Facing the Music: Duke Ellington: In Control

Don Warrington tells a story of a remarkable rebirth, as a down-on-his-luck Duke Ellington spontaneously and joyously sparks his band into life at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. In the mid-1950s, Edward Kennedy 'Duke' Ellington was washed up. His musicians in disarray, his own star waning, his band had been reduced to playing obscure and tawdry gigs for cash - a far cry from their heyday a decade and a half before. With a low-billing spot at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, Ellington was staring down the end of the road. But there was just time for one last hurrah and to, musically, risk everything. With contributions from Tamara Rojo, Artistic Director of San Francisco Ballet, and Jochen Menges, Professor of Leadership at the University of Zurich and Cambridge University