Russell Procope discusses his radio series.

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Russell Procope on joining the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

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Russell Procope discusses his role with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

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Q: “In a way, because of your love for the New Orleans way of sound on the clarinet, you almost replaced Barney Bigard even though you didn’t actually replace Barney Bigard. Hamilton was the clarinet player but he had a very ‘legit’ clarinet sound – very straight, very different but when you came on the band, there was that warmth, that woody quality again – and it changed the band again because he started using you playing the clarinet.”

A: Russel Procope: “That's right. That's right. That's right. I guess because it was the sort of thing that he hadn't heard in the band for a long time. I don't know how long it had been between the time I joined the band and when he left. So and then the first thing I played with the band on the clarinet was Mood Indigo because I had been playing that with other bands, you know, I played with Teddy Hill's band or whatever.”

Interviewer: “Yeah.”

Russell Procope: “Because I like Mood Indigo and it was ... and the thing about Mood Indigo is the voicing between the trombone, the trumpet and the low register clarinet and then again, that's a beautiful example of Duke Ellington's harmony. Nobody else in the world would have thought of that.”