The Truth About Ellington's First Concert It’s hard to decide what is more surprising about the Event of January 21, 1937: that Duke Ellington would agree to appear for free at UCLA’s Royce Hall or that students would fill the house by 11a.m. for a 3 p.m. concert—then stay in their seats for an additional three hours while the Duke took a detour through USC.
“In those days,” one of the concert’s undergraduate organizers, Larry Orenstein, recalls, UCLA was “that little school out in Westwood someplace.” Finally recognizing that he’d picked the wrong campus, Ellington arrived at Royce about 6 p.m. He made up for his tardiness, remaining on the stage for four hours. “He just played what he wanted to play, and they kept shouting for more,” Orenstein says.
Orenstein and his pal, Hal Levy, had gone to see Ellington at Frank Sebastian’s Cotton Club in Culver City but found the noisy, smoky place distracting from the music. Approaching Ellington after the show, they offered him a larger,lighter, smoke-free venue—Royce Hall—but explained that he would have to play for free. Ellington jumped at the opportunity. “I’ve been waiting, waiting, for someone to ask us,” he told the young men, explaining that he’d played concert halls in Europe but not in his homeland.
Having booked their guest star, the young men now needed to arrange avenue and draw a crowd. As it happened, Orenstein was the student in charge of arranging assemblies and events at Royce Hall, so he told the stage manager to set up for an afternoon concert, neglecting to mention that no official authorization had been given.
“I didn’t tell anyone on the faculty about it,” Orenstein says, fearing the delay that often goes with the formal approval process—or worse. “I didn’t want to risk a turn down,” he adds. At their own expense, the two drew up and printed programs, placards, and flyers, then distributed them around the few buildings that made up the campus. And the rest is history—well, yes and no. Benny Goodman’s 1938 concert in Carnegie Hall is often referred to as the first concert appearance by a jazz group. You are now among those who know better.
Concert Program
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