By Marilyn Lester   On the three days before Duke Ellington’s April 29 birthday, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JALCO) bestowed upon its patrons a great birthday gift, the full presentation of Ellington’s historic Black, Brown and Beige (BBB)...

        By Marilyn Lester   If the spirits of Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington and William “Count” Basie were listening in at The Count Meets the Duke, they must have been very well-pleased. This tight group of hand-picked artists – an “orchestra with no name,” lead by...