On the Road with Duke Ellington (1974) User Reviews

On the Road with Duke Ellington was quite a fine chronicle of his later life

[tavm · 10/10 · 21 February 2014]

While this seems to be the exact same one as that presented on "The Bell Telephone Hour" back in 1967, the narration begins with a voice mentioning Duke Ellington's passing in May of '74 and ends with an extra performance of him doing a performance of a composition of his late partner, Billy Strayhorn's "Take the 'A' Train". We see him being honored at Yale University, doing an original composition on piano which would eventually have Morgan College in the title after the place where he also gets honored. During one of his concerts backstage, he gets a visit from Louis Armstrong. We then go to a recording session, then see him perform a sacred concert. We hear about Strayhorn being quite ill and later about his death. Oh, and Duke doesn't take coffee or tea in the morning, just hot water. In summary, this was quite a chronicle of the later life of one Edward Kennedy Ellington. So on that note, I highly recommend On the Road with Duke Ellington.