Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn ; Harmonie Ensemble/New York, Steven Richman - The Nutcracker Suites album flac

Composed By – Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Arranged By – Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington. Orchestra – Harmonie Ensemble/New York. Piano – George Cables (tracks: 9 to 17). Producer – Adam Abeshouse, Bill Siegmund, Steven Richman. Tenor Saxophone – Bobby Lavell (tracks: 9 to 17), Lew Tabackin (tracks: 9 to 17). Trombone – Art Baron (tracks: 9 to 17), Curtis Fowlkes (tracks: 9 to 17), Wayne Goodman (tracks: 9 to 17).

The Nutcracker Suite is an album by American pianist, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington recorded for the Columbia label in 1960 featuring jazz interpretations of "The Nutcracker" by Tchaikovsky, arranged by Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. All compositions by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Toot Toot Tootie Toot (Dance of the Reed-Pipes)" - 2:30. Peanut Brittle Brigade (March)" - 4:37. Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy)" - 3:05.

On this recording, Steven Richman and his Harmonie Ensemble/New York swing in the holiday season with a twist, pairing Tchaikovsky's original 1892 Nutcracker Suite with a 1960 jazz adaptation by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. The idea for combining the two Nutcrackers came about when trombonist Art Baron, who had played with Duke Ellington, introduced Steven Richman to a 1960 recording of the Nutcracker Suite in Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's superb jazz arrangement. Richman loved it, and immediately decided he had to perform it side-by-side with Tchaikovsky's original. The Harmonie Ensemble/New York play with refinement, style, and élan. You'd be hard pressed to find a better reading of the Nutcracker Suite than the one you find here. It's not only colorful and exciting, it sounds as precisely articulated as any you'll come across.

Tchaikovsky, Ellington, Strayhorn: Nutcracker Suites. Avatar Studios, New York City. Mary Flagler Cary Hall, DiMenna Center for Classical Music, New York. Instead, Ellington and Strayhorn dissect Tchaikovsky 's orchestration and refract it through jazz layers. Compare the "Peanut Brittle Brigade" march with its Tchaikovskian original for a taste, and a fresh appreciation that Richman makes possible here. Ellington and Strayhorn provide less a jazz version of Tchaikovsky than a jazz-cubist version, and this release provides an invaluable handbook to its understanding.

New York Harmonie Ensemble. Steven Richman Conductor. Ellington-Strayhorn Composer. New York Harmonie Ensemble. Author: Andrew Achenbach.

Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Jazz Ensemble Conductor Score & Parts. For purposes of accuracy, the manuscripts were cross-checked carefully with the original Duke Ellington Orchestra recording (Columbia CS 8341).

Billy Strayhorn was an African-American composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting two decades. The composition most closely associated with Strayhorn is "Lush Life". Strayhorn was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984.