Speaking of Music returns for an all-star tribute to the legendary Duke Ellington!
Learn about the life and legacy of Ellington from acclaimed scholar John Edward Hasse. Then, take in the music of the man courtesy of a blockbuster lineup of performers, including James Langton's New York All-Star Big Band, featuring Ms. Audrey Martells!
Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington: No one led a life, led a band, or made music like Ellington. He was one of a kind — beyond category. Based on his acclaimed biography, Hasse introduces the moving and inspiring story of Ellington, who overcame racial, social, and musical obstacles to become one of the 20th century’s greatest musicians.
You’ll learn about his boyhood in Washington, D.C., his breakthrough at Harlem’s Cotton Club, the way he personalized his compositions for the individual gifts of his players, and his sharp disappointment about being rejected for a Pulitzer Prize. You’ll see video excerpts from such famous pieces as Mood Indigo, Take the “A” Train, and his Sacred Concerts.
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During his 33-year tenure at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, Curator Emeritus John Edward Hasse developed exhibitions on Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Ray Charles. He founded the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, now celebrating its 32nd anniversary, and international Jazz Appreciation Month, which is celebrated in all 50 states and 40 other countries.
His books include an acclaimed biography, Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington, with a foreword by Wynton Marsalis, and Jazz: The First Century, with forewords by Quincy Jones and Tony Bennett. As an expert on 20th century music, Hasse is a contributor to The Washington Post and eight encyclopedias and has written 50+ articles on music for The Wall Street Journal. His media appearances include CNN, CBS, PBS, BBC, NPR, and several documentary movies. He is the recipient of two Grammy Award nominations and two ASCAP awards for excellence in writing on music.
Hasse earned a BA cum laude from Carleton College, MA and PhD degrees from Indiana University, a certificate in Business Administration from The Wharton School, and two honorary doctorates. Active in cultural diplomacy for the U.S. State Department, Hasse has lectured on leadership, the arts, and music in 25 countries. His website is: johnedwardhasse.com
Purchase tickets here.
Ellington Effect Workshop 46: Volga Vouty
Join us for the live Zoom workshop on Sunday, December 15th at 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.
Can't make the live call? Your ticket includes access to the video recording forever.
Each presentation will last around 2 hours, followed by a Q & A.
Joining any workshop also gets you access to the private Ellington Effect Facebook group, where lively discussions continue after the workshops finish.
About Volga Vouty
Although Ellington wrote hundreds of arrangements, this arrangement from the Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker Suite is the only arrangement we’ll be dealing with in this book. The overwhelming majority of Ellington’s arrangements are settings of popular songs. With the Nutcracker and Peer Gynt, he and Strayhorn translated European fully developed classical music into the American vernacular. Although both Ellington and Strayhorn share credit for both suites (and all their suites per Ellington’s direction to his sister/publisher), in actuality, Ellington only arranged Volga Vouty, Peanut Brittle Brigade, and In The Hall Of The Mountain King.
The idea to arrange and record these two suites came from Strayhorn. As usual, Ellington was not very interested in arranging other composer’s music, preferring to compose his own, so Strayhorn did the lion’s share of the arrangements. Ellington’s instructions to his alter ego were to avoid “jazzing the classics” by describing the corresponding American ritual to the European ritual that Tchaikovsky and Grieg were describing, thus avoiding the superficial rhythmic treatments that plagued other jazz players and arrangers.
Volga Vouty is the Russian Dance from the second act dances in the Nutcracker. Ellington’s alliterative title cites the Russian river and Slim Gaillard’s slang (meaning “guy or cat”). The actual name of the dance in Tchaikovsky’s score is Trepak, which is a traditional Russian and Ukrainian folk dance. Tchaikovsky’s dance is rather short with little development. The theme is eight measures repeated followed by two short contrasting sections that develop the theme, and a recap that is the same as the original theme with a repetitious tag.
Ellington takes melodic and rhythmic liberties with the theme and the following contrasting sections, adding an intro and interspersing improvised solos. His shout is truer to Tchaikovsky’s theme and dance excitement but still Ellingtonian. The slower tempo allows for more hip shaking and swing feel and the blues. Ellington creates intensity through counterpoint and swinging rhythms rather than the fast tempo of the Tchaikovsky.
Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music
Saturday, 28 December, 20:00 (PST) The Great Hall, 1119 Eighth Avenue Seattle, 98101 United States
Presented in partnership with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra.
Ellington’s Sacred Music is both serious and swinging. It is a reverent and hip body of jazz composition, written late in his career, for jazz big band, vocal and instrumental soloists, and tap dancers.
For the past 30+ years Earshot Jazz and Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra have partnered to present an annual concert of Ellington’s Sacred Music. The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, led by Artistic Director Michael Brockman (who co-founded SRJO alongside Clarence Acox Jr.), features the 17-piece big band with trumpeters: Jay Thomas, Nathan Breedlove, Michael Van Bebber, and Andy Omdahl; trombonists: Dan Marcus, Scott Brown, Bill Anthony, and David Bentley, and saxophonists: Mark Taylor, Dan Wickham, Travis Ranney, Kate Olson, and Alex Dugdale. Rhythm includes Randy Halbertstadt (piano), Brian Kirk (drums), and Phil Sparks (bass). This year’s vocal soloists are Stephen Newby (baritone voice) and Nichol Veneé Eskridge (alto voice). Also featuring a choral ensemble combining members of the Northwest Chamber Chorus (Jeremy Edelstein, director) along with Music Director, Vanessa Bruce and vocalists. Cipher Goings will return to the stage as the tap dancer. A local artist raised in the Central District, Cipher Goings has appeared recently on So You Think You Can Dance, and on the stage in the Charles Dickens’ inspired production Spirited.
Note about the livestream:
Tickets to livestream and in-person concerts sold separately. At the time of a livestream ticket purchase, you will receive a confirmation email with a url link to access the concert stream. A reminder email will be sent out shortly before the event begins.
The livestream concert begins at 7:30PM PST. Ticket-holders will be able to access the concert as a “video on demand” with the same link, once the initial livestream concert has aired, until January 10, 2025. Once the concert has aired live, please allow at least 24 hours for viewing as our staff needs time to set up the “video on demand” manually.
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