Evening Concert Series 2024 – 2025 Season
Sara M. Snell Music Theater Wednesday, November 6th at 7:30 PM
The Crane Jazz Ensemble
SeungYoung Hong, director Bailey Yerdon, tap dance
“Jazzing the Classics”
from The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a (1892/1960)
Overture
Toot Toot Tootie Toot
Peanut Brittle Brigade
Sugar Rum Cherry
Entr’acte
Volga Vouty
Dance of the Floreadores
Bailey Yerdon, tap dance
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893)
Arr. Duke Ellington/ Billy Strayhorn
Intermission
Cubano Chant (1956)
“The Classics”
Freddie Freeloader (1959)
Blues in Hoss’Flat (1956)
Raphael Bryant (1931 – 2011)
Miles Davis (1926 – 1991)
Frank Foster (1928 – 2011)
Us (1959) Thad Jones (1923 – 1986)
Bailey Yerdon, tap dance
Reeds
Sara Ward, alto/soprano/clar *
Emily Wehrle, alto
Nick Derderian, tenor/clarinet
Kayla Sumberg, tenor
Celeste LaFlamm, baritone
PROGRAM NOTES
The Nutcracker Suite Arr. by Ellington and Strayhorn
Ellington’s legacy as a composer, arranger, and pianist is immense, marked by his commitment to elevating jazz to an art form qual in stature to classical music. Over his extensive career, Ellington produced numerous masterpieces that remain essential to jazz repertoire. In addition to his celebrated compositions that became jazz standards, he ventured into larger projects, compositing approximately thirty-three extended pieces designed for concert performance rather than dance or cabaret, such as Such Sweet Thunder, The Queen Suite, The Nutcracker Suite, Far East Suite, Latin American Suite, and The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse.
The concept of “jazzing the classics” the fusion of European concert music with jazz rhythms, harmonies, instrumentation, and improvisation serves as both a tribute to and a playful reinterpretation of high-art repertoire, blending respect and creative transformation. Through this approach, Ellington and his collaborator Strayhorn reshaped classical pieces into jazz, broadening their repertoire and demonstrating the genre’s versatility.
In 1960, they reimagined the iconic work, The Nutcracker Suite, infusing it with the distinctive vibrancy and energy of jazz. The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a was originally composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and premiered in 1892, standing as a masterpiece. Their arrangement not only honored Tchaikovsky’s original but also brought a fresh perspective.
This arrangement emerged from thorough conversations and the mutual exchange of musical ideas rather than mere co-writing of the arrangers. Strayhorn described their process as a kind of “conversation” with Tchaikovsky, an effort to add the “Ellingtonian” flavor while venerating the integrity of the original work. This “jazzed” suite embodies a respectful dialogue with the composer, as a truly unique arrangement.
Program Note by SeungYoung Hong
