Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 20 hours ago
Duke Ellington - The Lake (Movement V from The River)
Written as part of Ellington's ballet score for Alvin Ailey's 'The River' in 1970, this recording is taken from the tapes Ellington recorded with his orchestra for use by Ailey's company in rehearsals. A symphonic orchestration by Ron Collier was performed at the ballet's premiere, which featured only seven of the twelve movements, as the score was not ready in time for the premiere. Subsequent recordings and performances have used this shortened version. Of note is the fact that the work, like earlier pieces such as 'Reminiscing in Tempo' (1935), 'New World A-Coming' (1943) and 'The Tattooed Bride' (1948), is largely through-composed, with only a few improvised solos.
The work as a whole follows the progress of the river from spring to ocean, with 'The Lake' appearing just under half-way through the complete version. Here is Ellington's description of this movement from his 1973 autobiography 'Music is My Mistress' :
"The lake is beautiful and serene. It is all horizontal lines that offer up unrippled reflections. There it is, in all its beauty, God-made and untouched, until people come—people who are god-made and terribly touched by the beauty of the lake. They, in their admiration for it, begin to discover new facets of compatibility in each other, and as a romantic viewpoint develops, they indulge themselves. The whole situation compounds itself into an emotional violence that is even greater than that of the violence of the vortex to come. The lake supports them until, suddenly, they are over the top and down."
(See also Ellington's comments from a 1970 concert at Grace Cathedral here: youtube.com/watch?v=5dayG62on4E)
Beside two rare recordings of Ellington playing a shortened version of this movement as a piano solo--youtube.com/watch?v=i0xmrWv7Z_g--and as a concert encore in a group with organist Wild Bill Davis--youtube.com/watch?v=1ImiTVS11LE--this is the only available recording that I know of in which Ellington performs the piece. The Ellington Orchestra recordings were not intended for release at the time, but were posthumously issued as Volume V of 'The Private Collection', a series documenting Ellington's longstanding practice of making studio recordings with the Orchestra for private use. Recordings of the Ron Collier orchestration are as follows: by the Ellington Orchestra and the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mercer Ellington, released on 'Three Black Kings (Les Trois Rois Noirs)' in 1980 (video footage can be seen here: youtube.com/watch?v=C2KR_5TS2Ks&t=2347s); by the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Akira Endo, in 1983; and by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Neeme Järvi, in 1993. Video footage of the Alvin Ailey choreography for the piece can be seen here--youtube.com/watch?v=TIngNDOWGZA.
The image depicts Nat Orr and Elbert Watson dancing The River. Photograph (c) Haruhisa Yamaguchi
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Music is (c) the original rights holders and is uploaded for information purposes only, as these are rare recordings, and this is an important work of great cultural significance by Ellington. I will remove upon request.
Recorded at Universal Studios, Chicago on May 25, 1970
Duke Ellington – piano
Cat Anderson – trumpet
Dave Burns – trumpet
Willie Cook – trumpet
Mercer Ellington – trumpet
Money Johnson – trumpet
Frank Stone – trumpet
Cootie Williams – trumpet
Lawrence Brown – trombone
Buster Cooper – trombone
Cliff Heathers – trombone
Chuck Connors – bass trombone
Johnny Hodges – alto saxophone
Russell Procope – alto saxophone, clarinet
Norris Turney – alto saxophone, flute
Harold Ashby – tenor saxophone
Paul Gonsalves – tenor saxophone
Harry Carney – baritone saxophone
Jeff Castleman – double bass
Joe Benjamin – drums
Rufus "Speedy" Jones – drums
Elayne Jones – tympani
Walter Rosenberg – glockenspiel
Dave Fitz – xylophone, marimba
Duke Ellington - The Lake (Movement V from The River)
Written as part of Ellington's ballet score for Alvin Ailey's 'The River' in 1970, this recording is taken from the tapes Ellington recorded with his orchestra for use by Ailey's company in rehearsals. A symphonic orchestration by Ron Collier was performed at the ballet's premiere, which featured only seven of the twelve movements, as the score was not ready in time for the premiere. Subsequent recordings and performances have used this shortened version. Of note is the fact that the work, like earlier pieces such as 'Reminiscing in Tempo' (1935), 'New World A-Coming' (1943) and 'The Tattooed Bride' (1948), is largely through-composed, with only a few improvised solos.
The work as a whole follows the progress of the river from spring to ocean, with 'The Lake' appearing just under half-way through the complete version. Here is Ellington's description of this movement from his 1973 autobiography 'Music is My Mistress' :
"The lake is beautiful and serene. It is all horizontal lines that offer up unrippled reflections. There it is, in all its beauty, God-made and untouched, until people come—people who are god-made and terribly touched by the beauty of the lake. They, in their admiration for it, begin to discover new facets of compatibility in each other, and as a romantic viewpoint develops, they indulge themselves. The whole situation compounds itself into an emotional violence that is even greater than that of the violence of the vortex to come. The lake supports them until, suddenly, they are over the top and down."
(See also Ellington's comments from a 1970 concert at Grace Cathedral here: youtube.com/watch?v=5dayG62on4E)
Beside two rare recordings of Ellington playing a shortened version of this movement as a piano solo--youtube.com/watch?v=i0xmrWv7Z_g--and as a concert encore in a group with organist Wild Bill Davis--youtube.com/watch?v=1ImiTVS11LE--this is the only available recording that I know of in which Ellington performs the piece. The Ellington Orchestra recordings were not intended for release at the time, but were posthumously issued as Volume V of 'The Private Collection', a series documenting Ellington's longstanding practice of making studio recordings with the Orchestra for private use. Recordings of the Ron Collier orchestration are as follows: by the Ellington Orchestra and the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mercer Ellington, released on 'Three Black Kings (Les Trois Rois Noirs)' in 1980 (video footage can be seen here: youtube.com/watch?v=C2KR_5TS2Ks&t=2347s); by the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Akira Endo, in 1983; and by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Neeme Järvi, in 1993. Video footage of the Alvin Ailey choreography for the piece can be seen here--youtube.com/watch?v=TIngNDOWGZA.
The image depicts Nat Orr and Elbert Watson dancing The River. Photograph (c) Haruhisa Yamaguchi
--
Music is (c) the original rights holders and is uploaded for information purposes only, as these are rare recordings, and this is an important work of great cultural significance by Ellington. I will remove upon request.
Recorded at Universal Studios, Chicago on May 25, 1970
Duke Ellington – piano
Cat Anderson – trumpet
Dave Burns – trumpet
Willie Cook – trumpet
Mercer Ellington – trumpet
Money Johnson – trumpet
Frank Stone – trumpet
Cootie Williams – trumpet
Lawrence Brown – trombone
Buster Cooper – trombone
Cliff Heathers – trombone
Chuck Connors – bass trombone
Johnny Hodges – alto saxophone
Russell Procope – alto saxophone, clarinet
Norris Turney – alto saxophone, flute
Harold Ashby – tenor saxophone
Paul Gonsalves – tenor saxophone
Harry Carney – baritone saxophone
Jeff Castleman – double bass
Joe Benjamin – drums
Rufus "Speedy" Jones – drums
Elayne Jones – tympani
Walter Rosenberg – glockenspiel
Dave Fitz – xylophone, marimba
