Tips on Translating Ellington Jazz Piano Music for a String Orchestra
Ellington reworked 'Black Beauty' throughout his career
The original working title in 1928 was “Firewater,” and jazz composer Duke Ellington would revisit and rework this piece throughout his career. The first in a series of the Duke’s intimate musical portraits, “Black Beauty” eventually was dedicated to one of the preeminent African-American artists of the Harlem Renaissance, singer and dancer Florence Mills. Like Louis Armstrong, Mills—the daughter of former slaves—was a product of the American Dream. She was a child prodigy whose talent lifted her out of the poverty of Goat Alley—one of Washington, D.C.’s poorest slums—to become the toast of London, in much the same way that African-American entertainer Josephine Baker regaled Paris during the Jazz Age. Mills’ untimely death in 1927, at age 31, due to complications from untreated appendicitis, is doubly tragic. Except for a few unsuccessful test recordings long since lost, Mills’ immense talent was never captured on record or film.
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