Here is a video of Luca's address on the subject of Ellington's 'lost' symphony to the delegates at Ellington 2012. Luca is introduced by the late Geoff Smith, a former Chairman of Duke Ellington Society UK.
It is advisable to book any event listed here in advance when possible and check with the promoter/ organiser to ensure any performance is going ahead as planned before travelling.
Sunday 7 December 2025, 14:30
North West Duke Ellington Orchestra directed by Phil Shotton
Lowther Pavilion & Gardens, Lowther Pavilion, West Beach, Lytham St Annes, FY8 5QQ
Directed by acclaimed saxophonist and bandleader Phil Shotton, the 15-piece big band brings together Ellington obsessed musicians from across the North West, including Cheshire, Lancashire, Liverpool City Region, and Manchester. The orchestra is dedicated to celebrating the music of jazz legend Duke Ellington, performing pieces from across his illustrious career—from his early 1920s Cotton Club dance tunes to the dynamic and sophisticated suites of the 1950s.
The ensemble performs music largely sourced from The Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra’s Essentially Ellington programme, featuring note-for-note transcriptions of historic live performances by The Duke Ellington Orchestra. The band gives audiences an authentic experience of the timeless brilliance of Ellington and his long-time collaborator, Billy Strayhorn, as they were meant to be heard.
Tickets here.
For sale recently on eBay, pictured below, the menu-style programme for Duke Ellington's 1959 revival of Jump For Joy.
As ever, David Palmquist's invaluable Duke Where And When gives context to this particular souvenir...
It is advisable to book any event listed here in advance when possible and check with the promoter/ organiser to ensure any performance is going ahead as planned before travelling.
Wednesday 12 November 2025
Echoes of Ellington with Pete Long and Sara Oschlag
Ella Fitzgerald and the Duke Ellington Songbook
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Over 18s Only
ELLA & DUKE presented by The Pete Long Orchestra
In the late 1950s to the early 1960s two of the true greats of jazz made a series of recordings which continue to dazzle listeners to this day.
Playing music from the 1958 album, 'Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Duke Ellington Songbook', this concert unites the award-winning Echoes Of Ellington orchestra led by Peter Long with internationally acclaimed jazz vocal virtuoso Sara Oschlag, to recreate and achieve an evening of the very finest in swing music.
Expect Take The 'A' Train, Caravan, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, C Jam Blues, I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart and many more.
Sunday, 16 November 15:00 (EST)
Ellington Effect Workshop #57
Depk with David Berger
About Depk
Depk is the fourth of nine parts of the Far East Suite (aka Expressions Of The Far East and Impressions Of The Far East). Ellington wrote five parts (Tourist Point Of View, Depk, Mount Harissa, Blue Pepper and Amad, Strayhorn wrote three parts (Bluebird Of Delhi, Isfahan, and Agra) and Ellington and Jimmy Hamilton collaborated on Ad Lib On Nippon).
The suite was inspired by the band’s State Department tour of the Middle and Near East in 1963, which was cut short when President Kennedy was assassinated. Ad Lib On Nippon came later from a 1964 tour of Japan and was not part of the original suite but added for the recording. Strayhorn’s Isfahan was written just prior to the State Department tour and was originally entitled Elf.
Although many of Ellington’s suites are of the highest quality, Such Sweet Thunder and Far East Suite were the most celebrated and influential on future generations of jazz composers and arrangers. Such Sweet Thunder pushed the boundaries of conventional chord progressions and song forms, while Far East Suite, written only six years later, led the way into modal writing primarily with Tourist Point Of View and Amad. Although Ellington denies being influenced by music outside his band, Coltrane’s contribution is felt heavily and will continue to be heard in later Ellington pieces like Chinoiserie from Afro Eurasian Eclipse.
Even while Ellington is at his modernistic best, he does not forsake his earlier swing roots and orchestral colours. Although now framed in the latest style, most of the soloists (Hodges, Carney, and Brown) perform in their now antique ways. Gonsalves and Ellington are more contemporary in their contributions. Hamilton remains unique with one foot in European Classical music and one foot in almost bebop.
Tickets here or annual subscription here.
North West Duke Ellington Orchestra directed by Phil Shotton
Whelley Ex-Servicemen's Club Vauxhall Road, Wigan WN1 3LU
Book tickets here.
It is advisable to book any event listed here in advance when possible and check with the promoter/ organiser to ensure any performance is going ahead as planned before travelling.
Sunday 5 October 15:00 (EST)
Ellington Effect Workshop #56: The Blues
with David Berger
23 January, 1943 stands out as one of the most significant dates in the annals of jazz. It was on this evening that Duke Ellington premiered his first and only symphony at Carnegie Hall. He didn’t call it Symphony #1 or even refer to it as a symphony, but in essence that’s what it is: a 3- movement motivic-driven work divided into nine parts lasting 52 minutes.
Black: Work Song, Come Sunday, Light
Brown: West Indian Dance, Emancipation Celebration, The Blues
Beige: Beige, Cy Runs Rock Waltz, Symphonette
As great as this piece was, many critics failed to understand both its importance and its greatness. The classical critics only saw its minor flaws in continuity and didn’t understand Ellington’s jazz harmonic, structural, and developmental language and process. On the other hand, the jazz reviewers weren’t ready for jazz to leave the dance hall and viewed BBB as pretentious. The sold-out audience (who attended despite a blizzard) disagreed and was overwhelmingly enthusiastic.
Due to the AF of M recording ban at that time, no commercial recording was made. However, the concert was recorded live but wasn’t released until three decades later. When the recording ban ended, Ellington recorded a few excerpts of BBB in December 1944. He never performed the piece in its entirety again. When he recorded portions of it in later years, he still didn’t fix all the original problems, the most egregious of which was the ultrapatriotic ending. The 1945 RCA recordings, although incomplete, are the best played and recorded. The piece and the band were a bit unprepared at the premiere, and later bands had vastly different personnel that didn’t always address the earlier music. There have been several performances since Ellington’s death, but, considering the quality of music and its historical importance, this gem has been overlooked.
Come Sunday has become well-known to jazz fans and many churchgoers, but it’s only one of the great themes in BBB. Ellington’s initial idea for this piece was the 1935 short film Symphony In Black, which was a series of vignettes depicting contemporary Negro life in America. Although the film won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject, it suffers from being too short and lack of musical preparation. Ellington ran out of time and used previously written pieces to tell the story. Ducky Wucky, Saddest Tale, and Merry Go-Round are all great pieces but lack the cohesion of a singular work.
If Symphony In Black was too big a story to tell in 15 minutes, BBB attempted to tell the entire 324-year history of the American Negro in 52 minutes. Mistake number one. BBB begins with Work Song, which bears a strong resemblance to the opening scene of Symphony In Black’s The Laborers. It’s fully developed and leads to the spiritual theme, Come Sunday, which is similar to Hymn Of Sorrow, the spiritual theme of Symphony In Black. Light closes out the first movement. Curiously, Brown begins with two standalone dances before concluding with The Blues, which combines operatic recitative, harmonically sophisticated and earthy downhome blues.
The contiguous Beige includes a bit of Billy Strayhorn’s writing in 3/4 before easing into Ellington’s expressive medium swing. It’s clear that a solid ending is called for, but Ellington’s frequent mental block surfaces. He decides to write a patriotic coda for Herb Jeffries to sing. When this proved to be too over the top, he removed the vocal, but the flag waving was still too much. He never did find a satisfactory ending.
In an inspired piece of music with numerous memorable themes, The Blues stands out as one of Ellington’s most iconic pieces. There is nothing like it in his entire canon. Like Come Sunday, it is clearly a concert piece, while descending from the dance hall, it has no place there. The Blues is a dramatic description which draws on jazz and blues as well as the recitative/accompaniment of opera.
Ticket available here. Annual membership available here.
Harmony In Harlem directed by Michael Kilpatrick
St John's ARC, St John's Walk, Market Street, Harlow, Essex, CM17 0AJ
Tel: 01279 417575
Harmony In Harlem is a 16-piece jazz orchestra specialising in the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, directed by Michael Kilpatrick, whose research on Duke's manuscripts and recordings has resulted in a repertoire unique amongst jazz orchestras. From the 'jungle sounds' of the Cotton Club era through to the esoteric 'Such Sweet Thunder' of the late 1950s and beyond, we can present a vibrant and gripping performance of music from the greatest bandleader/composer in jazz history.
The orchestra, based in Cambridge, performs regularly across the East of England.
Find out more about us.
Tickets: £17.50/£7.50/£0 online or cash/card on the door
Doors open at 2:30pm.
Tickets on sale here.
The Ellington Piano Project: Eastbourne 1973 Reimagined is released on Rubicon Jazz.
Eastbourne’s Congress Theatre hosts a special Ellington in Eastbourne gala on 12 October – BOOKINGS
TOUR DATES
Forsyth’s Music, Manchester, 7 October – BOOKINGS
606 Club, London, 8 October.- BOOKINGS
Eastside Jazz Club, Birmingham, 9 October (lunchtime) – BOOKINGS
Peggy’s Skylight, Nottingham, 9 October (eve). – BOOKINGS
Jazz at St Andrew’s, Hove, 10 October.
The Congress Theatre, Eastbourne, 12 October (part of ‘Ellington in Eastbourne’ gala show)
More details about this exciting project here.
In 1932, Louis Armstrong was a sensation when he made his European debut at the London Palladium. A year later Duke Ellington’s Famous Orchestra became the talk of the town when they topped the bill at the same venue performing such classics as Ring Dem Bells, Bugle Call Rag, Black and Tan Fantasy and Mood Indigo.
Now, over 90 years later, the 13-piece Midnite Follies Orchestra (founded by Keith Nichols and Alan Cohen in 1978) recreate the sound of Duke Ellington’s Famous Orchestra in all its majesty with Vimala Rowe performing as Duke’s featured singer Ivie Anderson in Stormy Weather and It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing.
For this concert, Enrico Tomasso plays the role of Louis Armstrong. At the tender age of six, Enrico performed for Louis Armstrong’s arrival in England in 1968 and the two of them became great friends, exchanging letters for the rest of Armstrong’s life. Satchmo’s influence is paramount in Rico’s style and the spirit of this jazz legend lives on in his playing.
Both Louis and the Duke appeared at the Palladium with a number of variety acts of the time (Duke was 14th on the bill after an evening of juggling, tumbling, magic and novelty items). To recreate this style of presentation, the concert also features a selection of fine entertainers, including the Mampara Dance Troupe and Thomas ‘Spats’ Langham performing as George Formby.
Connecting us directly with the world of show business of the early ’30s we have John Sutton who, besides being drummer with the Bryan Ferry Orchestra, Chris Barber and the Pasadena Roof Orchestra, is the grandson of music hall star Randolph Sutton who appeared at the Palladium with Duke Ellington.
The concert is presented by master of ceremonies Mr Kerry Shale.
PERFORMERS
The Midnite Follies Orchestra appearing as Duke Ellington’s Famous Orchestra of 1933
Enrico Tomasso as Louis Armstrong
Vimala Rowe as Duke Ellington’s singer Ivie Anderson
Thomas ‘Spats’ Langham as George Formby
Angela Andrew as ‘The Snakehips Girl’ Bessie Dudley
John Sutton novelty drummer
The Mampara Dance Company
Kerry Shale presenter
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