The Duke! He is one of the most prolific composers in American history. And he staged a 20 piece ...

... orchestra nightly so he could hear his new music!

Click The pic of Duke to open "The Duke!" You Tube playlist of 17 vids. (All songs by the Duke except "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin.)

Driven by self-confidence that a doting mother instilled (it is said his feet never touched the ground before he was five!), he reportedly would come down the stairs in their upper middle-class Washington DC home, announcing, "Get ready, world! Here comes Edward Kennedy Ellington!"

By the mid 50s the Ellington band had fallen on hard times. A musical upstart called rock and roll and high costs were making it tough for Duke to keep a band on the road. The date at Newport held promise, but the band's set started off blandly. Audience members were leaving their seats. Duke called for "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue," [last track in the Playlist] music from 1936. And who cares?!

But tenor sax man Paul Gonsalves was inspired! He launched into what became 27 choruses of some of the most driving jams in jazz history. The audience came back to their seats. Duke Ellington's career was revitalized.

Thereafter, when anyone asked Duke when he was born, he said, Newport, July 7, 1956.

"Ladies and Gentlemen:

When all our pulses

beat ensemble [awn-sahm]

we're a swinging chart of fake

but one tailgate and false alarm

does not togetherness make

"So take it from the top and bop

and blow down through the bottom

let not the jamming ever stop

until you know you've got 'em."

Duke Ellington's intro comments to "It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got that Swing."

To read the definitive biography of Duke, check out Terry Teachout's 

Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington.

https://www.amazon.com/Duke-Life-Ellington-Terry-Teachout/dp/1592407498

Willie! The original singer-songwriter, guitar-pickin' outlaw! Happy Birthday, Red-Headed Stranger!

Click Willie and Trigger to open the "Willie!" You Tube Playlist - 25 vids (mostly live performances). Click the Play All button to enjoy the Playlist.
Guest performers include, Johnny Gimble, Freddie Powers, Waylon Jennings, Lyle Lovett, Paul Simon, Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, and sons - Lukas and Micah Nelson.

Some notes:
We open as Willie opens all his concerts - with "Whiskey River," written by Johnny Bush, an ol' Texas singer-songwriting buddy.

"Bloody Mary Morning." Willie and Family kicked off the first episode of Austin City Limits in 1974.

"San Antonio Rose." From Willie's ranch in the Texas Hill Country, he's joined by Johnny Gimble, the go-to fiddler in country music for years and a member of Bob Wills' Texas Playboys, and Freddie Powers, beloved Texas guitar picker-songwriter and sidekick to Willie and Merle.

"Remember Me" by T. Texas Tyler. (Sister Bobbie Nelson on piano. Harmonica virtuoso, Micky Raphael.)

"My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys." By prolific country music songwriter, Sharon Vaughan.

"Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys." By Ed and Patsy Bruce. 

"Farther Down the Line." By Lyle Lovett. As much as I like hearing Willie sing this one, it's Lyle Lovett's voice that brings a poignant, almost sad sensitivity to the song. (With that country music super star, Ringo Starr, on drums.)

"Good Hearted Woman." By Willie and Waylon. In 1969 the boys were staying in a motel in Fort Worth. Waylon got inspired to start writing the song when he saw an advertisement in a newspaper promoting Tina Turner as a "good hearted woman loving a two-timing man," a reference to Ike Turner. He went to talk to Willie who was in the middle of a poker game. Waylon joined the game and told Willie his idea. While they kept playing, they expanded the lyrics as Willie's wife Connie Koepke wrote them down. 

"I Can Get Off on You." By Waylon. A 1977 cocaine bust and lots of experience with other substances, to say nothing of Willie's marijuana ingestion, was probably the inspiration for this one.

"Me and Paul." Dedicated to his drummer Paul English, “Me and Paul” is a road-chugger about the realities of touring life, the poisons of Music Row, and how everything is better with a partner in crime. 

"Truck Drivin' Man" by Terry Fell, one of Buck Owens' Buckaroos. Speaking of "road-chugging!" Willie gives a distinct Texas feel to this country truck-driving song. Move over, Dave Dudley!

"Nothing I Can Do about It Now." By Texas singer-songwriter, Beth Nielsen Chapman. This is one of my favorites in the Willie catalog.

"Graceland" By Paul Simon. And with Paul on stage. Willie changes the line, "There's a girl in New York City" to "There's a girl in Austin, Texas." Nice.

"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right." By Bob Dylan. With Merle Haggard.

"Pancho and Lefty." By Townes Van Zandt. With Bob Dylan.

"Pick up the Tempo." By Willie.

"Til I Gain Control Again." By fellow Texan, Rodney Crowell. With Emmylou Harris.

"Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground." By Willie. A fine companion, I think, to "Til I Gain Control Again."

"Stay a Little Longer." By Bob Wills and Tommy Duncan. 

"Milk Cow Blues." By Kokomo Arnold (also known as Gitfiddle Jim). Willie on electric guitar.

"Crazy." By Willie. Back in 1961 when he was mainly a songwriter, he co-wrote "Crazy" with a friend named Oliver English. Several singers turned it down, but it was a big hit for Patsy Cline. That put Willie on the track.  ...  He originally titled the song, "Stupid," but that didn't go over with the  crowd he "auditioned" it to at Nashville's Tootsie's Orchid Lounge.

"Pretty Paper." By Willie. During the 1963 Christmas season in downtown Fort Worth Willie, saw a man without legs on a low platform roller. He was selling paper and pencils in front of Leonard's Department Store. To attract the attention of the people, the man announced, "Pretty paper! Pretty paper!"

"Will The Circle Be Unbroken? / Uncloudy Day / Amazing Grace." By The Carter Family/Traditional. Willie's grandfather bought him a guitar when he was six, and taught him a few chords. Willie sang gospel songs in the local Abbott, Texas, Methodist Church alongside sister Bobbie. He wrote his first song at age seven. He's quoted as believing in reincarnation because he was writing unrequited love songs at an early age.

"On the Road Again." By Willie. [with The Highwaymen - Waylon, Johnny, and Kris] He wrote this one on an airplane cocktail napkin in about 10 minutes. Producer Sydney Pollack was sitting beside him and asked him if he could write some music for the movie Honeysuckle Rose, starring Willie, Dyan Cannon, and Slim Pickens. When Willie handed the napkin back to Pollack, the producer looked at the lines and thought, "That's not much of a song."  ...  It won a Grammy that year (1980) and Rolling Stone has listed it among the most popular songs of all time.

"Can I Sleep In Your Arms." Willie Nelson and The Boys - Willie with sons Lukas and Micah from his Luck Ranch in the Texas Hill Country. He first recorded the song for his 1975 hit album, Red Headed Stranger.

"I Don't Hurt Anymore"/"Sweethearts Are Strangers" - with Merle Haggard

"Don't Get Around Much Anymore" by Duke Ellington, whose birthday is also today (April 29). Both Willie and the Duke are among America's top composers with over 2,000 songs credited. 

"Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground"(reprise)

"I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter"

"There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight" (by Hank Williams)

"I Thought about You, Lord" (Sister Bobbie, piano; Johnny Gimbel, fiddle)