Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite

Hop-a-tooty and slim-slam-a-booty to discover how Duke Ellington and his band created a modern-day rendition of Tchaikovsky’s classic piece. Reissued as part of the Once Upon a Masterpiece series, this biography is ripe with cool jazz lingo and upbeat musical descriptions.It’s a challenge to transform the “Nutcracker Suite’s” romantic orchestra into jumpin’ jazz melodies, but that’s exactly what Duke Ellington and his collaborator, Billy Strayhorn, did.Ellington’s band memebers were not so sure that a classical ballet could become a cool-cat jazz number. But Duke and Billy, inspired by their travels and by musical styles past and present, infused the composition with Vegas glitz, Hollywood glamour, and even a little New York jazz.