Treasures from the Yale Film Archive: Conservatory without Walls: Jazz at Yale and Beyond

Filmmaker in person!
Join us in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Duke Ellington Fellowship Program at Yale. This event will include two Yale Film Archive-preserved episodes of the local news program WHAT’S HAPPENING, featuring footage from the legendary 1972 concert at Woolsey Hall with Duke Ellington, Max Roach, Jo Jones, Willie Ruff, and more. The night will also include the preservation premiere of Ruff’s 1973 film TONY WILLIAMS IN AFRICA, a short that follows American jazz drummer Tony Williams to Senegal. This film also features footage of Williams, Ruff, and pianist Dwike Mitchell sharing film and music with New Haven school children. Post-screening Q&A with filmmaker and musician Willie Ruff.

This screening is part of a year-long event, “Celebrating Willie Ruff and the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Ellington at Yale series,” which will continue in the spring with a major concert on Sunday, April 2, 2023.

Presented by the Yale Film Archive with support from Paul L. Joskow ’70 M.Phil., ’72 Ph.D. and the Gilmore Music Library.

Note: In keeping with Yale’s COVID-19 prevention policies, all attendees must be asymptomatic and fully vaccinated (including boosters when eligible) and should be prepared to show proof of vaccination. Yale-approved masks are required at all times.