This week in the War, 11–17 March 1940: The Duke & Josephine

This week in the war, on 15 March 1940 in Chicago, American jazz composer and pianist, Duke Ellington, recorded Concerto for Cootie, which he dedicated to his trumpet soloist Charles ‘Cootie’ Williams. Ellington and his band were at the height of their creativity with recordings such as Jack the Bear, Cotton Tail, and Ko Ko. Many consider Concerto for Cootie to be a landmark in jazz history and one of Ellington’s greatest compositions. Trumpeter Cootie Williams left to join Benny Goodman’s orchestra, and Concerto for Cootie turned into Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me, with lyrics added by Bob Russell. The song continued to be popular and was performed by many of the greats: Louis Armstrong, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Andy Williams.

While Ellington was recording in Chicago, another great American-born jazz artist was living and performing in France: the singer-dancer and Folies-Bergere star, Josephine Baker, was entertaining French troops stationed on the Maginot Line. During the Christmas of the ‘Phoney War’, she had taken her act to the American Hospital in Paris. Before that, when France had entered the war in early September 1939, she had been recruited by the Deuxieme Bureau (French Military Intelligence) and spied for the Allies throughout World War II. She lived at the spectacular Chateau des Milandes.

She had at least two reasons to fight the Nazis and their racist laws: she was black and her husband was Jewish. At the end of hostilities, the grateful French awarded her the Croix de Guerre.

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