CONTEMPORARY MEMORIAL, A {ROBERT F. KENNEDY TRIBUTE} (TV)
Summary
This special musical presentation, produced just days after Robert F. Kennedy's assassination, features a collection of jazz performances in tribute to the slain politician. The host, Father Norman J. O'Connor, introduces each musical selection with readings and quotations from the following: Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Aeschylus, the Old Testament, James Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," T.S. Eliot's "From Burnt Norton," William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," John Donne, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Emily Dickinson, Dylan Thomas, and Wallace Stevens's "The Man with the Blue Guitar." Joe Williams opens the program with "Come Sunday" and then sings "Poor Wayfaring Stranger." Pianist Bill Evans joins the CBS Orchestra in Claus Ogerman's "Elegia," performs his own composition "Time Remembered" with his trio, and serves as soloist on his "In Memory of Father." The Modern Jazz Quartet performs John Lewis's "Cortege," "Dido's Lament," and "The Spiritual." Felicia Sanders sings "Sons Of" by Jacques Brel, and pianist Horace Silver and his quintet close the tape with Silver's compositions "Peace" and "Kindred Spirits." Williams reprises "Come Sunday" accompanied by the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, followed by the orchestra's rendition of "Willow Weep for Me" and "That's Freedom" played by pianist Hank Jones. O'Connor speaks with jazz great Duke Ellington about the importance of keeping hope alive and avoiding negativity in times of crisis such as the event prompting this program. Ellington, on piano, accompanies the Bill Evans Trio in his own "Meditation" as well as in Billy Strayhorn's "Passion Flower." Amanda Ambrose presents Jerome Richardson's "In the Meantime" on the piano and in song, and Woody Herman and his Orchestra perform Herman's "Free Again," "Early Autumn," and "Greasy Sack Blues." The Grady Tate Quintet provides renditions of "Yesterday's Tomorrow" and a number reminiscent of a traditional New Orleans funeral march, "More Than We Can Stand." After Thad Jones on fluegelhorn and Mel Lewis on drums join their orchestra in a presentation of "St. Louis Blues," Williams closes the program, as he opened it, singing Ellington's "Come Sunday."
Cataloging of this program was made possible by a grant from the GRAMMY Foundation.
Details
- NETWORK: WCBS-TV
- DATE: June 9, 1968 Sunday 1:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 2:47:06
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:56401
- GENRE: Specials
- SUBJECT HEADING: Specials; Music; Assassination - Kennedy; Memorials
- SERIES RUN: WCBS (New York, NY) - TV, 1968
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Ned Cramer … Executive Producer
- Ethel Burns … Producer
- Ralph Curtis … Director
- Jacques Brel … Composer
- Hank Jones … Composer
- John Lewis … Composer
- Claus Ogerman … Composer
- Jerome Richardson … Composer
- Billy Strayhorn … Composer
- Bill Evans … Composer, Instrumentalist, Pianist
- Duke Ellington … Composer, Instrumentalist, Pianist
- Horace Silver … Composer, Performer
- Hal Hastings … Conductor
- CBS Orchestra, The … Symphony Orchestra
- Thad Jones Orchestra, The … Symphony Orchestra
- Woody Herman Orchestra, The … Symphony Orchestra
- Horace Silver Quintet, The … Music Group
- Modern Jazz Quartet, The … Music Group
- Bill Evans Trio, The … Music Group
- Grady Tate Quintet, The … Music Group
- Felicia Sanders … Singer
- Joe Williams … Singer
- Amanda Ambrose … Singer, Instrumentalist, Pianist
- Hank Jones … Instrumentalist, Pianist
- Woody Herman … Instrumentalist, Clarinettist, Saxophonist
- Thad Jones … Instrumentalist, Fluegelhornist
- Mel Lewis … Instrumentalist, Drummer
- Norman O'Connor … Host
- Aeschylus
- Emily Dickinson
- John Donne
- T.S. Eliot
- Robert Frost
- Gerard Manley Hopkins
- James Joyce
- Robert F. Kennedy
- William Shakespeare
- Wallace Stevens
- Dylan Thomas