“Duke Speaks of Hip Studs and Zoots,” article in The Weekly Review, January 30th, 1943

Title of the Document

“Duke Speaks of Hip Studs and Zoots,” article in The Weekly Review, January 30th, 1943

One Line Summary

This is a newspaper article written by Gordon Merrick that discusses the interview he had with Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington and discusses the debut of the piece “Black, Brown, and Beige.)

Author

Gordon Merrick (Former Broadway actor turned Reporter and Author, Washington D.C. United States of America.

Date Created

1943

Location

New York City, NY (Original Article), Birmingham, AL (Reprint and cited document)

Type of Document

Newspaper Article

Publisher

The Weekly Review of Birmingham, AL and The New York Post of New York City, New York.

Transcription

Section of Item:
This is the section “A Race History in Music”
“During an interview in his agent's office in Rockefeller Center, the Duk (e) talked about it with the simple earnestness and in the plainest English. “I’m only afraid that people are going to expect it to be something that it isn’t. We’re not trying to take the place of a symphony orchestra. We call the piece, “Black, Tan, and Beige.” It’s a symphonic arrangement of several themes from an opera I did some time ago called “Boola.” We try to tell the story of the Negro in musical terms. “Lord, the Negro race is young. It’s hardly adolescent, so the music isn’t very developed. We begin with the work song. You see, when the Negroes were first brought to this country they found they only had to work, Naturally, that made them sort of optimistic.”

Provenance

Gordon Merrick, “Duke Speaks of Hip Studs and Zoots,” The Weekly Review, January 30th, 1943.

Part of “Duke Speaks of Hip Studs and Zoots,” article in The Weekly Review, January 30th, 1943