Keeping up with the Duke

There isn't much that a small African country can do nowadays to call attention to its cultural sophistication, but almost any attempt deserves applause. This month the Republic of Togo is issuing a series of postage stamps bearing the likenesses of Bach, Beethoven, Debussy and a composer named Edward Kennedy Ellington. It is all very flattering to the Duke, but it would be a mistake for the people of Togo--or anywhere else--to think that this honor stamps him as a classic of the past. If anything, the Duke, at 67, is writing more jazz and writing it better than ever before, continually shattering and recasting the mold of his musical thinking.

In the past two years, Ellington has written a symphonic tone poem, a chamber piece for clarinet, saxophones and rhythm, and a film score. Last week he recorded his new background music for a play, The Jaywalker, which will be performed at Coventry Cathedral in June. At the high school auditorium in Montclair, N.J., last week, Ellington and his band played his concert of sacred music, composed 18 months ago to demonstrate the Duke's belief that "every man prays in his own language." This week the Ellington troupe is off on a 30-city tour to play his latest showcases for his sidemen.

To keep his output flowing, Ellington jots down "crispy, crunchy, fresh ideas" wherever they occur to him. His inspiration is "the way I live, the people who live around me, the world." Every Ellington piece is a musical snapshot from his experience. Mood Indigo is a little boy kept indoors by the rain, thinking of a little girl to whom he tipped his cap the day before; Shepherd Watching over the Night Flock, one of his newest pieces, is a preacher friend who canvasses Manhattan bistros each night, ministering to musicians and barflies.

Ellington says that his greatest competition today is the Duke Ellington of 25 years ago. In those days, his raw, rich musical language had already established him as a great innovator. His audiences today tend to expect to hear the same Ellington, but he will have none of that. "We could've gone on for 50 years," he says, "just playing the old things and saying, This is our noise, baby.' But it's a form of condescension, the worst of all artistic offenses."

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