New Orleans Suite

NEW ORLEANS SUITE runs in the vein of lengthy, orchestrally rich, dazzlingly complex pieces centred around a particular theme or concept, for which the Duke is so well known. A tribute to the musical legacy of the great city, NEW ORLEANS SUITE consists of five movements, each concentrating on a different facet in the personality of early jazz: the blues, the ragtime of street marching bands, and church music, for example.
Ellington's formal musical elements are astonishing as always, combining the high-mindedness of classical composition and arrangement with the swing and immediacy of the jazz idiom. Interspersed between the suite's movements are "portraits" of influential players such as Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet. Superior ensemble playing heightens enjoyment of the album, and the solos are memorable, such as Paul Gonsalves' playing on "Portrait of Sidney Bechet" and the solo by Johnny Hodges (one of his last before his death) on "Blues for New Orleans". A beautiful and moving work, NEW ORLEANS SUITE is, on one hand, an acknowledgement of the inestimable importance of that cradle of jazz and, on the other, a piece that could only have been performed by the Duke himself.|