Live: May 2022

Thursday, 5 May - Saturday, 7 May 2022

Essentially Ellington 2022

From the website:

Join us for the 27th Annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival, May 5th–7th, 2022! The annual Essentially Ellington  High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival is one of the most innovative jazz education events in the world. 

Each year, high school musicians from across North America travel to New York City to spend three days immersed in workshops, jam sessions, rehearsals, and performances at the “House of Swing,” Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Details here.

This year's finalists...

Beloit Memorial High School (Beloit, WI)

Directed by Chris Behrens 

Bothell High School (Bothell, WA)
Directed by Philip Dean 

Byron Center High School (Byron Center, MI)
Directed by Marc Townley 

Foxboro High School (Foxboro, MA)
Directed by Aaron Bush 

Jazz House Kids (Montclair, NJ)
Directed by Nathan Eklund 

Mount Si High School (Snoqualmie, WA)
Directed by William Leather

New World School of the Arts (Miami, FL)
Directed by Jim Gasior 

Newark Academy (Livingston, NJ)
Directed by Julius Tolentino  

Noblesville High School (Noblesville, IN)
Directed by Bethany Robinson 

Orange County School of the Arts (Santa Ana, CA)
Directed by John Reynolds 

Osceola County School for the Arts (Kissimmee, FL)
Directed by Jason Anderson  

Plano West Senior High School (Plano, TX)
Directed by Preston Pierce

Rio Americano High School (Sacramento, CA)
Directed by Josh Murray 

Roosevelt High School (Seattle, WA)
Directed by Scott Brown 

Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble (Raleigh, NC)
Directed by Gregg Gelb

Thursday, 12 May, 2022

Laurent Mignard, Duke Orchestra Duke Ladies

Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris

From the website of Théatre du Châtelet...

In 1983, the musical revue Sophisticated Ladies, led by Dee Dee Bridgewater, made a stop at the Châtelet and celebrated Duke Ellington (1899-1974). Twenty years later, Laurent Mignard founded the Duke Orchestra and elevated it to the rank of “best active Ellingtonian orchestra” (according to the Duke Ellington Society).

In his new and ambitious two-volume Duke Ladies recording project, Laurent Mignard pays tribute to the women who inspired the maestro to write some of his most beautiful themes, from the fragrances of the Perfume Suite to orchestral frescoes, not to mention portraits such as Sophisticated Lady and Satin Doll. The Châtelet joins this vibrant tribute with a concert featuring an exceptional cast. From jazz, blues, opera or French song, the Duke Ladies will embody the multiple colors of Ellingtonian art, a rainbow of an evening symbolizing the eternal feminine.

Magistral – Jazz Magazine
Accurate and playful – Le Monde
A rare aesthetic relevance – La Terrasse

Booking details here.