History
In 1967, the West-African Republic of Togo produced a series of four stamps commemorating great composers as part of celebrations for the twentieth anniversary of UNESCO. Among the four was Duke Ellington, alongside Bach, Beethoven, and Debussy. [5] This honor to Ellington was followed by a ceremony in New York, and wishing to be well-prepared, Ellington spent hours on the telephone asking for research into the country—"everything from its history to its fertility". Soon enough, he was sent a package of notes and other material about Togo by express air-freight. [6]
Several years later, in 1971, Ellington wrote his Togo Brava Suite as a way to thank Togo, which he originally conceived to have seven movements. He soon produced a recording of the suite in New York on June 28 and 29, and he debuted it at the Newport Jazz Festival in July, both that same year, in 1971. [6]
It was thought that only four of the pieces (out of eight) from Ellington's two June sessions belonged to the suite, due to the fact that those four movements were released on record a year later; however, the original, long-unpublished tape included a full seven movements of Togo Brava. These movements consisted of both old and new Ellington compositions: "Mris", retitled "Soul Soothing Beach"; "Tego", known previously as "Limbo Jazz", a piece debuted he on Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins in 1962; [nb 1] "Tugo/Yo-Yo", retitled "Naturellement"; "Too Kee", retitled "Amour, Amour"; "Buss", retitled "Right on Togo"; "SoSo"; and "ToTo", retitled "Afrique", which was later released on The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse in 1975. [7] This complete studio version was issued on CD by Storyville Records in 2001. [6]
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performed the Togo Brava Suite as a part of their Duke in Africa tour (January 2026), a part of the larger 2025–2026 season, titled Mother Africa. The tour's music was directed by orchestra members Alexa Tarantino and Chris Lewis and also featured music from Ellington's Liberian Suite (1947) and Afro Bossa (1963). [5] [8]
Reception
The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow stated: "By the time of these concerts from England, the Duke Ellington Orchestra had suffered quite a few losses of veteran personnel... However, the band was still a major force, and this set has plenty of highpoints". [9]
JazzTimes 's Harvey Siders wrote: "it's filled with many moments-indeed whole tracks-that bear few ethnomusicological ties to Togo. But that is of little consequence," adding that the tracks "represent Duke at his most uneven: moments of divine inspiration contrasted with frustrating mediocrity. The one constancy, which probably explains those parameters: experimentation. He never stopped reinventing his orchestra, always searching for new colors, new voicings-to put old wine in new bottles." [11]
Of the 2001 release, PopMatters noted that it "sees Ellington in good expressive mode and Turney's flute adds to the charm" and that "There is a filmic quality of which Ellington, ever the impressionist, was an absolute master, but also a slight heavy-handedness about the arrangements – possibly too brash for modern ears." [12]
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