John Lamb on bass, Duke Ellington on piano, Johnny Hodges on alto sax and Lawrence Brown on trombone at Grace Cathedral Photo: Bettmann ArchiveDuke Ellington is between sets in his dressing room at San Francisco’s Basin Street West. “Do you want the snore in there?” he says, as he starts to lie down for a nap. Then, surprisingly, he chooses instead to engage with the interviewer—the music critic and television producer and host Ralph J. Gleason —and the camera crew who, by that time, have been trailing Ellington for a month. He also demonstrates a piece that he is in the middle of writing with his musical partner, Billy Strayhorn . It’s a rare example of a very candid Ellington letting the rest of us into his world and creative process.

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