Concert: Scottish National Jazz Orchestra – Spirit of the Duke

Jazz frontman Tommy Smith thrilled to perform rare job

Music composed by legendary jazz pianist and conductor Duke Ellington in honor of the late Queen Elizabeth will be featured when the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra performs at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Saturday 3 December at 7.30pm.

In 1958 Ellington met Her Majesty following a performance by her orchestra at an arts festival in Leeds. The two reportedly got along wonderfully and the smitten Ellington composed a suite of music which he recorded on a single gold disc, at his own expense, and sent to Buckingham Palace the following year.

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SNJO founder, saxophonist Tommy Smith, when he received his OBE from the Queen in 2019, asked her if she remembered receiving the one and only copy of an LP that Duke Ellington had created especially for she and the Queen confirmed that she had.

The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra plays at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

“The music was meant to remain off the radar, but an album was eventually released in 1976 after Ellington’s death,” Smith explains.

“I’m so glad it’s because the Queen’s Suite features exceptional songwriting by Ellington and his co-composer/arranger Billy Strayhorn that really needs to be heard and appreciated.”

Among the pieces that make up the Queen’s Suite is The Single Petal of a Rose, which has become part of the standard jazz repertoire and was included on SNJO’s album In the Spirit of Duke, which received worldwide acclaim. international in 2013.

The music was meant to remain inaccessible to the general public, but an album was eventually released in 1976 after Ellington’s death.

Tom Smith

“We included three of the Queen’s Suite movements on the album alongside other Ellington classics including Rocking in Rhythm and Black and Tan Fantasy,” Smith explains.

“The great thing about the music of Ellington and Strayhorn is that it spanned some six decades and retained its high quality throughout and into the Duke’s death in 1974.”

For Smith, who had the opportunity to play live with a number of former Ellington sidemen as a young musician, it is an honor to celebrate Ellington.

“The Queen’s Suite Includes Exceptional Writings by Ellington”

“He’s such an inspiring figure,” he says. “We will follow every detail of Ellington, including the staging, using specially selected vintage trumpet and trombone mutes and playing sheet music which in some cases has been specially transcribed from performances by ‘Ellington.

“We want to give audiences an experience that’s as close to the real Ellington experience as possible.”