Forrest Gump had nothing on me. Present at LBJ’s non-succession? I stood a foot from the almighty Duke Ellington as he whispered “Love you madly” into my dear Mama’s ear: a 35-plus year reunion. And truth be told, I met the ascended master in at least one more backstage tête-à-tête: in the old Watergate Barge, docked along the Potomac.
June 1970. I was a footloose, fancy-free runaway bouncing around my home city, just a couple of miles from my folks’ comfortable Bethesda digs. Some “renegade” enabler friends had pulled me along to check out Duke Ellington’s appearance for free, D.C.’s “Summer in the Park” jazz extravaganza.
The opener was grizzled blues vet Jimmy Witherspoon, who could be counted upon to belt out “Wee Baby Blues,” or “Somebody Damaged the Lock,” any number of ribald classics. Funnily, his “guest vocalist” was named Miss Gloria Witherspoon, but no relation.
Miss Gloria wound up pairing her version of the Duke’s beloved “Mood Indigo” alongside its leopard-patterned-jacketed creator. At the song’s conclusion, “Dukie” rallied the mellow crowd, wisecracking, “There you have it, Jimmy with his spoon,” followed by “Miss Gloria without her spoon!”
Memory, believe it or not, fails me on what came next, but I distinctly recall a delicious arabesque of tenor sax intro from the diminutive Johnny Hodges: a jazz legend in his own right, and member of the Ellington organization (on and off) for the better part of 50 years!
So is it so off the chain for me to segway to Amsterdam Avenue, Manhattan, on or about May 27, 1974, thousands gathered in the nave of The Cathedral of St. John the Divine to honor the recently passed Duke? My buddy Alex and I among them. Especially graven I recall was Ray Nance (one of Ellington’s most brilliant soloists), streaming tears down his creased visage uncontrollably. Moments before, I had witnessed Erroll Garner’s cascading piano solo of “Sophisticated Lady” delivered as he propped himself up on the piano bench with the help of a pair of New York phone books!
