Duke Ellington, Alice Babs, "Praise God and Dance"

Recorded at the Gustav Vasa church, Stockholm, Sweden, November 6, 1969. It originally aired on Swedish TV on December 25, 1969. According to the US Library of Congress this video resides in the public domain.
Backstory: One wintery day my dad comes home from work at the US Embassy in Sweden and asks if I knew how to read. To which I replied, "Of course!" He then asks if I minded missing some school the following week, and I certainly didn't mind that, so on Monday, he took me to the Gustav Vasa church (conveniently across the street from my school) where I spent the week with the Duke Ellington band learning the lines of "The Apple." Mostly I hung out with the horn section and we waited for our turn to practice our parts. Johnny Hodges took a particular interest in me and he gave me advice on how to learn my lines, recite them clearly, think about practice, and not be nervous. I had no idea how famous these guys were, only that my dad seemed very impressed and I got out of school. I remember being nervous during the performance (starts at 8:34 in this video), and being really interested in my Dad's behaviour when we hung out with Duke in his dressing room after the show and I introduced him to Duke Ellington. Duke had the biggest bottle of Yardley Black Label cologne I'd ever seen, and afterwards, my dad always had a bottle in his medicine cabinet.
One of the things I remember the extreme deference given to Alice Babs, which I also didn't understand at the time: she was kind of dismissive of me (compared to the other musicians). I had the sense that she felt like this was her show, even though Duke Ellington was clearly the draw. It's only been later as I read about her relationship with Duke Ellington and his music that I began to understand. Her version of Diga Diga Doo with the Nisse Linds Hot Trio (1935-ish) remains one of my favorites.

[@keithhowell3162]

Awesome

[@customkey]

Duke's last great Masterpiece, and a landmark of 20th Century Music. I am now 74 years old and I remember when Duke was composing this music. And for The Apple, thanks for the insight into this night, you did a great job!

[@desmondralane7359]

Great post for a bit of change on this medium,more great posts will do,truly adorable,the voices and instruments just a good concept from the Master himself the Duke Kennedy Ellington.

[@waldolydecker8118]

captbobalou - thanks for this marvelous post. Enjoyed your backstory and performance as well. To quote a line from 'West Side Story' - "you done good, buddy boy."

[@tonygiraldes7848]

Just the greatest!

[@АлександрСафронов-л6т]

Молодец captbobalou- вошел в анналы истории!!