For the quarter-century of its existence, the Duke Ellington Fellowship at Yale has been inspiring area students to open their ears to the rhythms of jazz and other African-American music. Now it's also encouraging them to open their mouths in song.
Singing groups from three area schools will join the Mitchell- Ruff Duo and jazz singer Nate Pruitt for the Duke Ellington Fellowship's 25th Anniversary Concert, which will be held at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 2, in Morse Recital Hall of Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St.
The three school groups -- Shades from Yale, the Manje Trio from New Haven's Cooperative High School, and the Greater Hartford Academy for the Performing Arts Jazz Choir -- were selected at a workshop sponsored by the Ellington Fellowship in March, which focused on the benefits of music education, especially singing.
"Singing is the most fundamental of all of humankind's music making," says Willie H. Ruff Jr., professor adjunct at the School of Music, director and founder of the Duke Ellington Fellowship at Yale, and the French horn- and bass-playing half of the Mitchell-Ruff Duo. "The voice is more accessible than expensive instruments, and excellence in its use needs to be stressed.
"This is especially true in inner-city school programs whose resources for instrumental music instruction have been so drastically cut," Professor Ruff continues. "But students at schools with well- funded programs in music also need to sing. Why? Because language is the central feature of meaningful singing, and we all know that language is no small consideration in the current debate in American education."
Over the past decade, notes Professor Ruff, there have been several studies showing that students who sing and play music at a high level in schools are significantly more successful in their academic studies and are actively sought after by the nation's leading institutions of higher education.
Mitchell-Ruff Duo. The benefits of musical study are evident in Mr. Ruff's own career, and in that of his partner-in-performance, pianist Dwike Mitchell. The two, who both hail from small towns in the South, first met when they were servicemen stationed at Lockbourne Air Force Base near Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Mitchell, a 17- year-old pianist with the unit band, needed a bass player for an Air Force radio show, and he saw a likely candidate in Mr. Ruff, who had just arrived on the base and, at that time, played only the French horn.
"He was just a kid, 16 years old, with a lot of hair, fire-engine red, practically down to his eyebrows," recalls Mr. Mitchell. "But he had all this energy, and he was eager to learn. So I taught him. Every time he made a mistake, I said, 'You got to stand in the corner,' and he hated that, and he'd scream and holler -- he had the loudest scream you ever heard. But he never made the same mistake again."
It wasn't until 1955, when Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Ruff left Lionel Hampton's band to strike out on their own, that the Mitchell-Ruff Duo was formed. Since then, their collaboration has taken them to many corners of the world. It was the Mitchell-Ruff Duo that introduced jazz to the Soviet Union in 1959, playing and teaching at conservatories in Leningrad, Moscow, Kiev, Yalta, Sochi and Riga. And it was the Mitchell-Ruff Duo that brought jazz to the People's Republic of China in 1981, playing and teaching at conservatories in Shanghai and Peking. Before the trip to the Soviet Union, Professor Ruff taught himself Russian, his seventh language, and before the Asia trip, he learned Chinese -- thereby enabling him to explain to his listeners, in their own language, the roots and lineage of American jazz, while Mr. Mitchell gave demonstrations on the piano.
A member of the Yale faculty for 26 years, Professor Ruff created the Duke Ellington Fellowship at Yale in 1972 in order to bring prominent figures in African American music to New Haven so they could teach and perform at the University and in the New Haven Public Schools. The fellowship was founded on the philosophy that the arts hold a central role in the education of youths, and that sharing "world-class musical experiences" with youngsters helps them develop a sense of cultural cohesion, pride in identity and strong ties to the past. Among the artists that the fellowship has brought to campus are singers Odetta and Bessie Jones, arranger Benny Carter, tap dancer Honi Coles and instrumentalists Charlie Mingus and Dizzy Gillespie.
Nate Pruitt. This year's featured performer is singer Nate Pruitt, who has performed jazz, blues and original compositions before audiences from his home base in San Francisco to Berlin, Germany. He has appeared at both the jazz and blues festivals in Monterey, The Berlin and North Sea jazz festivals, and at the W.C. Handy Memorial Jazz Fest in Alabama.
He has performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Diane Shuur, Dave Brubeck, Carmen McRae, Quincy Jones, Lionel Hampton, Ernie Watts and John Abercrombie. Mr. Pruitt has recorded six albums, and his voice has been heard on commercials and movies featuring Sidney Poitier, Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta, Alan Alda and Anthony Hopkins.
Tickets for the Duke Ellington Fellowship 25th Anniversary Concert are $20, $16 and $12; $6 for students. To order tickets, call 432-4158. Tickets will also be on sale at the door on the night of the performance.