In Duke Ellington's tape collection ("The Stockpile") were several tapes with concert recordings of the band's performances on tour. It was a great delight to find a tape box marked "Ellington - Uppsala 9-11-71" in the collection, containing a tape with a concert at the university town of Uppsala, Sweden on Nov. 9th 1971. The second of two concerts in Uppsala that day.
Ellington was on a European tour from the beginning of October to mid-November, taking the band through The Soviet Union, England, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Sweden and Spain before leaving Europe for Argentina.
It seems that Sweden has always meant something special to Ellington from the first visit in 1939 to his last concert in Sweden Oct. 28th 1973, only 7 months before his death in May 1974. During his visit to Sweden in 1939 he wrote Serenade to Sweden, as well as an arrangement of a Swedish hit song I en röd liten stuga (In A Red Little Cottage). Through the years several Swedish musicians played in the band, notably trombonist Åke Persson and trumpet player Rolf Ericson, and not the least must be mentioned his long co-operation with the extraordinary Swedish singer Alice Babs, who became a close friend of Duke's.
Personnel: Duke Ellington (piano), Norris Turney (clarinet), Harry Carney (clarinet), Cootie Williams (trumpet), Paul Gonsalves (saxophone), Booty Wood (trombone), Russell Procope (clarinet)
