ELLINGTON, Duke.

Description

Congresscentrum, Hamburg October 1973 concert poster (Günther Kieser)

Original first printing concert poster advertising American pianist and composer Duke Ellington at the Congresscentrum in Hamburg [Germany] on Monday, 29th October, 1973, presented by Lippmann+Rau. The concert in Hamburg was the first stop on a seven-date German tour during October and November, culminating with his appearnce at the 1973 Berliner Jazz Tage at the Philharmonie in West Berlin on 2nd November. It was at the Philharmonie the audience booed and jeered the band’s male singer, Tony Watkins. The booing prompted Ellington and his band to leave the stage, cutting the concert short by about 20 minutes. “The biggest idiots I’ve ever known,” Ellington said of the audience. “Never in my life did anything like this ever happen to me before.” The Fall 1973 tour turned out to be Ellington’s last European tour. He died on 24th May, 1974 of complications from lung cancer and pneumonia, a few weeks after his 75th birthday. At his funeral, attended by over 12,000 people at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Ella Fitzgerald summed up the occasion, “It’s a very sad day. A genius has passed.” The poster features uncredited artwork by Günther Kieser. A reworked image of The Duke, which Kieser had originally used for Ellington’s 1965 German tour.

The poster measures 60.0 x 83.8 cm and is printed in black ink on thin, matte-coated paper stock. In excellent unfolded and unmarked condition. Feel free to email us with any questions you may have concerning this item. Additional images of the poster available on request.