Sesquicentennial concert Feb. 7 to recall landmark visit by Ellington

Sesquicentennial snapshot African American students gather in a UW–Madison residence hall room in the early 1970s. At the peak of America’s civil-rights movement, UW- Madison opened a new chapter on the African-American experience. More – larger version of this image.) (Photo courtesy UW–Madison Archives)

FLASHBACK Historical highlight The Haresfoot Club, started in 1899 as UW–Madison’s first student theater group, thrived for 64 years under the motto, “All our girls are men, yet every one’s a lady.” The troupe didn’t have the budget to take females, who required chaperones, on the road, so the male cast donned gowns to play women’s roles. While the gender-bending shtick became a trademark, the students’ acting and writing were exceptional, inspiring the 1937 film “Varsity Show.” Meanwhile, conventional student theater also flourished. The Wisconsin Players debuted in 1922, and the Wisconsin Union Theater – opened in 1939 as a dazzling showplace – was later joined by two new playhouses. People in our past Charles R. Van Hise was the first UW graduate named president of his alma mater in 1903, but he also scored an earlier first: In 1892, he received the university’s first doctorate degree, in geology. More than 31,000 doctorates later – a figure few, if any, other institutions can match – UW–Madison now awards the third-largest number of Ph.D. degrees in the nation each year. The frontier defines us, and in 1893, history professor Frederick Jackson Turner defined the frontier. His “frontier thesis” became one of the most influential theories ever posed about the American experience. Turner believed the American character of pragmatism, grass-roots government and individualism grew from the gritty realities of relentlessly conquering the West. Turner made frontier history courses wildly popular on campus at the turn of the century, and his thesis remains a vital, but controversial, view of American history. Campus memories “Michael Hakeem, professor of sociology, correctional administration. Looked like an old prison guard. Taught the value of critical thinking in reference to subject he taught. This was applicable across the board to all manner of learning. The only instructor who made a lasting impression upon me and changed the way I look at things and analyze information. Took 4 courses from him and received 1 B and 3 C’s. I think he actually may have liked me but this certainly didn’t effect the way he graded. Many students dropped his courses and hated his style. Marshall Clinard of the Sociology Department at that time was the liberal darling of criminologists nationwide and I heard he and Hakeem never even spoke to each other. He was truly my mentor and my ‘UW experience’ would have been a lot less memorable without having been able to learn from him.” — Jack Opgenorth BA ’76 To offer your own memory, visit Share the Memories on the sesquicentennial Web site.

Nobody much called him by his real name, Edward Kennedy Ellington. He went by “Duke,” and in the world of music, he was indeed royal.

“I never had migraine headaches before Duke came to campus, and I’ve never had one since. That gives you an idea of the stress we were under preparing for and during his visit,” recalls James Latimer, a music professor who was the primary organizer of Duke Ellington’s weeklong residency at UW–Madison in 1972.

As part of his week, Ellington composed “The U-Wisc Suite,” which the UW Jazz Ensemble will perform as part of the university’s 150th Anniversary Concert Sunday, Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. The date coincides with a week of festivities commemorating the first UW classes in 1849.

The gala performance in the Kohl Center will be only the third time Ellington’s suite has been performed in Madison, says Joan Wildman, another UW- Madison professor of music who now chairs the School of Music’s Jazz Studies Area.

“Duke didn’t write many of the notes on paper — he just left some chicken- scratching type notes,” she says. “That’s all he needed to do — the band members who came with him to Madison knew him so well they automatically knew what he intended.”

Wildman describes “The U-Wisc Suite” as having three very different movements. “One of them includes a polka,” she says. “It’s a jazzy polka, but it’s a clearly recognizable polka.”

Ellington premiered the suite at a Friday evening concert during his residency week. “He gave five evening concerts while he was here. Four of them — ‘Popular Favorites,’ ‘Family Night,’ ‘Sacred Concerts’ and ‘A Night of Suites,’ — were held on the UW–Madison campus. The Thursday night concert — ‘The Duke in Milwaukee’ — was at UWM,” Latimer says. Ellington also taught master classes in the UW–Madison School of Music, as did his band members.

Did the experience of working with him justify those migraines? “Absolutely,” Latimer says. “It was a chance of a lifetime.”

Duke Ellington’s “U-Wisc Suite” will share the February concert bill with a cross-section of music popular throughout the university’s 150-year history. According to School of Music director John Schaffer, concert organizers tried to construct a program reflecting university and Wisconsin musical heritages.

“During UW’s first 50 years, people did a great deal of singing, so we have the Choral Union performing,” Schaffer says. “Around the turn of the last century, marching bands were popular, so our Marching Band will present an interesting mix of marches and other band favorites. In the 30s and 40s, jazz was coming into its own, so we’ll draw upon our Jazz Ensemble to represent that.”

The performers will present a history of university fight songs, spirituals, and works by Beethoven, Mahler and Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” complete with cannon and fireworks.

Sponsored by American Family Insurance, the concert will be Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. in the Kohl Center. Tickets are on sale at the Kohl Center and all Ticketmaster outlets. The cost is $5 for adults, $3 for 13 years old through college, and $2 for children under 12. To order by phone, call Ticketmaster at 255-4646.

Revenues will go to the undergraduate sesquicentennial scholarship fund. For more information about the concert, contact the UW–Madison School of Music, 263-1900.