4 Symphonic Pieces Include ‘Harlem Suite’ : Extended Ellington Works Bring Rare Climax to Festival

The JVC Jazz Festival capped its first weekend with a remarkable program at Carnegie Hall that featured four rarely performed symphonic works by Duke Ellington.

The American Composers Orchestra, under the direction of conductor Maurice Peress, played several works Sunday night, including a movement from Ellington’s historic “Black, Brown and Beige,” as well as “Les Trois Rois Noirs,” “New World a-Comin’ ” and “Harlem Suite.”

Ellington’s ambitious, extended works brought jazz into the musical landscape of the European classical tradition and established jazz as U.S. classical music.

But Ellington’s more complex compositions did not gain the kind of wide acceptance his shorter pieces did. When he introduced his most personal work, the revolutionary “Black, Brown and Beige” in 1943, the indifferent response discouraged Ellington from further live performances.

Though Ellington made hundreds of recordings and concert appearances, he was rarely accorded the opportunity to perform his most challenging works. Shows such as the Carnegie Hall concert help to draw attention to these neglected masterworks.

The evening’s high points came during the featured soloists’ performances with the huge orchestra. Pianist Sir Roland Hanna dazzled on “New World a-Comin’,” and saxophonist Jimmy Heath lifted the orchestra to an inspired climax on “Les Trois Rois Noirs.”

Two other jazz players in the Ellington program--saxophonist Frank Wess and trumpeter Jon Faddis--were involved in other festival concerts this weekend.

Faddis was part of the trumpet section in Friday’s Louis Armstrong tribute; Wess was in the remarkable Toshiko Akioshi Orchestra for Saturday night’s “Old-Fashioned Battle of the Bands” at Town Hall.

The weekend also included “An Evening of Tap,” with Gregory Hines, Savion Glover and a cast of veteran tap dancers, as well as concerts by trumpeter Miles Davis, saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and singer Ella Fitzgerald.