Did
you know that Jazz Age leader Duke Ellington can be considered a Crossover
musician? While known as the leader of the house band at the Harlem Cotton Club
during the late 1920s and early 1930s, Duke did not want to be recognized as a
jazz composer and arranger. He hoped to stretch people’s concept of jazz, from
dance music to art music. To do this, he would rehearse arrangements ahead of
time with his band, rather than improvising. Many of these arrangements had an
alternating, concerto-like feel between the ensemble and the soloist.
While
Duke loved jazz, he also enjoyed the music of many classical composers and
longed to break down the barrier between the two types of music. He even
arranged several classical favorites for jazz band, including Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite. Enjoy these two pieces
below:
Besides
his arrangements of classical pieces, Duke also composed several of his own
jazz suites, drawing from classical characteristics. One example is his Black, Brown, and Beige (1943), his
first attempt at this type of composition. Black,
Brown, and Beige traces the history of African American culture in the U.S.
It was debuted in Carnegie Hall, a first for a black composer.
Can
you hear any quotations from popular American tunes in this work?
