Welcome to DESUK
The Duke Ellington Society UK’s purpose is to further the study, appreciation
and dissemination of the music of Edward Kennedy ‘Duke’ Ellington. It is
based in the United Kingdom, but membership is open to everyone.
In ordinary times we meet regularly in London to listen and socialise, and
new arrivals always welcome. During the Covid-19 pandemic we’ve had to
suspend these meetings, but the society’s social aspect continues under the
auspices of Uptown Lockdown (see below).
Our Magazine: Blue Light
Our house publication Blue Light is released
to members quarterly. A substantial publication, its wide-ranging content
contains articles, news, reviews of records and live performances. Our
contributors include jazz authors, journalists, critics and musicians as well
as other Ellington enthusiasts.
You can read a sample article here:
“Jazz, Revue and a Thriller” The Response of the Birmingham Press to Duke
Ellington’s 1933 Tour
, by Pedro Cravinho, Birmingham City University (PDF, 7.3MB).
Join us
By joining us you’ll receive our quarterly magazine and support the society’s
activities. New and returning paid members for 2021 will receive a free CD
with their subscription.
Click here for more details.
DESUK Live Broadcast: Uptown Lockdown
We’re doing live broadcasts on Wednesday afternoons, 17:00 London time.
We will be discussing matters Ellington and Strayhorn, playing tracks as well
as a bit of live versions of their music. You can catch up at any time later.
More details on how to view and participate are on the Uptown
Lockdown page.
Get in touch
You can get in touch with DESUK by emailing desuk@dukeellington.org.uk
. We’re also
chatting online using Discord - join us at https://discord.gg/efQNUMa.
You can keep up to date with DESUK news via this website, our mailing
list, or on
Facebook and
Twitter.
Forthcoming AGM
It was not possible to hold an AGM in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We
are hoping to hold one in the second half of 2021 and will keep our members
informed via Blue Light and this website. For the time being, the committee
from the 2019 AGM remains in place.
Non-society events
Got a gig coming up with an Ellington element? Pop us an email and we can
publicise via our website.
Recent posts
Dr John (Malcolm John Rebennack Jr.) passed away on June 6, 2019. Among his extensive discography he leaves us an album of Ellington covers, Duke Elegant. Here’s a fun one. Check out an fascinating reworking of The Flaming Sword on the same album.
Birmingham is hosting 2020’s Documenting Jazz conference in January.
Birmingham City University is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the Documenting Jazz conference, to be held on 16–18 January 2020. Now in its second year, Documenting Jazz brings together colleagues from across the academic, archive, library, and museum sectors to explore and discuss documenting jazz.
More details at documentingjazz.com
Thanks to all how who attended our meeting. Anthony picked out a favourite tune: Hot Feet
We have a new website! And we’re new on Facebook too. Here’s something jumpin’ to celebrate.
Spotted over at Ron Drotos’ wesbsite: The Beginner’s Guide To Duke Ellington. A nice introductory article with some good selections. One to share with Ellington newcomers.
Ron told us:
I got on board the Ellington train in the early 1980s, when I was 17-18 years
old. My piano teacher Billy
Taylor
had known Ellington and Strayhorn and used to make me cassettes of
out-of-print albums of theirs.
There are a few more Ellington-related blog posts on the site, including the surprising similarity between Duke Ellington, Keith Jarrett, and Elton John, as well as guides to playing some of the songs. We look forward to more!
Georgetown University in Washington, DC has issued a call for
papers
for their upcoming conference, running from March 11-15, 2020.
Details of our latest AGM and elections