The Power of Words. M.J. Andersen: A topic to think about on a Saturday

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M.J. Andersen: A topic to think about on a Saturday

Related link: "A happy 100th for the Duke"

      Several weeks ago, I started collecting clippings that referred to the Duke Ellington centennial, which is in late April, thinking that Ellington would be a good subject for a column. I wanted to do the column during Black History Month, which was a bit early but would give people a chance to start thinking about him if they hadn't already.
      I worked from the clippings and from a couple of jazz histories, but in all honesty I don't know that much, formally, about jazz. The week before I wrote the column, I spent a fair amount of time just listening to the Ellington albums and CDs I have at home, though the collection is pretty thin compared with what's available. I could hear some of the passages in my head while I was writing.
      My major difficulty was that I just didn't know enough. So I ended up with an overview rather than a specific point or theme, which would have made for a stronger column. One reader of the column expressed fear of a ``dry history,'' which showed that he or she sensed the danger I was in; I suppose I tried to work my way out of that with description.
      One theme I did touch on -- the relationship between jazz and integration -- is simply a huge subject, with parallels in the world of sports, and I hoped that it would be okay to simply place it on the table, however clumsily, since it seemed to me an important part of Ellington's significance.
      What I've been trying to do with my columns, at least some of the time, is simply to broach a topic that someone might like thinking about on a Saturday. Certainly, music is one of those things, although, whenever I write about music, it comes out as a kind of blind enthusiasm, so I inevitably feel that I've failed. (I then resolve never to write about music again, and I don't, until I forget why it was so hard.)
      If anything saved me this time, I'm sure it was that Duke Ellington is just so great to think about. Thanks to Irving Sheldon here in the Editorial Department, who laid out the page that day, we were able to run that classic 1920s photo of Ellington in his top hat. I was happy that we were going to run that picture on a Saturday and say to readers: ``Hey! Duke Ellington!'' Then maybe someone who hadn't thought of him in a while would be reminded, and go listen, and get some pleasure from the day.

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