are quite successful in reproducingnHodges, Nanton and Tizol.nWorld War II forced many changes innEllington’s personnel, but in 1955n(when Johnny Hodges returned after anfew years as a leader and Sam Woodyard,na superior drummer, was acquired) anothernexciting period began. The newnseries of innovations took the form ofnwhole albums rather than three-minutenperformances; among the more notablenwere Such Sweet Thunder, The Queen’snSuite, Suite Thursday, Afro-Bossa, ThenFar East Suite, The Latin-AmericannSuite, The New Orleans Suite and ThenAfro-Eurasian Eclipse. Columbia recentlynreissued Ellington’s music for AnatomynofaMurderQC?)-8lG(>). A lesser collection.nThe Virgin Islands Suite {196″!)),npreviously released on Reprise, has nownmade a reappearance under the Discoverynlabel (DS-841). Each of the last twonalbums contains a masterly performancenby Hodges.nMore on Educationnby Barbara M. MorrisnWhile one would not expect an employeenof a public school to endorse SamuelnBlumenfeld’s Is Public EducationnNecessary?, one would txptct a fair,nscholarly critique from a professor of history.nUnfortunately, I do not think thatndescribes Professor George Curtis’s condemnation*nof the book {Chronicles ofnCulture Jaimaiy/fchruaiy 1982).nThe missing ingredient in the discussionnabout the disastrous state of publicneducation is an understanding of whynthings are the way they are. Parents keepntrying to “clean up” the mess, not realiz-nAfs. Morris issues The Barbara M. MorrisnReport in California.nWork continued at a fiirious pace untilnthe end, when Ellington instmcted hisnson on how to complete The Three BlacknKings. This imaginative work becamenthe subject of an Alvin Alley ballet andnwas finally recorded by the Ellingtonnband and the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra,nwith Mercer Ellington conducting,nduring a 1977 tour of Poland. Thenmixing of the live recording leaves muchnto be desired, but the performance is impressive,nnevertheless. The two-recordnset also contains The River, on whichnAlley mounted another successful ballet,nand an earlier work. New Worldna-Comin’, a kind of piano concerto.nAdam Makowicz is the soloist on the latter.nThe album (Frog Box TFB 100/2)nisn’t widely distributed, but it can be obtainednfrom specialist dealers. While itncontains Ellington’s last orchestral work,nthe foil extent of his legacy cannot yet bendefined, because several albums of unissuednmaterial have yet to be released. DnPoi.iMK s & Ivxt iiN(;i:sning that they are dealing with a cancernthat has been metastasizing since the inceptionnof compulsory, state-controlledneducation in the early 1800’s. At longnlast, that necessary understanding hasnbeen provided. To the dismay of theneducation industry, Samuel Blumenfeldnhas documented the root of the rot.nAmong Blumenfeld’s revelations isnthat the first proponents of governmentdictatedneducation were more than then”strong-minded reformers” Dr. Curtisncalls them. They were, rather, agentsnwho recognized that in order to bringn*Dr. Cuais’s review was in the “In Focus”ndepartment, and he expressed his reservationsnabout rather than condemnation of Mr.nBlumenfeld’s approach.—Ed.nnnabout a socialist state, there would havento be a vehicle euphemistically calledn”public schools” which would ultimatelynchange and/or develop “correct” thinkingnthat would serve the state. This is thenessence of what Mr. Blumenfeld has carefiillynand painstakingly documented.nDr. Curtis argues that Mr. Blumenfeld’sn”. . . excursion into American historynis so patendy adversarial that his hypothesesnbecome vulnerable to any attacknwhich utilizes contrary evidence.”nBut Dr. Curtis does not offer a shred ofn”contrary evidence.” Mr. Blumenfeld’sndocumentation shows that the birth ofnpublic education was a painfol ordeal resistednby individualist citizens. Blumenfeldnexplains that in 1839 Horace Mannnlaunched a series of articles for professionalsnin which he urged them to putntheir children in public schools. This ranncontrary to the thinking of parents whonwere in disagreement with Mann’snpremise that “education” was intendednto reform the character of men in order toncreate a new society free of competition.nParents were chided for wanting to keepntheir children separate from the districtnschools where, admittedly, “some of thenscholars are addicted to profanity andnobscenity. . .” Parents were advised thatnit was their “duty” to put their childrennin schools where they would associaten”with the children of the poor andnvicious at some period or other …”nBlumenfeld relates how a practicalnHHHHM49nSeptember 198Sn