Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: 1946
Duke Ellington and His Orchestra made its second appearance in Minneapolis on November 13, 1946, at the Minneapolis Auditorium. Ellington would perform his newest musical suite, “The Deep South,” a piece in four movements before his two-night stand at Carnegie Hall scheduled for November 21 and 22. Appearing with Ellington were vocalists Mariiono Cox, Kay Davis and Albert Hibbler. A special feature of the concert was the appearance of famed French guitar virtuoso Django Reinhardt, who was scheduled to play at least four numbers, some without accompaniment, in the next-to-closing spot. This would be his only U.S. tour. See a cool collage on Reinhardt on Robb Henry’s blog.