Secret Ellington On Disc

  I  

In 1958, Duke Ellington, with the aid of Billy Strayhorn, wrote 22 songs for a Broadway musical entitled Saturday Laughter with lyricist Herb Martin. Unfortunately, the show—set in South Africa and featuring an all-black cast—was never produced on the big stage and the songs languished in obscurity for over 40 years ... until now. Originally prepared for an April 2000 concert presented by the Duke Ellington Society at St. Peter’s Church in Manhattan—in which all 22 songs were arranged and performed—12 of them have now been recorded by an all-star lineup on the album Secret Ellington for True Life Entertainment.

For the project, veteran jazz producer Todd Barkan brought together a revolving ensemble featuring 20 top jazz vocalists and instrumentalists to perform new arrangements of these 12 songs (on 14 tracks total – two of the strongest melodies received two different treatments).

The diverse and expressive vocalists are: Freddy Cole, Jeffery Smith, Judi Silvano, Karen Oberlin and Ian Shaw. The lineup of musicians on the disc includes: saxophonists Joe Lovano, Eric Alexander, Grover Washington Jr. and Bob Kindred; flutist Lou Marini; vibraphonist Joe Locke; pianists Arturo O’Farrill and James Pearson; guitarist Joe Beck; bassists George Mraz, Chip Jackson and Michael Pope; and drummers Steve Berrios, Mark Fletcher and Keith Carlock.

The original compositions only previously existed in poorly recorded demo tapes and sketchy, often inaccurate, lead sheets (Ellington never orchestrated them for his orchestra), so the arrangements were written by participating musicians: seven by Beck, one by Shaw, two by Pearson and four by O’Farrill (who provided the arrangements for the 2000 concert). Ellington authority Luther Henderson also served as musical consultant.



  • Don_and_Maureen_Sickler_by_Richard_Halterman_copy_2.jpg

    Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.

  • Trio_aRT_courtesy_Trio_aRT_copy_3.jpg

    Trio aRT with its avalanche of instrumentation: from left, Pheeroan akLaff, Scott Robinson and Julian Thayer.

  • KurtElling_6.2.25_by_ElliotMandel-REV-6.jpg

    “Think of all the creative people I’m going to meet and a whole other way of thinking about music and a challenge of singing completely different material than I would have sung otherwise to my highest level in dedication to the moment,” Elling says about his Broadway run.

  • Pat_Metheny_Side-Eye_III_Jimmy_Katz.jpg

    Pat Metheny will perform with his Side-Eye III ensemble at ​Big Ears 2026 in Knoxville, Tennessee, next March.

  • Mark_Masters_and_Billy_Harper_photo_by_Susan_Miyamoto_copy_2.jpg

    Mark Masters, right, with Billy Harper.