Ellington Tributes Swinging Into High Gear This Year

Last year was the year of Gershwin, celebrated far and wide with concerts, tributes and festivals acknowledging the 100th birthday of one of America’s most widely heard composers.

This year brings an equally important commemorative date: the birthday centennial of Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington. The official date is April 29, the day Ellington was born in Washington, D.C. But growing awareness of the breadth and scope of his contributions to American culture is going to spark year-round celebrations in many parts of the world.

Ellington, who died in 1974 at the age of 75, was vital on so many different levels that it is almost impossible to overestimate his importance to the 20th century history of American music.

* He was a visible, successful and immensely creative African American. His talent, his accomplishments and his ineffable class and elegance were impossible to minimize, even though many attempts were made to do so, during the long, dark days of segregation and oppression.

* He was a superb songwriter, with a huge catalog that includes, among dozens of other familiar numbers, “Solitude,” “Sophisticated Lady,” “I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good),” “Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me,” “In a Sentimental Mood” and “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.”

* He was one of the principal, seminal composers in big-band jazz. Productive throughout his career, his works were instrumental in establishing the rich potential of the genre, ranging from such early pieces as “Mood Indigo,” “Black and Tan Fantasy,” “East St. Louis Toodle-oo” and “Creole Love Call” to ‘40s achievements “Concerto for Cootie,” “Harlem Air Shaft” and “Cottontail” and into a variety of suites (“Liberia,” “Far East,” “Deep South”) and film music (“Anatomy of a Murder”). From the late ‘30s, his musical partnership with Billy Strayhorn was a singular example of creative intimacy--testimony to his capacity to establish immensely productive relationships with his associates.

* He was an incomparable orchestra leader, maintaining a series of ensembles remarkable for their capacity to retain some of the finest jazz soloists, and their ability to change and evolve through the music’s changing styles.

* He was, in his later years, a composer of sacred music--much of it viewed somewhat critically by the press, and still subject to more thoughtful reevaluation.

And those are only the major points. There was also a series of remarkable collaborations with other world-class artists--Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, Count Basie, Coleman Hawkins and Louis Armstrong, among others. There were appearances of the Ellington Orchestra with various symphony orchestras, and a constant flow of recordings.

Jazz at Lincoln Center has scheduled a full year of Ellington events with concerts, tours, lectures and films. There will be Ellington collaborations with the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet and the Juilliard School.

Locally, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra will bring its celebration of Ellington’s music to the Cerritos Performing Arts Center on March 19, and UCLA’s Royce Hall on March 20. UCLA mounts its own Ellington festival around the composer’s birth, starting April 24 with an All-Star Big Band event, and continuing with Ellington programs on April 30 and May 1, all at Royce.

Ellington music will figure prominently in “A Night at the Cotton Club” on Feb. 12 at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach, and Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. swing through the Ellington songbook Feb. 27 at El Camino’s Marsee Auditorium. Other events will undoubtedly emerge as the year continues, and jazz record companies are cranking up a massive array of Ellington reissue collections.

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Passings: Dick Grove may not be a familiar name to the wider jazz audience, but he has been a well-known figure to young music students for years. Grove, who died of a heart attack Dec. 26 in Laughlin, Nev., founded the Dick Grove School of Music in 1973. Originally based in Van Nuys, it attracted figures such as Michael Jackson, Barry Manilow and Linda Ronstadt to its classes. After bankruptcy shut down the original school, Grove transformed it into a mail-order institution described as “the school that comes to you,” using an individual avocational educational system based on videos, audiocassettes and books. A memorial service for Grove has been scheduled for 1 p.m. Feb. 7 at the Valley College Theatre, 5800 Fulton Ave., Van Nuys. Information: Dr. Stephen Berens, (310) 828-4633.

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Riffs: The venerable Antioch Review will turn its literary attention to jazz in its summer issue. The 190-page edition will include interviews, critical pieces and essays, including Ralph Ellison’s classic “Richard Wright’s Blues,” first published in 1945, and a play, “The C Above C Above High C” by MacArthur Fellow Ismael Reed. . . . New York visitors still have time to take advantage of Blue Note Records’ monthlong 60th anniversary celebration in clubs around town. Next week’s program includes appearances by Sherman Irby, Rodney Jones, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Pat Martino, Greg Osby and Jacky Terrasson. Information: (800) 332-6110.