Holiday Orchestra plays the Jazz Station in Eugene
Two Shows - 6:30p and 8:45p
The Jazz Station's own Holiday Orchestra performs the 3rd Annual Strayhorn & Ellington's Nutcracker Suite
- Jonathan Corona alto sax
- Burnette Dillon trumpet
- Alexis Garnica trumpet
- Dave Glenn trombone
- Alex Hunter trombone
- Matt Ingman trombone, tuba
- Paul Krueger trumpet
- Joe Manis tenor sax piccolo
- Robert Bohall piano
- Steve Owen soprano & alto sax/clarinet
- Devin Perez trumpet
- Sean Peterson bass
- Idit Shner clarinet/tenor sax
- Ken Mastrogiovanni drums
- Devin Wright bari sax/bass clarinet
In 1960, some 68 years after Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky penned his famous “The Nutcracker” ballet, Duke Ellington and his band were in residency in Las Vegas at the Riviera Hotel. While there, Ellington and his longtime collaborator, composer, and arranger, Billy Strayhorn received a call from Columbia Records producer, Irving Townsend. Townsend offers Ellington complete freedom to write and record anything he wants if he signs with the Columbia label. Duke suggests a concept to “create music that can’t be categorized.” Since Ellington likes to perform dance music and Tchaikovsky’s work is a ballet, Strayhorn suggests they reinvent the holiday classic, “The Nutcracker Suite.”
The Christmas Eve setting of “The Nutcracker Suite” and its message of, “Dreams can come true if you believe,” made the Romantic-era Russian ballet a favorite holiday tradition then as it remains today. There were similarities in challenges for both Tchaikovsky and Ellington. Audiences craved variety, shifts in mood and style, and yet a sense of continuity which all provided the undergirding elements of the project. By May 1960, the work was completed. It would be the first time Billy Strayhorn’s name would share equal billing with Duke Ellington.The Christmas Season concerts and accompanying album were a commercial success. Critics and audiences delighted in Ellington and Strayhorn’s jazzy recasting of the familiar classical themes. They marveled at how well the duo recreated the work - turning it into a jazz masterpiece of equal parts Tchaikovsky and Ellington. Despite being conceived in 1960 and debuted in Christmas of that year, the musical scores themselves weren’t published until 2010.
