Midday Music host Evan Miller interviewed Todd Stoll, director of the Springfield Symphony Jazz Orchestra, about the ensemble’s November 4th concert, The Duke Meets The Queen. The concert will feature songs by Duke Ellington and Mahalia Jackson, two titans of 20th century American music. In the interview, Stoll spoke about the lives and enduring legacies of Ellington and Jackson, who he said have had a profound influence on American jazz and gospel music. He also previewed the material that the Springfield Symphony Jazz Orchestra will perform at this week’s concert.
By the time they recorded “Come Sunday” together in 1958, Mahalia Jackson and Duke Ellington were both among the most successful musical artists in the country. Yet they represented two different strands of American music: jazz and gospel. While Ellington had already penned secular hits like “Mood Indigo” (1930) and “Sophisticated Lady” (1933), Jackson only performed sacred music. Todd Stoll described the relationship between the two artists.
“They met in the 1940s. Mahalia was the biggest gospel star in America at the time; her big breakout album in 1947, [“Move On Up a Little Higher”], sold 8 million copies, which was unheard of…. And she didn't sing secular music at all; she just refused to do it. Duke was constantly asking her to sing the blues.”
While Ellington was unsuccessful in persuading Jackson to sing the blues, he did convince her to record with his band— the only secular ensemble she ever performed with. The pair recorded selections from Ellington’s 1943 suite, Black Brown and Beige, in 1958. The album included the now-classic piece “Come Sunday,” performed acapella by Jackson, as well as a rendition of the 23rd Psalm. According to Stoll, Ellington’s collaboration with Jackson had a significant impact on the later years of his life. He told Evan,
“Duke was one of those people that believed in the universal humanism of all of us, and his music reflected that. In the last, maybe, eight years of Duke’s life, he did nothing but sacred concerts. He wrote three major sacred concerts…. He had that in him, the balance of the sacred and the profane. And Mahalia was a big influence on him. So it’s very logical for us to bring those two things together.”
Stoll also spoke about programming The Duke Meets the Queen, which will be held on November 4th at John Legend Theater at 7:30pm. The first half of the concert will feature selections from Ellington’s Deep South Suite, Black Brown, and Beige, and Such Sweet Thunder, and the second half the concert will be devoted to work by Mahalia Jackson.The show will also feature several guest performers. Chicago vocalist Tammy McCann, who spent years performing with Ray Charles and was nominated for a Grammy award earlier this year, will perform the vocal parts of Mahalia Jackson. “She has a direct connection to Mahalia’s inner circle,” Stoll told Evan, “One of her vocal coaches worked with Reverend Dorsey, who was Mahalia’s big mentor. She’s got a huge voice, trained in opera and classical music.” The concert will also feature guest saxophonist Walter Blanding, who spent two decades performing with Wynton Marsalis and now teaches music performance at Michigan State University. For more information and tickets to the concert, visit springfieldsym.org.
Text by Peter Day, adapted from an interview by Evan Miller.
