Please excuse the double post, but I thought that this CD would be of interest to not only jazz horn fans, but all horn players and listeners. Strayhorn wrote this last work while in excruciating pain as he tried to come to terms with his impending passing. Ruff himself termed the ³Suite² Strayhorn¹s ³the last words from a great genius shutting down before his time.² Ruff is still at Yale, I believe, where he originally studied with Hindemith. He is now also a part of the Global Education Project. Sincerely, Ellen Manthe ------ Forwarded Message From: Denise Meyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 11:55:51 -0500 To: Kepler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Mitchell Ruff Duo issues new CD
Mitchell - Ruff Duo celebrates 50th Anniversary of Musical Partnership with CD Re-issue of Billy Strayhorn's Seminal Last Work, The Suite for the Duo In celebration of its 50th Anniversary of music making, the Mitchell Ruff has reissued its historic Billy Strayhorn recording, "Strayhorn: A Mitchell-Ruff Interpretation." The master tape from this landmark recording was rediscovered last year by Willie Ruff in his own Alabama library. Jazz afficianados for years have been clamoring for a reissue of the Strayhorn Suite, and through a stroke of luck, the Duo has made this the cornerstorne of their 50th Anniversary offierings. It is available through http://www.keplerlabel.com. Included on this recording is the very last work composed by Duke Ellington's legendary alter-ego, Billy Strayhorn, The Suite for the Duo. This is a seriously reflective and autobiographical work, written as this jazz giant was coming to the end of his lifetime. The other Strayhorn compositions on the recording interpretively reflect the shading and influence of the gravity of the piece. Duke Ellington, himself, chose the Duo to perform the work at the Lincoln Center Memorial for Billy Strayhorn, alongside a director's dream of jazz greats, such as Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, Willie the Lion Smith, Dizzy Gillespie and many others. The Mitchell-Ruff Duo was officially formed in 1955 when the pianist Dwike Mitchell and the bassist and French horn player Willie Ruff left Lionel Hampton¹s band to strike out on their own. But its real origins go back even earlier - to 1947, when they were servicemen stationed at Lockbourne Air Force Base, near Columbus, Ohio. Mitchell, a 17-year-old pianist with the unit band, needed a bass player for an Air Force radio show, and he saw a likely candidate in the newly arrived Ruff, who at that time only played the French Horn. ³He was just a kid, 16 years old,² Mitchell recalls, ³with a lot of hair, fire-engine red, practically down to his eyebrows. But he had all this energy, and he was eager to learn. So I taught him. Every time he made a mistake I said, You got to stand in the corner,¹ and he hated that, and he¹d scream and holler - he had the loudest scream you ever heard. But he never made the same mistake again.² Ruff has been a fast learner ever since, with no visible loss of energy, and the friendship that was formed in 1947 between two small-town Southern boys - Mitchell is from Florida, Ruff from Alabama - has deepened over the years into the warmest collaboration, one that has taken them to the top of their profession and to many corners of the world. It was the Mitchell Ruff Duo that introduced jazz to the Soviet Union, in 1959, playing and teaching at conservatories in Leningrad, Moscow, Kiev, Yalta, Sochi and Riga; and it was the Mitchell-Ruff Duo that brought jazz to China, in 1981, playing and teaching at conservatories in Shanghai and Peking. Before the first trip Ruff taught himself Russian, his seventh language, and before the second trip he learned Chinese, thereby enabling himself to explain to his listeners, in their own language, the roots and lineage of American jazz, with Mitchell demonstrating on the piano. Teaching and learning have been strong currents in the lives of both men. http://www.keplerlabel.com -- Denise Meyer Meyer Communications 510 Long Hill Rd. Guilford, CT 06437 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 203.458.1321 ------ End of Forwarded Message _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] unsubscribe or set options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
