Duke Ellington -- His greatest work

The Duke Ellington Orchestra at the Howard Theatre in Washington D.C. in 1946 (William P. Gottlieb)

He died in 1974, but Duke Ellington remains a major influence on jazz. For over a half century, his music challenged the boundaries of the music, offering up harmonically sophisticated compositions.

This is exemplified by his theme song, "Take the A Train". The forward-thinking opening of the composition, written by Duke's assistant composer Billy Strayhorn, was written in 1941. But the original theme stated by the saxophonesechoes the harmonically advanced, rhythmically complex bebop songs from a few years later.

The only soloist on this song is trumpeter Ray Nance. The first 24 bars of Nance's solo also look forward to the upcoming be-bop revolution in jazz. It is also one of the most memorable solos in jazz -- so memorable that many consider the improvisation to be a written part of this classic composition.

Two years later, Ellington debuted his ground-breaking composition "Black, Brown and Beige" at Carnegie Hall in New York City. This 43-minute composition was the first jazz-based composition to be featured as a long-form piece in the classical tradition. Although it was criticized at the time for being too ambitious, it is now recognized as one of the premiere works of jazz composition in the 20th century. The first movement, titled "Black", is daring for its time, with tom-toms backing the brass and saxophones.



One of his best-known compositions was "In a Sentimental Mood", which Ellington wrote in 1935. This version includes a romantic violin intro, impeccably done by his multi-faceted trumpeter and vocalist, Chicago's own Ray Nance. Ellington was also adept at arranging other composers music, including a jazz verson of the "Nutcracker Suite" which he released in 1963. Nance was also featured on violin and vocals in 1943, introducing one of Ellington's timeless classics, "It Don't Mean a Thing".

Malcolm X: His life and times as seen through Timeline

Malcolm X continues to influence civil rights activists throughout the world. Malcolm, who adopted the Islamic religion while in prison, became a pioneering figure for the American Muslim movement, popularizing that religion in the African-American community. He is best known for his controversial advocacy for the rights of blacks; some consider him a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans, while others accused him of preaching violence. But his extreme intelligence and articulation of the rights of African-Americans continues to resonate today. Here is a timeline covering highlights in his life:
 

(Country/State TBD) leads in avocado exports during latter half of 2018

An avocado farm in Jalisco, Mexico (Andres Gonzalez/Pinterest)

(This city/country), despite a slight drop in production, led everyone else in avocado production during the last quarter of 2018, according to information produced by the Hass Avocado Board.

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Cousins, Rodgers are top QBs in NFC North for 2018

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (John Jacobs/NFL)

 

 

 

 

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers recorded eight games each with 100-plus QB ratings in 2018, which allowed them to finish one and two respectively in overall ratings for the 2018 season in the NFC North, according to rating released today by the NFL.

The statistics, seen in the animated graphic above, show that Chicago Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky recorded the highest quarterback ratings in one game during the 2018 season -- he had a 154 QB rating in a 48-10 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

A walking tour: My five top entertainment venues in Chicago

The Chicago Theatre in 2012 (Daniel Schwin)

Chicago has always been a home for important entertainment venues. Some of the city's most storied entertainment hot spots can be seen in this walking tour. Click on the icons in the map below to learn more about five of the most important arts & entertainment hot-spots:



We start our walking tour on Chicago’s North Side at the Congress Theatre in the city’s Logan Square neighborhood. This movie palace, which opened in 1926, was once a premier vaudeville house, in addition to showing movies. By the late 20th century, it was a premier music venue. But now it is closed and undergoing a $65 million renovation, with plans to reopen as a 4,900 music venue. We then proceed south to the Loop, where the legendary Chicago Theatre stands the corner of State and Lake streets. This great theatre featured movies and stage shows from its opening in 1921 until early 1956. It then showed movies only from 1956 to 1985, before being repurposed as one of the nation’s premier live performance venue. After that, we head to the South Loop, where Buddy Guy’s Legends nightclub has been the one of the country’s most notable blues clubs. Bluesman Buddy Guy opened the club in 1989, and he still plays there on a regular basis, along with just about every major blues and rock artist in the U.S. After that, we head south to the Pilsen neighborhood, where Thalia Hall has been a neighborhood institution since 1892. It was first designed as an opera house, and suffered through decades of disrepair, but it’s now a live pop music venue. Finally, we head south to the Avalon Park neighborhood, to the Avalon Regal Theatre. This beautiful 1927 1,900-seat theatre, designed by John Eberson, looks like a Middle Eastern tent in its auditorium. It started as a movie-and-vaudeville house, known as the Avalon Theatre. But after closing its doors in the early 1970s, it was resurrected as the New Regal Theatre by African-American entrepreneur Edward Gardner in 1987, serving as a venue for black performers. It's been closed and needs $5 million in renovations. Kanye West has pledged $1 million in support of the theatre, although that promise has not yet been fulfilled.

Here’s a split screen image showing the Avalon Regal Theatre in 1927, shortly after its opening, and in 2019:

My walking tour: The Edgewater neighborhood

The scene from Kathy Osterman Beach (Allan Scott Walker)

For over 100 years, the Edgewater neighborhood in Chicago has been one of the city's landmark communities. And in recent years, this lakefront community area has been one of the most diverse communities in the United States, with over 70 ethnic groups living in the area. It's landmarks are represented in my walking tour, as represented by this map:

   
The Swedish-American Museum at 5200 is a special venue, representing the Swedes who founded the Edgewater neighborhood of Andersonville in the late 19th century. King Carl XVI of Sweden was present at its founding. This week, it is being used as a strike camp for Chicago Public School teachers.

Edgewater Beach Apartments is the only remaining part of the Edgewater Beach Hotel complex, started by Marshall and Fox in 1918. This massive, Spanish-style “Pink Palace” was connected to the hotel by a three-block beach promenade for decades.

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"The Greatest Dance Scene in Movie History"

A movie poster for the 1943 film "Stormy Weather", featuring the Nicholas Brothers

The Nicholas Brothers are a dance team fondly remembered by those old enough to have seen them live. But they are often overlooked today. But their incredible, acrobatic style is unique. This dance sequence from the 1943 film "Stormy Weather" is considered to be one of their masterpieces. In fact, Fred Astaire called it "the greatest dance scene in movie history". Here's the start of that famous dance, where the Nicholas Brothers (Fayard and Harold) leap over the band members of the Cab Calloway Orchestra:

 

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This is a thrilling part of the dance sequence, where the Nicholas Brothers jump over two sections of the orchestra, leap to a split on the floor and then continue their routine:

 

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After their incredible choreography over the orchestra, the brother leap to center stage, where they continue their routine, running up the center staircase and proceeding with a complex series of steps that includes a series of splits. Remember this scene, because they will replicate it in this routine's remarkable conclusion:

The brothers then go from the stage to the top of pianist Bennie Payne's piano and then back to the main floor, executing a series of complicated tap steps throughout:

After the curtains open on the stage, the Nicholas Brothers culminate their performance with a series of splits in a large centerstage staircase which has to been seen to be believed:

The climax of this dance, again featuring that elaborate staircase, needs no words. It still astonishes, almost 80 years after it was filmed.

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Week 4: My Personal Landmarks (Avalon Park)

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I was born in the Avalon Park neighborhood of Chicago in 1965. During that time, the neighborhood was beginning to change.

The neighborhood was first populated by Germans and Swedes in the 1880s. And for the next 80 years, it was predominantly white. But African-Americans began moving in the neighborhood in the early to mid-1960s. Chicago, one of the nation's most segregated cities, was experiencing white flight throughout the city, a phenomenon which was encouraged by unscrupulous real estate agents who engaged in panic peddling among white families. This happened in Avalon Park as well, which was well-documented by this 1963 article in a real estate journal, "How Marynook Meets the Negro", which looked at how a relatively new community in Avalon Park called "Marynook" addressed integration.

Despite the best intentions of many, white families in Avalon Park were almost non-existent by 1980. But the neighborhood is still a middle class community, with 65 percent of its African-American residents employed in white collar jobs, a much higher number than when the neighborhood was all white.

The neighborhood also maintains some of its wonderful landmark attractions, from the beautiful Avalon-Regal Theatre, designed by noted theater architect John Eberson in 1927; to the imposing Chicago Vocational High School, a mammoth institution built in 1940, with a still-extant airplane hangar; and the hundreds of handsome bungalows built in the 1920s.

Jazz stars of the 1940s

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Hurricane Dorian, which hit the East Coast with a vengeance last week, continues to wreak havoc, especially in Carolinas. National Weather Service images show the intensity of the storm:

Satellite imagery of Hurricane Dorian on Sept. 1, 2019. (Photo courtesy of NOAA)

President Donald Trump had incorrectly stated that Alabama was in the center of the storm. But the president later backpedaled on that statement.

Sen. Rick Scott (R- Fla.) with President Donald Trump at Camp David, responding to press questions about Hurricane Dorian. (White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

Meanwhile, residents in the Bahamas continue to recover from the intense storm.

The U.S. Coast Guard helps Hurricane Dorian victims in the Bahamas on Sept. 1, 2019 (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

John Owens: My life story

My name is John Owens and I am a veteran multimedia producer who is still active in Chicago journalism. I grew up in the Avalon Park neighborhood on the city's South Side. I started working in 1987 at City News Bureau, a well-known news agency in the city. And from there, I moved on to the Chicago Tribune.