Although Ellington's compositional practices tend to support his statements about composing at the end of a deadline, often composing an entire piece in one night, new research shows that the ideas of Black, Brown, and Beige can actually be found twelve years earlier with Ellington's unproduced opera Boola. The plot of Boola deals with the history of the African-Americans, beginning in Egypt and continuing through Africa and the Deep South until they found their place in present-day Harlem. In Black, Brown, and Beige, Ellington takes the overall diagram of Boola and shrinks the subject matter into a forty-five minute extended work for his band. Ellington also borrows from his own previous compositions in Black, Brown and Beige through quotation and recomposition.

Works: Ellington: Black, Brown and Beige.

Sources: Ellington: Symphony in Black (73-74), Jump for Joy (74-82), East St. Louis Toodle-Oo (82), Riding on a Blue Note (82), Bitches' Ball (82).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Popular

Contributed by: Matthew Altizer