Hartford
DETAILS
Sun, December 07, 2014
Hartford, CT
Show: 1:30 PM
Ticket INFO
Member Presale: 10/7/14 06 AM
Public Onsale: 10/9/14 06:01 AM
The New England Jazz Ensemble performing Duke Ellington's "Nutcracker" and other holiday favorites
The New England Jazz Ensemble has a rich archive of original music, including two ‘live’ performances, as well as one CD of a historic nature, which is the subject of today’s concert. In 2003, the band released one of the first big-band recordings of the suite from the Nutcracker ballet, Tchaikovsky’s holiday favorite which was reinterpreted by Billy Strayhorn for Duke Ellington. In the first half of the band’s Infinity Music Hall debut, the band will perform this piece, which is more casually known as “Ellington’s Nutcracker.” The second half of the program will include the band’s original arrangements of other contemporary holiday tunes from its “Cookin’ Christmas” recording, plus other material from its extensive repertoire.
New England Jazz Ensemble
Connect with this artist:
www.neje.org
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Artist Bio
The New England Jazz Ensemble was created in 1991 to play original work and to explore new sounds for the jazz orchestra. One of the region’s top driving forces that are keeping the big band genre thriving, its library of original compositions is incomparable. Its stable of arrangers is headed by music director/pianist Walt Gwardyak, and includes band members Jeff Holmes, John Mastroianni, Phil Person and others.
The band has recorded five CDs, including a live recording at the inaugural Pittsfield CityJazz Festival in 2005, and a Christmas CD featuring the Duke Ellington adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. In 1994, the band received an NEA grant to travel to the 10th annual jazz festival in Corinth, Greece. The band has played in numerous other jazz festivals at home and abroad, including the Greater Hartford Jazz Festival, as well as eight performances of the “Ellington Nutcracker” with the Hartford Conservatory dance department.
The band has appeared with numerous guest artists including, Thomas Chapin, Phil Wilson, Dick Johnson, John Allmark, Shawn Monteiro, George Masso, Art Baron, Nick Brignola, Gerry Neiwood, John Abercrombie, Ali Ryerson, and Giacomo Gates. Abercrombie, Ryerson and Gates appears as guest artists on the band’s most recent CD, "It's a Grand Night for Swinging," recorded in concert at the Polish National Home in Hartford.
Similar Artists:
Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington
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