Pantechnicon; Mercer Ellington

Well let's start with you. With so little as to how the economy and really what you can hear the strong waves of Sydney Bash joining hard to be an immutable tribute to the kids. Well I'm Frank Fitzmaurice and this is bad technique on PBS radio's nightly magazine on arts entertainment and ideas. Coming up a bit later in tonight's edition of 10 technic and we'll be talking with Mercer Ellington now conducts the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The subject the late Edward Kennedy Ellington Duke Ellington would have celebrated his birthday tomorrow and radio will be celebrating the birth. They will tell you a little bit about about that later on in the show. Coming up first on tonight's edition of Ben technic on WGBH radio's lonely lions along with some personal comments on the state of this week's news. And now here's Louis. They couldn't stop her in Pennsylvania. Instead his rivals appeared to have knock themselves out. Both Jackson and reevaluating their campaign.

The result seems not to much a cottage as a Jackson collapse. His nemesis perhaps the ghost of Humphrey more than the actuality of Carter and his center of his labor strength. Jackson could hardly win any more delegates than your dog. Only a fraction of Carter's but the popular vote remained so spread out that Carter could lead with only 37 percent of the delegates uncommitted which means hoping for Humphrey would outnumber carders when added to those listed for governor Chapeau wasn't any longer in the raise. They must be a product of Mer Rizzo's Philadelphia machine. All it did produce yesterday but it suggested such bits and pieces might still make the core of a coalition against Carter. Carter himself last night claimed only that he'll have a thousand first ballot votes. It takes fifteen hundred to nominate. He sees the victorious moment to appeal that the time has come to unite the elements of the party that is backing him.

The effect of the Pennsylvania result on the latent candidacies of Senator Church and Governor Brown is still to be counted in the final analysis of course the strength of the party leadership in quotes may prove as illusory as Jackson's labor support in Pennsylvania. Henry Kissinger's wanting to Rhodesia of America's unrelenting opposition to its oppression of its native majority was spelled out in on mistake about terms yesterday. These included a promise that the administration will try to repeal the Byrd amendment that made a loophole in the sanctions against Rhodesia by allowing an American market for its Chrome that the Ford administration makes this threat. Three days before the Texas primary must mean to Ian Smith that the United States government is indeed convinced of the great tragedy impending that Kissinger described that is a race war in southern Africa where the bird Amendment was the work of American mining and metal

interests that are part of the very core of the Republican party's support. It's met the same day offered a palliative with announcement he'll appoint seven blacks to his cabinet. A gesture the rebel organization promptly rejected as window dressing. Given your heart to the South African government to exert its influence on Ian Smith Do the need for rapid negotiation for majority rule. South Africa has provided Rhodesia an escape patch from the economic sanctions of United Nation members. Give me a call upon South Africa also to end its own apartheid that denies rights of citizenship to its black majority. Time is running out he won them. It's later than they think. South Africa's prime minister Vorster has been trying to persuade Ian Smith to make concessions to avert the great tragedy Kissinger sees from engulfing South Africa also. But the Morsi government has prepared now a showpiece to

justify its apartheid policy. The fruits of this policy they want to convince the world is in the autonomy they're about to grant to one of the largest of the native one Clive's the Transco is to become independent in South African terms this fall. It will have its own legislature its own administration over its tribal lands an area as big as Maryland. This South Africa claims as the end result of apartheid the separate development of a native tribe the causes to run their own affairs separate from the National Government trans guy means beyond the current river as we would say across the wide Missouri. It's one of about nine Bantustan so-called tribal homelands Bantu describes the black natives whom the white is used to call Kaffirs. The government now has a new name for Banda stands homeland. The trans guy is to be the first Homeland and a model for the future.

The Afrikaner politicians and the Dutch clergy have always talked of maintaining a separate culture of the tribes. Native schools are even taught in their own tribal language. There are four or five sets of binoculars. This separates each tribe not only from the whites but from each other. The end result of apartheid the government has always claimed would be independence where the natives were then that tribal enclaves the trans Guard Chief has accepted this and the government has built a modern twenty five storey building and encourage the Howard Johnson Hotel and other modern facilities to transform the tribal capital of Tata. From the aspect of an American frontier town of the last century critics of this homeland policy see it as a final step to maintain white supremacy and exclude native blacks from any part of the national government. That's the way the chief of the important largest Zulu tribe sees it. The native He says denied a part in his national

heritage the homeland independence scheduled for October 26 does nothing for the two thirds of the Caza tribe who live and work outside the Transco which could not employ them. In South Africa the white governing population is about 3 million controlling some 15 million blacks. This is not as disproportionate as Rhodesia has a quarter million whites controlling some 5 million black natives but that evidence has other measures the Rhodesian whites date there only from the Gold Rush of the beginning of this century and were only on hand for all until the end of the Second World War chiefly prospectors and adventure emigrants who ignored the native population about as American pioneers did the NE and when the British insisted on recognizing the rights of natives the Rhodesian succeeded from the Commonwealth in 1965. But the but Dutch settled South Africa only a few years after our beginnings at Plymouth. They fought and subdued the natives much as American pioneers did

when the British replaced the Dutch as governors around eighteen hundred the Boers moved in and organize a separate nation and escape various regulations about treating blacks in the central plateau of the Boers as the British and called them largely escaped any influence of the nineteenth century. They drove the natives into enclaves on the rim of the country similar to Indian reservations in this country. But a big difference instead of a handful of Indians the native blacks were and the vast majority. The Boers used some of the natives first as serfs that is cheap labor on their vast ranches and plantations and brought the men to the set is as domestic labor housing them in ghettos out beyond the suburbs. When the golden diamond out of South Africa was discovered at the end of the 19th century black natives were brought from their tribal lands to work the mines like migrant labor from Mexico and California before Chavez was living in compounds they provided cheap labor but were not

allowed to bring their families. At the end of nine months contract they were returned to their Banda stands for a season or scratchy agriculture native wages in the mines or on the railroads when I was in South Africa a dozen years ago where from 1 6 to 1 7. Those four boys. The South African economy of course is based on this cheap native labor. A city family in quite ordinary circumstances may enjoy 4 0 5 7. All mingling of the races and marriage or cohabitation is a serious offense. The British had admitted the blacks to the university but they Afrikaners stop this with their education act they established two colleges so called for private blacks and special schools within sons of

sheaves to teach them local administration needed wages from the mine workers help support subsistence farming on the tribal land were in round huts with that strokes native life has hardly changed in generations. Scrawny cattle are browers aspires to be a representing not so much meat or milk as a symbol of property achieves inheritance or a bride's dowry. So many cattle. What is unique in apartheid guess you just said yesterday is the extent to which racial discrimination has been institutionalized in shrine and law and made all pervasive. It is even enshrined in the religious tenets of the old Dutch church that blacks are lower ought not entitle the full human rights. The government has tried to provide jobs for natives in these overcrowded Banta stands without admitting them to the industries of the country by

a system of border industry. Building a shop or plant on the border of a Bantustan so night or labor could live on one side and white management on the other. Natives have been encouraged and trained to establish small industries within the bannister. The government has subsidized power extensions to run these border industries. Now various new industries have been started through the trans guy by the government which is encouraging foreign investment in them. They're even insisting that the trans guy on independence will qualify as a new member of the United Nations. And when you deviate radios lower the Lions will return on Friday spend technic on with another personal commentary and a review of the week's news. I

think so too. Last summer. Is tomorrow.

Thursday night is part of that celebration TV and radio and I want to be uy radio at Boston University will be presenting a 15 hour birthday tribute to Ellington one of the century's greatest composer musicians here on GBH the tribute runs from midnight to 6 a.m. on the Third Programme then starting at 6 a.m. takes over with host Tony will tell you some more about that after we hear from Mercer Ellington Duke Ellington son and the leader of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. One of the things is to keep the heritage of Duke Ellington. And the thought of him and to get too far away form from that concept I think would be a mistake if we gradually grew into change devices and so people are going to think it's great the Right now most of the works are going to be like rich portraits and things that you keep alive and intact as much as possible. Suffering too much influence. We don't call for imitation or mimicking as far as inflection or anything like that

with the August was concerned. But we do want to play these things with some authenticity. As far as the way you call for concepts where you have a clarinetist who's part of the ensemble this was a real concern he has to have a certain tambour of quality which is in the sense that depending on which of the two clarinets importantly aren't two tiers one has to be a modern good clean sound on that to be got it and more or less New Orleans light and that's what we do try to find and to reach. When will you know doing things to interpret what he does. Now when a man gets a solo opportunity that's something else. It's up to him to resort to his own devices as to how he wants to develop or relate to that particular number which is coming up. There may be a number that was written some 30 years ago but if we have a guy like Rocky Ford who plays a solo against it we want him to field in the play the solo chord and do what he

thinks is important and where he thinks he should approach it. Leave that particular presentation on his instrument in his style. The arranging down is still pretty much the same as it was many years ago for many of the old standards. Well in a way but when you say pretty much the way it is for instance we play a thing called rock given the bloom and by increasing the temple a little the rule comes pretty contemporary. You must realize a tune like Newport 58 of 27 courses or dim. how you'd like to refer to it came into vogue in 1958 when it was written in the 40s and actually in late 30s. And so we feel that a lot of the things we have in the book much much higher and much more concept and we have like I said relates to what you're doing. We play dancers in Los Angeles and we played as far as the concert was possible for us the same thing in our holes because

you know that the audience you have is highly musical highly advanced in their thinking and they will accept the greater within the newer thought. As it stands when we play our normal concerts more labels nature. Such as possibly doing a concert in Washington D.C. JFK center we don't want to get too far away from the main street and you know that you're going to get requests for Mood Indigo and something that emphasizes Good's presence so you got to play the A-Train. They look for things that identify the band that we don't play them. I mean it's like me introducing the Mercer Ellington band instead of continuing to Duke Ellington logs so we try not to get too far away from that identification at this particular time. And I hope never there will be in a position where we feel it's necessary to depart completely from many of the great things of pop route. Things like possible sophisticatedly and other pleasing you know regardless of who you are musically you have to enjoy

those things. But we have things that will be taken from me after your Asian album which are very complex. We have a number which were getting ready to put into the sacred concert that is really him. It's not free jails but it approaches it and it's very blatant in its aspect but it was a lot of things that we didn't believe at the time I would resign of the concert at Westminster Abbey. But I think it's going to raise a few eyes for instance that we play Newport and we are in a position to accept the invitation to go to the Monterey Festival this year that we will let it out. We have some things that I think which are new especially here because we will be doing his new suite all the latest over the last really develop suite the pop group called the three black teens and this in the sense is

something that has been developed and as a way it exercises and shows some of the things which were completely primitive or modern primitive and then by the time we get to the end of it we fall back into what would be really a gospel like sound because that represents Martin Luther King and it's representative of. People and culture. When did you first start arranging I don't know it's like I don't know you never realize that there is you become a professional swimmer or a professional baseball player. I've started reading and learning about writing without any real harmonic concept at all except to learn rhythms and I live by Fool around the piano or certain other notes when go with each other and then I write them down. Whose music if you start with as far as arranging or thought what part they would just I read Frank Skinner's through these on three part harmony and from that time on I was off most of that was one like a lot of things and he would help me

via home divorce when it came to composition and all that I had done something and had had some tool. I felt in a way that even though I've gotten theoretical several of the time the way we view the theoretic system was was developed and Juilliard a little bit it was really a matter of being inhibited. I thought I was being thrown back and later then why you were less of the Mozart quartets. It gave me more influence in the way the work of the sax pulled more in the order of the treatment to build Israel and cause he got that part too. So thank you. You picked up at Juilliard to some of these musical concepts. Did you try to influence Duke Ellington music at all. I don't know I think there were times once in a while where where I might have had influence on him because I have a germ of a thought of that my brain around him and also needs that he you know take it you've given your times. I kept playing with Samba as I went to where we're going to

if he's that i use of three times already. We used to have those little things and we'd steeled me to try to use something which was you. Dollars develop morsel of the show how you could make it better or do something different with it was recently conceived. Did you find that some of the other pieces that you had read written yourself were starting to come into the Duke Ellington repertoire for the Big Bang. Well you know I don't in fact I guess sometimes I think I think a little creative and some development took place because the golden years of writing I reckon literally was about 1941 42 when nothings thinking in love and of abundance Blizzard's movements and so forth. And yet I think that from that time on I was writing better. But the concept and popularity and as far as

competing with AI that was concerned became second or so then I had to stop and think what I was searching for Saddam. I was trying to fight for a way to get away from what he was doing and to try to do something that he did and almost in every instance when I thought I made progress he could always point back to something five years or six years before. And show me where he uses the same system now. As far as an influence theoretically and in the writing was concerned I think I've been affected most by Sure remembered all there was no intention. I do from reading on. But my composition teacher know why you've accused me of writing like Sternberg as a no on that writing like Sarah moran like Duke Ellington. But any time will he be off the old ways and we've run through things a little verse students are driven he could always tell when I had my no and then later in Europe they asked Duke Ellington had he been influenced by Sharon Berger he loathes the parallels

in the way the works would evolve and he had little conscious of it all because he thought of anybody affected he would have been somebody more like Delia's but I think that Liberalis is like two things happening to several places which are completely unrelated. For instance you have the tools in Egypt and you've got the buildings of the temples of the Aztecs with a verse Simmonds else and yet you know one can't be related to the other because one didn't know by the wheel. So as far as sherbert is concerned he didn't have the devices of the plunger and various other things little mean food and with what year. The audience is that they generally play to everything. They are of a younger age or an older range all of this is very greatly for the most part the audience that we seem to be gaining is the younger audience. We impositions are good with more of the characters situations. We have an audience such as our

presentation of the Saratoga failed recently. You've got a group who came because there are several attractions there so that when you're playing before them. For the most part you get the kids and the parents and you get the younger set in these instances when they come to see us because apparently O'Keefe and I want to go out and we want to hear some some really good music and I think what happens in most cases we don't want to be blood in the gum diseases but I think when they do come and they hear a needle and they hear some things that barely plays or something's in the way of a little more rock oriented like we do you my sunshine or something like that. They're pleasantly surprised to be aware of the fact that a band which is supposed to have a historical tradition is a little more attuned to what's going on in the present cause that that was a single development he never let a generation go by that he didn't make a contribution to consider some Vala because even during his lifetime we play many rock things he had at least about six things that you could

develop. He's written a poker which we do as well we would say if we're going round Pennsylvania someplace like that. Well we don't want to become a polka band and we don't want to be labeled a dance band. But he has also gotten into some fairly You can't complex what some people might term classical pieces with Xander works. Which I think is the best way we have of showing that Ellington was developing and that he did move further than most people feel and it happened with Norm works both in the. Things a classical need to such as a black kings which would play more Harlem sweet as well as church music and we've done the sacred concerts and if you listen to the background painting and things that's all. He does a lot of where I was frankly told and it also drains his temples and was into things are just not normal in music anymore. In the two

Brubeck and lower guys around New Orleans and the experiments and timetables. You mention Harlem and Harlem seems to be something which which shows a quite a bit of influence you know in Duke Ellington's music. You look at some of the titles of compositions Harlem harmony and Harlem Harlem speaks echoes of Harlem blue Harlem was Harlem kind of a. Kansas City of of Duke Ellington as well as Kansas City was to to basically or you know where there is the influence of Harlem come in while I was longing for you. Well no harm as far as all eagles thinking was concerned. It was literally meant the souls and soul balloons and it wasn't confined to New York City. It meant it was to represent that particular area in every city of possible loss and risk it would have been the Watson who was in San Francisco.

Areas where little soulful live like open Fillmore and in every city you have more of us a colony where the tradition of the music and everything lays there of where you got maybe three or four churches a radius of 10 blocks and somewhere along there some entertaining spot with three bands or a cabaret or whatever and as the muse of the takes place with that of amused when kids sing in the street are still around. Group in the park whether it represents the culture and he speaks of Holland because of course Holland musically was recognised for a location I think. Much of the word Kansas City or New Orleans possibly St. Louis and Memphis would have been connected with a certain sound and feeling in music. So he liked to read what he liked to relate to that. You might say the same thing for his description of the world of songs like black. Through the years he's gone through it you know black brown and B's

black and tan Vancity Black Beauty. You use them in many instances the anything referred to to his culture you're always one of them and should be in the from some to be looked into and join. Mercer Ellington the son of the late Edward Kennedy Ellington Duke Ellington recorded last summer's music 200 series at Harvard University. And of course tomorrow Thursday April 29 would have been Edward Kennedy Ellington's birthday and in observance of that day WGBH radio and the folks over at the radio will be combining forces for a 15 hour birthday tribute to the late the gallant and one of the century's greatest composer musicians radio their tribute starts at midnight. As Randall Burnett present six hours of the music of Duke Ellington. Then at 6:00 a.m. we switch over to

WB ninety point nine FM and host Tony Jones continues the tribute to the light. Duke Ellington is here on WGBH and on Boston University's radio station all day tomorrow. A tribute to Duke Ellington. And that's it for Pan take my guns and I thanks for being with us. I'm Frank that's Maurice. I got her here on GBH radio seven nights a week we're on weeknights at 6:30 and weekends at 5:30. Have a good evening.