ellington saturday in charleston

Feb. 12 was Duke Ellington Saturday for me. I certainly didn't set it up to be that way but it was anyway. And that's alright with me.
I was anticipating the day because it was the date of the collaboration between the Charleston Ballet Theatre and members of the Charleston Jazz Orchestra. Charlton Singleton led Tommy Gill, Quentin Baxter, Kevin Hamilton, Stephen Spaulding, John Cobb and Mark Sterbank in their rendition of Duke's Far East Suite accompanied by dancers from CBT.
Held at the House of Swing, the Charleston Music Hall, it was out of this world.
As fate would have it, I started the afternoon stopping by Ellington, a women's apparel and accessories store on King St. The owner, Cindy Gaetke, had told me she was having some wine and snacks that afternoon for her customers, many of whom were attending the ballet later around the corner. The store, located right next door to the CBT studio, is named after Duke, one of her and he husband Jeff's favorite musicians.
In fact, Jeff played his bass with his brother Tom on keys and Keith Namm on clarinet that day during the informal reception. They do this at the store at least once a month and have been doing it for years. Of course, they played from the Ellington book, "It Don't Mean A Thing," "Solitude" and many others.
It was a fabulous omen for the show. I was primed by the fact that on that day I seemed surrounded by Duke, a state that wouldn't bother me to live in the rest of my life.