century since his birth, there has been no greater composer, American or otherwise, than Edward Kennedy Ellington.” A major figure in the history of jazz, Ellington’s music stretched into various other genres, including bluesgospelfilm scores,popular, and classical. His career spanned more than 50 years and included leading his orchestra, composing an inexhaustible songbook, scoring for movies, composing stage musicals, and world tours. Several of his instrumental works were adapted into songs that became standards. Due to his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, and thanks to his eloquence and extraordinary charisma, he is generally considered to have elevated the perception of jazz to an art form on a par with other traditional genres of music. His reputation increased after his death and the Pulitzer Prize Board bestowed on him a special posthumous honor in 1999.

Please call 310-825-5947 or visit http://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu or www.friendsofjazz.ucla.edu for more information.  All-day parking ($11) and short-term parking (payable at pay stations) are available in Lots 2, 3 or 4 (enter the campus at Hilgard and Westholme avenue.)