Duke Ellington Meets Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker Suite

JazzVideoGuy | 2011年02月06日 |
The first Jazz record that was on the family Hi-Fi, sometime in late 1961, was Duke Ellington's version of the Nutcracker Suite. Perhaps because I knew the music, there was something about Duke's version that really spoke to me. I'd heard about Jazz, but this was the real thing, and I loved it. Four years later, the Ellington Orchestra came to my high school (!) and I was fortunate to hear them live. Forty five years later, I remember how cool Duke was, Johnny Hodges' sound, and Cat Anderson's stratospheric trumpet.