From our archives. Written by Ulla Colgrass, 1999.
Luther means Luck for The Canadian Brass
When The Canadian Brass wanted to cut a CD with Duke Ellington's music, the call went out to Luther Henderson. He has been active and well-known inside the music profession since the early 1940s when his collaboration with Ellington got his career off to a flying start, fresh out of the Juilliard School of Music in New York. For many years, he arranged some of the much loved big band pieces for Ellington, who is widely celebrated this year for the 100th year of his birth.
The Canadian Brass' sparkling Ellington
CD is now out on the RCA label. It takes its title from the famous
tune "Take the ėA' Train."
The disc is a swinging, toe-tapping Ellington feast with ėDon't Mean a
Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing', ėSophisticated Lady', ėRug Cutter',
'Solitude' and other great keepers from the heyday of the famous band
leader.
"I
have already arranged over 100 tunes for The Canadian Brass which are
all recorded," says Henderson. He thinks they fill ten CDs but has lost
track. "We met about 20 years ago when I arranged their album of Fats
Waller Hits [also on RCA]. When I first heard them I was absolutely
bowled over. I had never seen classical music presented that way, so unique.
Working with them has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my
life."
And a long life it has been -- 80 years so far. Two musicals and orchestra arrangements for his famous son-in-law Simon Rattle are in the works. Rattle will conduct the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; soloist will be singer Lena Horne, another jazz giant from the golden era of original American music.
"People think they must like either jazz or classical. The public won't accept versatility on a broad scale in the States," says Henderson, who saw himself as "a classical person trying to learn jazz" when he first teamed up with Ellington. The Governor or His Lordship, as Ellington was called among friends, named Henderson 'his classical arm.'
"I came from an educated family. If I hadn't gotten a degree, I could have expected something terrible, like excommunication," he laughs.
"My
advice to The Canadian Brass has always been: don't be a jazz group, but
be a classical group that plays jazz. We went together to the Hamburg
Jazz Festivals where they played Dixieland and were very well accepted.
That proved to me that even if jazz is written down it works." Now,
all of Henderson's jazz arrangements for The Canadian brass are published
by Hal Leonard and played by music students everywhere.
"All music -- European, African-American or any other -- comes from a single source. In this new CD I'm acting like Duke Ellington writing for The Canadian Brass. I think it's the best I have done for them," says Henderson.
Ulla Colgrass
Luther Henderson Links