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Barrie Lee Hall Jr.

Rarely does the phone ring at 3 a.m. with good news. But nearly 37 years ago, when Barrie Lee Hall Jr.’s mother-in-law woke him because there was “some ‘Duke’ on the phone,” the early-morning call launched a career.

The “Duke” on the phone was Duke Ellington.

Hall was an aspiring trumpet player at Texas Southern University. Hours before, he had met Ellington at the Shamrock Hilton show in Houston, where a friend had even bragged about Hall’s musical accomplishments.

“Duke says, ‘Oh, yeah? How come he’s not playing in my band?’ and he takes my number down,’ ” Hall said, remembering a conversation from 1972 with the band leader and pianist.

“I thought he was patronizing me,” Hall said.

The 3 a.m. phone call was an invitation to Columbus, Ohio, for a gig.

That gig never materialized, but after a year of keeping in touch with Ellington and the band, Hall finally got another phone call.

This time, he was asked to come down to the Shamrock Hilton Hotel, where Ellington and his band were performing.

Hall was told to wear a white shirt, black pants and a bow tie. He was handed the band jacket and sent on stage to play tunes such as Take the A Train and Mood Indigo without so much as a single rehearsal.

“I’m 23 years old, and down there to the right is Duke Ellington,” Hall said. “You want to make a mark and play well.”

Hall made enough of a mark to get a full-time gig. For a year, he was traveling the globe and performing with Ellington before the jazz legend died in 1974.

Even after Ellington’s death, Hall, now 59, has continued to perform with the Duke Ellington Orchestra and is now the only member of the group who played with the pianist and band leader.

Hall recently has begun trying to preserve some of the style of Ellington’s performances. One of Hall’s main projects is to commit to paper the notes, directions and intentions of Ellington’s Third Sacred Concert, one of three religious works Ellington composed in the last decade of his life.

“A whole lot of it is locked up in my memory,” said Hall, who is also listening to old recordings of Ellington’s work and talking with vocalists and instrumentalists who worked with Ellington.

“If you don’t do it, it is forever lost,” he added.

Hall’s work on the Third Sacred Concert will be on display Saturday and Sunday in performances at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church with the Houston Chamber Choir and members of the Houston Ebony Opera Guild.

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