The Ellington Effect workshops take place once a month, and David picks a different Ellington composition to analyze for each one.  In about two hours, he talks through the piece note by note, line by line, analyzing the piece at both macro and micro levels.

David Berger has studied the music of Duke Ellington for over 50 years, and has transcribed over 500 Ellington and Strayhorn arrangements and compositions.  Because of this, he is able to make connections to Ellington's other pieces, talk about trends and eras in Ellington's writing, and discuss the influences of changing personnel on the music over time.

At the end of each workshop, David answers questions for a half hour or so.  These are always lively and fascinating, as workshop attendees tend to include some highly knowledgable Ellingtonians as well as plenty of intelligent musicians who ask insightful questions.

 

From July through September of 1941 Ellington, the band, and a cast of singers, dancers and comedians filled the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles with a groundbreaking collaborative show entitled Jump for Joy for which Ellington contributed a number of first-rate songs, dance numbers and arrangements including: Jump For Joy, I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good), Chocolate Shake, Giddybug Gallop, Bli-Blip, The Brownskin Gal (In The Calico Gown), and Rocks In My Bed (for which he composed and wrote the lyrics). 

 

According to Ellington, the purpose of the show was to present Negros as they really are and steer clear of demeaning Hollywood, Broadway, and radio stereotypes. Death threats, notwithstanding, the show was a tremendous success and had plans to move to Broadway, but unfortunately, that never happened. 

 

Although Ellington’s recordings of the above-mentioned numbers were unqualified masterpieces, much the remainder of the show’s material was written and composed by lesser talents. It became obvious in the course of later efforts to revive the show that Ellington’s music stood the test of time, while the other songs and skits did not. 

 

Recorded in Hollywood September 29, 1941

 

Hardwick, Hodges: alto saxes

Bigard: clarinet

Webster: tenor

Carney: baritone

Jones, Nance: trumpets

Steward: cornet

Brown, Nanton: trombone

Tizol: valve trombone 

Ivie Anderson: vocal

Guy: guitar

Ellington, Strayhorn: piano

Blanton: bass

Greer: drums

 

 

Rocks In My Bed is five choruses of a traditional 12-bar blues with a 4-bar piano interlude before the final chorus and short coda. There is no intro.

 

Instrumental Chorus #1       Hodges with trombones

Instrumental Chorus #2       Tutti with Bigard

Vocal Chorus #1                    Ivie Anderson with ensemble

Vocal Chorus #2                    Ivie Anderson with saxes and trombones

Interlude                                 Ellington with bass and drums

Vocal Chorus #3/Coda         Ivie Anderson with ensemble and Bigard