Life on the road with Duke Ellington is topic of talk Life on the road with Duke Ellington is topic of talk (February 02, 2005)

Life with the great jazz composer, pianist and bandleader Duke Ellington will be the focus of a February 5 program at the Menlo Park Library, with Betty McGettigan, close friend and companion to Mr. Ellington, reading from her work-in-progress memoir.

Ms. McGettigan, a longtime Menlo Park resident, will present the free program at 11 a.m. that Saturday in the library's downstairs meeting room.

Ms. McGettigan says she didn't really know who Mr. Ellington was when she first met him in 1969. At that time, she was the mother of young musicians in the California Youth Symphony, and she was trying to persuade the much-in-demand Ellington, who was performing with his band at Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco, to perform at a youth symphony fundraiser, she recalls.

Mr. Ellington agreed, joining a program that also featured comedian Jack Benny performing on the violin. And from that occasion arose a rich, personal relationship between Ms. McGettigan and Mr. Ellington that lasted until he died, with her at his side, in 1974, she says.

Before his death from lymphoma shortly after his 75th birthday, Ms. McGettigan traveled the world with him as he performed hundreds of gigs. She has a multitude of stories and anecdotes from those days, many of which are included in the memoir.

The presentation will include a display of personal photographs and other Ellington memorabilia. Ms. McGettigan has passed along a number of such items to the Smithsonian Institute, she says.

The program, entitled "The World of Duke Ellington," is being presented by the library in honor of Black History Month. Free van service is available for Menlo Park seniors and people with disabilities.

For more information, or to schedule transportation, call 330-2512.

The library is at 800 Alma St.

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