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.

Transblucency is unique combination of concepts from three previous pieces of his; two of his most famous masterpieces from the Cotton Club era and one obscure 1938 recording. After all, it was Ellington who said that it was OK to steal from yourself. In this case other people were involved as well. The pieces in question are Creole Love Call, Mood Indigo, and Blue Light.

 

Unbeknownst to Ellington, the themes of Creole Love Call came from King Oliver’s Camp Meeting Blues. When Ellington performed Creole Love Call at the Cotton Club, Adelaide Hall was standing in the wings humming a response to the clarinet trio. Upon hearing her, Duke incorporated her improvisation into the composition—marking Ellington’s first known use of soprano voice. 

  

Ellington’s contribution to Creole Love Call that elevates the piece to greatness is the opposites of rough and smooth. Where Oliver’s version lacks this dimension, Ellington introduces the rough trumpet solo sandwiched between the smooth clarinet trio/vocal obligato and the clarinet solo. In Oliver’s recording, the trombone solo couldn’t decide if it was rough or smooth. 

 

Although much of the character and success of Ellington’s music is due to his use of swing, blues and jazz instrumentation, he had a desire to have his music be performed by classical musicians and singers. However, this desire was never strong enough to get him to write for orchestra or even strings. His orchestral pieces were always orchestrated by others.