Dance at nJPac Dazzles with Beauty and Boldness - ArtsFreePress

About the Program
For a twist on a seasonal classic and true
holiday joy, New Jersey Performing Arts
Center presents Ellington at Christmas.
This special two-part program
includes Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite
and a recreation of his Sacred Music
Concerts, which are both under the
musical direction of David Berger. The
Nutcracker Suite, first recorded in 1960,
is a lively jazz interpretation by Ellington
and his genius arranger Billy Strayhorn
of Tchaikovsky’s beloved score that
infuses swinging brass, colorful solos
and jumpin’ jazz melodies. Students from
the Dance Theater of Harlem School
will perform choreography by Robert
Garland to several selections.
Ellington’s Sacred Music Concerts
premiered in 1965 with A Concert of
Sacred Music. Combining Christian
liturgy with jazz, this concert was
followed by two other concerts Second
Sacred Concert (1968) and Third Sacred
Concert (1973). Ellington often said
his Sacred Music Concerts were “the
most important thing I’ve done.” One
critic, awarding the first album five
stars, wrote, “The concert taps into
Ellington’s roots in showbiz and African-
American culture as well as his evidently
deep religious faith, throwing it all
together in the spirit of universality and
sealing everything with the stamps of
his musical signatures.”
Rarely performed live in the New York
area, this Apollo exclusive presentation,
narrated by Keith David, features David
Berger’s Jazz Orchestra, tap master
Savion Glover, the soaring voices of
Lizz Wright and Priscilla Baskerville.
Duke Ellington and the Apollo Theater
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was
an Apollo Theater legend and headliner
during the 1930s and 1940s—the Apollo’s
“Golden Jazz Years.” Performing at the
Apollo until 1963, Ellington successfully
established himself within the world of
music as a brilliant composer who shows
displayed highly-varied soloists and an
unmatchable sound.
The grandson of a slave, he grew to
become one of the world’s most renowned
jazz composers, an enigmatic personality
and a showman of incomparable suavity,
as comfortable in Carnegie Hall as in the
nightclubs where he honed his style. He
wrote some 1,500 compositions, many
of which remain beloved standards,
while concealing his inner-self behind a
smiling public persona of charm, flowery
language and ironic humor.
Ellington often referred to his music as
“American music” rather than jazz. His
work defied genre typing, crossing over
into blues, gospel, film scores, popular
and classical. Others have described
Ellington’s music as “beyond category”
highlighting the true genius of this
composer, bandleader, arranger and
outstanding entertainer.
X New Jersey Performing Arts Center December 2013