THE NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL JAZZ & BLUES FESTIVAL PRESENTS:
JAMES MORRISON - A TRIBUTE TO DUKE ELLINGTON
with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra
Friday 13 April, 8pm
CBS Canterbury Arena
Price $39.90
Bookings via Ticketek, Phone 0800 TICKETEK or visit www.ticketek.co.nz (Transaction fee applies)
Perennial Jazz Festival favourite, James Morrison returns to once again thrill and astound Christchurch audiences – this time with our own Christchurch Symphony Orchestra - in a tribute to the great Duke Ellington.
Widely regarded as one of the world’s finest Jazz trumpeters, this multi-instrumentalist also plays trombone, euphonium, flugel horn, tuba, saxophones, and piano. A virtuoso in every sense of the word, he has dazzled audiences around the globe with his dynamic playing and charismatic showmanship.
Morrison combines with Christchurch’s own orchestra to perform the music of yet another jazz great, and arguably the greatest composer of the 20th century - Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington. With over 1000 compositions, and a career spanning 50 years, Ellington’s music stretched beyond jazz into blues, gospel, film scores, popular and classical music.
His best known titles include; It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing), Sophisticated Lady, Mood Indigo, Solitude, In a Mellowtone, and Satin Doll. The most amazing part of Ellington’s creative process was that he was at his most creative when he was on the road. It was during this time that he wrote, not only, his most famous piece, Mood Indigo, but also the featured piece of this concert, the haunting A Tone Parallel to Harlem (Harlem Suite).
Reportedly commissioned by the famous conductor Toscanini and first performed in 1953, the 15-minute A Tone Parallel to Harlem is a stunning, large-scale orchestral piece that highlights the composer’s talent for ‘melodic creation of atmospheric effects and enormous volumes of sound.’
The concert also sees James leading the orchestra through a selection of other well-known Ellington compositions. A once in a lifetime event – James Morrison in concert with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra playing music from one of the greatest American composers of the twentieth century.
