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.

In 1947 Duke Ellington was commissioned to write Liberian Suite by the nation of Liberia to compose a piece to celebrate the 100th birthday of their nation that was founded by freed American slaves. Ellington tells the musical story of a young man who wakes up in the country and travels all day to Monrovia, the nation’s capital, to celebrate the centennial. 

 

I Like The Sunrise is the first movement of the suite and is followed by five dances. A typical aaba song form, Sunrise features vocalist Al Hibbler, who shows great warmth and sincerity in his delivery of Ellington’s melody and lyrics. The melody matches the lyric in its simplicity and lack of chromatics. The harmony and orchestration are another matter altogether. 

 

Following a lengthy introduction, that introduces the entire suite, Ellington pulls out all the stops in vocal accompaniment. The rich tapestry created for the band is his most creative and challenging to date. He always praised Billy Strayhorn for his vocal arrangement of Flamingo, but now he one-ups his alter ego and raises the bar for all vocal charts to come—not only in the jazz world, but also for arrangers for popular singers and Broadway. 

 

The influence of bebop can be heard in the exposed melodic tritones, angular melodies, and chromatic harmony. Jimmy Hamilton’s solo clarinet is used to great effect. This opening movement sets up the motifs of the following dances. 

 

The entire suite was recorded in one day—Christmas Eve 1947 and was released by Columbia Records on Ellington’s second 10-inch LP. Unfortunately, the reception was most disappointing. Over the succeeding decades, Liberian Suite has gained respect. Although never popular, Alvin Ailey choreographed and performed the entire suite with his company. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra also performed it live on their first CD with Milt Grayson’s rich vocal.  I Like The Sunrise, for all its charm, has been recorded by a dozen or so singers but has never reached wide popularity.