Concert of Sacred Music Briggs, Bunny performer Concert 1966-12-26 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church The East Coast premiere of the "First Sacred Concert" a slightly altered version of the Grace Cathedral program of September 16, 1965 with Brock Peters called in to sing in place of Jon Hendricks; and Bunny Briggs, who originated the role, danced "David Danced Before the Lord." Wrote Whitney Balliett of that performance, "There, in full aural and visual flower, was Ellington's vision. The number, which was recorded during the concert, begins with a short, annunciatory band chord, and this is immediately followed by Briggs dancing fast, light steps. He continues by himself for sixteen measures, and drops into rangy half-time steps. (He dances throughout the number, which lasts six minutes.) The saxophones play the lovely steplike thirty-two-bar melody (originally "Come Sunday"), which, like a lullaby, covers less than an octave and a half and is built on sequential notes. It is played in half time to the dancing, and this sets up an exhilarating rhythmic tension. A choir chants the words over the band, which further enriches the rhythms, and in the next chorus the choir hums the melody while the band plays countermelodic figures--beautiful little flags of the sort that Ellington ran up again and again in his best work. The band falls silent, and the choir chants for a chorus, backed by Ellington and the rhythm section. (Don't forget the continuing rattling, clicking, stomping drone of Briggs' feet, and how, every once in a while, he throws in wild, off-beat, two-footed steps, which jar everything around him.) The choir rests, and Ellington and Briggs do a charging duet for a chorus. Then the choir hums the melody again, there's a pause, and Briggs gives an electrifying shout, which is answered by sixteen bars of ensemble band shouts. At the same time, the drummer (Louis Bellson) solos, the choir chants, and a clarinetist sails into the stratosphere. This mad five-tiered float careens along for eight bars, and Briggs dances out into the sun by himself for several easy measures, and the piece comes to rest with a final band chord." [Whitney Balliett, "Duke Ellington" The New Yorker Nov. 9, 1981 p. 156. Balliett's writing of Briggs' performance is some of the best writing about tap dance in the century.] Segments from this concert were filmed for CBS for broadcast. Performing Arts Encyclopedia http://www.loc.gov/performingarts Strattemann, Klaus: Duke Ellington: Day by Day, Film by Film. Copenhagen: Jazz Media (1992). Tap Dance America http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/tda/tda-home.html Bunny Briggs (biography) loc.music.tdabio.27 tda IHAS 151216 loc.music.tda.1249