Music: Mood Indigo & Beyond

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Mercer Ellington (who is now in the recording business) well remembers the days when he was working his way up through the ranks of the band as baggage boy. "We got to Cleveland about 8 or 9 o'clock one morning," he says. "I complained that I was hungry. 'What!' said my father. 'Didn't you just eat yesterday?' " Today, things are different. The Ellington band, back on top, asks a tidy $2,500 a night for a dance, plus about half of the net gate receipts. The fee is $3,500 for a college concert-and-prom. Altogether, Duke Ellington, Inc. grosses between $500,000 and $700,000 a year. Part of the reason for the band's durability is the fact that, unlike most bands, it plays everything—concerts, proms, dances, theaters, nightclubs, hotel dining rooms, and even rock 'n' roll hops. Most of its time is devoted to living "on the other side of the clock" while playing one-night stands. The band packs up its instruments between 1 and 4 a.m., gets aboard the big bus with "Mr. Hi-Fi of 1956'' on the fluted sides, and rides, argues and snores its way to the next town (favorite topics: chicks, music, food, geography). The arrival may be at dawn or dusk, depending on the distance. One musician described the rest of the process: "You go to the hotel, take a long look at the bed, go play the date, take another look at the bed and get on the bus.'' Such a life seems to agree with the Ellington bandsmen, who are cushioned against some of life's jolts by getting the highest pay in the business ($200-$500 a week).

Duke travels by car or train these days. He never flies, and has serious reservations about steamships. But when he hits New York between tours, his rounds of lawyers, music publishers, recording studios, photographers and tailors are fairly ducal. He likes to play the patriarch of his family which includes his sister, his son Mercer, 37, his three grandchildren and (by virtual adoption) his doctor and his arranger, Billy Strayhorn.

Ellington's second wind has been felt in the music business for months, and the major record companies have been bidding for his remarkable signature:

This week he plans to sign (with Columbia) a contract designed to give him the broadest possible scope. He will have time to write more big works, both instrumental and dramatic. Planned for the immediate future: a musical on the history of jazz, specifically composed for records. Ellington began work on this score 15 years ago in Hollywood, on a commission from Orson Welles, but he soon put it aside. "I wrote a piece of music . . . just 28 bars," he wrote later. "It was a gasser —real great, I confess it. And I lost it. I always said, and I say to this day, that it was the greatest thing I ever wrote . . . I got the money, but they never got the 28 bars." Now, Duke is determined to go on with the project despite the missing 28 bars.

Says a friend: "Duke hasn't hit his stride yet. If he retired for a few years and just wrote, he would leave a wealth of music. The record companies should let Duke write tremendous symphonies that would represent America and a style of music. He should be allowed to write big works, to write and record with big symphony orchestras. He shouldn't be limited to 14 or 15 men."

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