Kick off the holidays with the US Navy Band Commodores and the Nutcracker Suite, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s 1960 album featuring jazz interpretations of the Tchaikovsky classic. This performance commemorates the 125th anniversary of Ellington’s birth, and will include a variety of additional selections by Ellington.
About US Navy Band Commodores jazz ensemble
The US Navy Band Commodores, the Navy's premier jazz ensemble, has been performing the very best of big band jazz for over 50 years. Formed in 1969, the 18-member group continues the jazz big band legacy with some of the finest musicians in the world. Highly regarded nationwide, the list of guest artists that have performed with the Commodores reads like a “who’ s who” of jazz and popular music: Ray Charles, Branford Marsalis, Clark Terry, Grover Washington Jr., Chris Potter, Jerry Bergonzi, Eddie Daniels, James Moody, and many more.
Its mission includes performing at public concerts, ceremonies, education programs, and high-level military and civilian events. The band has appeared on television shows, played nearly all major jazz festivals, and toured in the US and abroad. Band members write and arrange much of the Commodores’s music, giving their concerts an eclectic mix of traditional big band music and fresh new instrumental charts.
About Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite
Released in 1960, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn created an utterly original and inspired recording of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s holiday favorite, the Nutcracker Suite. It’s not merely a jazz rendering—it’s a transformation of the speed, structure, and ambience of the original. The movements reflect the best of the big band sound and include spotlights of improvisation with fresh approaches to orchestration and color.
The Suite includes:
Overture
Toot Toot Tootie Toot (Dance of the Reed-Pipes)
Peanut Brittle Brigade (March)
Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy)
Entr'acte
Volga Vouty (Russian Dance)
Chinoiserie (Chinese Dance)
Danse of the Floreadores (Waltz of the Flowers)
Arabesque Cookie (Arabian Dance)
Additional selections by Ellington will be announced from the stage.