PDX Jazz is excited to announce a FREE Jazz Conversation Series
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington is a cultural giant and a musical pioneer who passed away 50 years ago in 1974. Yet his influence remains pervasive, fresh and ceaslessly modern. But why, and how? How many appreciate that he not only created the music that defined (and even named) the Swing era, but that he elevated Black American music to the level of high art without sacrificing its roots? How many understand that he created a career formula for artistic and economic freedom, or that behind his tailored suits and sophistication, hew was a true revolionary, using music to push for social justce and equality? In an era when being a musician was one of a few ways an African American artist could achieve self-determination, Ellington's entire career was a struggle for civil rights and personal respect. With a generous offering of music, videos and images, we will both examine and question his legend, to truly grasp the enduring stature of Edward "Duke" Ellington.
—
Ashley Kahn
Ashley Kahn is a Grammy-winning American music historian, author, professor and producer. He teaches at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music, co-wrote Carlos Santana’s award-winning autobiography The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light (Little, Brown, 2014), and is a producer of Carlos (2023), the documentary on Carlos Santana (Imagine Documentaries/Sony Pictures Classics. He has written books on two legendary recordings: Kind of Blue by Miles Davis and A Love Supreme by John Coltrane, and one on a legendary record label: The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records. His most recent book is George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters. He also edited Rolling Stone: The Seventies, a 70-essay overview of that pivotal decade.
Kahn, who was recently awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Jazz Journalists Association, broke into the music business as a tour manager and music festival producer, has held a variety of positions in radio, television, and online businesses. As a journalist, his byline has appeared in many publications and websites, including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The New Statesman, and others, and his writing has garnered four ASCAP/Deems Taylor awards, and three Grammy nominations. In 2015, he was awarded a Grammy for his album notes to the John Coltrane release Offering: Live at Temple University, and in 2017, he received the Robert Palmer-Helen Oakley Dance Award for Excellence in Writing from the Jazz Journalists Association.
Kahn has worked on many music documentaries in a variety of roles: as producer/director—Carlos; Kind of Blue: Made in Heaven for Sony Music (2005)—as a consultant/writer—Netflix’s Chasing Trane 2016) and Stanley Nelson’s documentary on Miles Davis for PBS (2018)—and as on-screen interviewee: PBS’s Soundbreaking: Stories from the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music (2016); BBC’s 1959: The Year That Changed Jazz (2009); and many others.
This event is part of the 2024 Biamp Portland Jazz Festival presented by PDX Jazz