On November 7, 1969, Duke Ellington played with his big band in the Rotterdam Doelen as part of his European tour. In that year many of his regular soloists were still with the orchestra. , , , and the stars of heaven in De Doelen . Organist , who herself had a thriving solo career, had just joined as a special attraction. He stayed with the orchestra for almost two years. Despite problems due
… to staff changes in the horn section, the band sounded surprisingly good, partly due to the enthusiastic reception of the European audience. The concert opens with 12 bars of Take The A Train that merge into C Jam Blues. It can be heard that the gentlemen technicians still had to put the finishing touches, because the bass is annoyingly chunky and the band does not sound at full power yet. Fortunately, this problem was quickly resolved, so that the orchestra comes across as very convincing for the rest of the concert. The performance was so successful that Ellington returned to Rotterdam in 1971 and 1973. (AD)more
