Welcome

 WELCOME TO TDES 40 IN TORONTO

LATEST NEWS :  

Status Update jan 19 2023

The renovations to Montgomery’s Inn are now complete.  We are now able to meet  monthly at our usual Tea Room setting at the Inn.  Our first meeting was on January 10, 7:30 pm. when Jim Northover made his Essentially Ellington presentation.

We have made on major change to ourt meeting arrangements.  Due to large increases in fees charged by Montgomery's Inn for evening evens we have decided to meet in the afternoons.  Meetings will remain on the second Tuesday of the month but will start aat 1:30 p.m. with the doors to the venue opeing at 1:00 p.m. for set up etc.

On February 14 2023 at 1:30 p.m. Professor Jack Chambers will once again dazzle us with a new program called “Happy Reunion” about great musicians that left the orchestra and came back to the Ellington fold after an extended absence. 

Topics for the meetings of March 14, April 11, May 9 and June 13 have not yet been finalized.

As we have previously mentioned, the membership fees for the six meetings to June of 2023 will be $20 for singles and $40 for couples.  For those who have paid for a full year, we will not be issuing a refund.  Instead, we will credit the difference between $20 and the amount you paid in the next season.  Membership fees can be paid by cash or cheque to”The Duke Ellington Society, Toronto Chapter” at the first meeting or by sending me a cheque to my home address, 18 Edenbrook Hill, Etobicoke, ON, M9A 3Z6 made out to the Society. 

 Note that we always appreciate non-members coming to our meetings to check us out.  If you know someone that may be interested, please tell them how great the music and presentations are and encourage them to come. 

Please see under the Meetings and Events tab for the  results of our reopening survey and the Financial statement.

The Toronto Chapter of the Duke Ellington Society was created on May 4th. 1959  and was one of the earliest to be established. The first Chapter was founded in Washington D.C. in 1953 and with the New York Chapter they were the only two others in existence in 1959.  Subsequently, several others have been formed in U.S. cities, in Britain and in Europe. While each chapter is independent there is interchange of information and studies and an annual International Conference.  The Toronto Chapter  hosted International Conferences in 1987 and 1996.

The music of Duke Ellington continues to bring people of all ages, backgrounds, artistic, social and cultural inclinations together in the spirit of swinging celebration. That is why TDES 40 continues to build awareness of Ellington’s music and influence through study, discussion and analysis in a welcoming and hospitable forum. We undertake the wonderfully rewarding work of encouraging the performance of jazz and of Ellington’s music by local, national and international musicians through our organization of concerts and through the awarding of scholarships to today’s musicians of the future.

Concerts are presented at a December Holiday Party and on a date near April 29, Duke’s birthday, every year. These eagerly awaited events have added significantly to the Chapter’s scholarship fund raising capabilities.  Since September 2012 we are now getting our season underway with a live jazz performance by a trio or quartet  at our meeting location of Montgomery’s Inn.