WELCOME TO TDES 40 IN TORONTO
LATEST NEWS :
Our Meetings are held at The Fairfield Seniors Centre, 80 Lothian Avenue.
Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of the month and start at 1:30 p.m. with the doors to the venue opening at 1:00 p.m. for set up etc. We try to conclude our meetings around 4:00 p.m.
Visitors are always welcome and new members are important to us. We appreciate visitors 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.
September 8 2026 - Our first meeting of the 2026 - 2027 season will be held at the Legion Hall on Jutland Road in Etobicoke.
Peter Hill, well known local pianist, with of Chris Gale - sax and Morgan Childs - drums will play some appropriate Duke Ellington music.
More details to follow. There is no charge for this concert for TDES Members as it is included in the membership fee. Non members are welcome to attend for a fee of $25 per person. Cash only at the door.
Pianist Peter Hill has been working as a sideman in the greater Toronto area for roughly two and a half decades. With a piano style steeped in early swing with shades of boogie-woogie, Hill is especially sought-after as an accompanist who can play virtually any song in any key without a chart. Previously associated with Jeff Healey, current and long-time collaborator with Laura Hubert and Alex Pangman, frequently sits in with Martin Loomer's Orange Devils and is the house pianist for Lisa Particelli’s vocalist-friendly Girls Night Out Jazz Jam. The accomplished Hill also holds a PhD in the mathematical field of Low-dimensional topology. Peter has a modern treatment of the historic Duke Ellington/Bubber Miley composition Black and Tan Fantasy which I hope he'll play for us.
Membership dues for the 2026 - 2027 Season are now due. Dues are $50 per person. There are no longer any family memberships. Those who join the Society subsequent to the annual concert in April 2027 are exempt from dues payment for the current year. Our Treasurer will accept cash, checks or an e-transfer. Send your dues to tdestreasurer@gmail.com
Please look under the Meetings and Events tab for directions and upcoming meetings.
Answer to the Cryptic Crossword puzzle clue:
From the Tuesday Jan 28 2025 Globe and Mail. A
cryptic crossword #2856 puzzle clue,
4 Down – Jazzman in central London with
a big tree (12).
I didn’t know there was such a tree but better known
as the giant sequoia.
The answer is, of course, Wellingtonia.
Jazzman – Ellington
In Central London - W1 or WI
With a
W(Ellington) I a – Wellingtonia.
Oh Dear, another cryptic crossword puzzle clue. From the U.K. Sunday Times April 20 2025
Duke who played Duke out of western (9)
ELLINGTON: WELLINGTON
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, live music events and through the awarding of
scholarships to musicians of the future.
