Duke Ellington’s Newest Collaborator

In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, the Duke Ellington Orchestra was riding high, showcased at all the jazz festivals, setting attendance records at rooms such as the Riviera in Las Vegas and generating a flow of attractive recordings.

Ellington, ever in search of new horizons, created an atmospheric score for the film “Anatomy of a Murder” in 1959 before turning toward yet another challenge--an entire album devoted, for the first time, to the works of another composer. His choice was Tchaikovsky.

Working with Billy Strayhorn, his trusted musical alter ego, Ellington consciously elected to approach the music by placing it into an American, rather than a European, setting. As part of that process, and in typically whimsical fashion, he came up with his own names for the various segments: “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” became “Sugar Rum Cherry”; “Russian Dance” became “The Volga Vouty”; and “Arabian Dance” was transformed into “Arabesque Cookie.”

Starting next Friday, all of those titles and more will be on display at the Wiltern Theatre in five performances of “The Harlem Nutcracker.” The ballet is an ambitious resetting of the classic tale devised by veteran Alvin Ailey choreographer Donald Byrd to a score that supplements the Ellington-Strayhorn charts with additional, Ellington-tinged orchestrations by David Berger.

The Ellington version covered only one portion of the Tchaikovsky original and, at 30 minutes, was hardly enough to accompany a full-length ballet. As it turned out, Berger, a trumpeter and former conductor of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, had been unsuccessfully trying to put together a Harlem version of the “Nutcracker” for years before Byrd approached him about the idea in 1989.

“I pitched it to Alvin Ailey in the ‘70s,” Berger said, “but he wasn’t interested. Then we played the Ellington ‘Nutcracker’ at Lincoln Center. Donald Byrd saw it, and we started talking about how to do it.”

Berger wound up writing 90 minutes of additional music, in the Ellington manner.

“And that,” he said, “was pretty intimidating--my music measured against the music of my heroes. But you know what happened? They actually taught me how to do it. All I had to do was look at how they approached the Tchaikovsky themes they orchestrated and just approach the rest of the music the same way.”

But Berger had to deal with one problem that Ellington and Strayhorn never had to consider--working with a variety of different players. As the show has toured the United States, he has had to rehearse and perform with new musicians at every stop. For the Wiltern performance, he will be conducting an ensemble of student players from the UCLA Jazz Program.

“It’s really not as bad as it seems,” Berger said. “I’ve actually been doing Ellington’s music in repertory with a lot of different players for years. And it can be done. You know, Shakespeare wrote for a stock company of players, a lot like the way Ellington wrote for his orchestra. But Shakespeare’s plays can stand up to all kinds of actors and interpretations, and I’m convinced that Duke’s music stands up the same way.”

* “The Harlem Nutcracker” will be presented at the Wiltern Theatre next Friday and Dec. 28 at 2 and 8 p.m., Dec. 29 at 2 and 7 p.m. Information: (310) 825-2101.

Around Town: Christmas week can be a relatively quiet time for jazz, but pianist Eric Reed’s three-day booking at Catalina Bar & Grill, Thursday through Dec. 28, promises some solid, improvisational spirit. Reed, a much-praised young Southland player who has become an extremely versatile artist since his run with Wynton Marsalis’ Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, will be working with the talented rhythm team of bassist John Clayton and drummer Jeff Hamilton. The duo, co-leaders of one of L.A.’s finest big bands, bring a sense of structure and timing to the mix that should blend favorably with Reed’s eclectic style.

On Dec. 27 and 28, another solid local ensemble shows up at the Jazz Bakery. Tenor saxophonist Pete Christlieb, one of the stars of the Doc Severinsen “Tonight Show” band, performs with veteran trumpeter Conte Candoli and the superb rhythm section of Tom Ranier, piano; Jim Hughart, bass; and Joe LaBarbera, drums.

New Year’s Eve Jazz: National Public Radio’s “New Year’s Eve Coast to Coast” radio broadcast begins at New York City’s Empire State Ballroom with the Tito Puente Band, proceeds to New Orleans’ New Showcase Lounge and the Wessell “Warm Daddy” Anderson Band, and concludes at Los Angeles’ Jazz Bakery with a performance by singer Diana Krall and the Clayton-Hamilton Big Band. However, since no major NPR outlet in Los Angeles carries the network’s jazz programming, only the local segment, from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., will be heard, hosted by Helen Borgers on KLON.

Jazz at Indian Wells runs from Dec. 28 through New Year’s Eve at seven different venues around the city, which is 17 miles east of Palm Springs. Most of the music is New Orleans and swing-oriented, but the Dec. 29 showcase features vibist Milt Jackson with Art Hillery, John Clayton and Tootie Heath. Information: (310) 799-6055. . . . Pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba opens a six-day run at Catalina Bar & Grill on New Year’s Eve. . . . Singer Kevyn Lettau and keyboardist Jeff Lorber are at La Ve Lee in Studio City for New Year’s Eve. . . . In other celebrations of the arrival of 1997, vibist Dave Pike’s Trio is at Chadney’s in Burbank, pianist Cecilia Coleman brings her group to Steamer’s Cafe in Fullerton, and singer Cathy Segal Garcia is at North Hollywood’s Ca Del Sole.

Free Jazz: Tonight and Dec. 27 at the L.A. County Museum of Art, the Art Davis Quintet performs. Information: (213) 857-6115. . . . Singer Yve Evans will be at Pedrini Music in Alhambra Saturday afternoon at 1:30. . . . Dec. 28 at the same venue, New York trombonist Mike Fahn with his quintet. Information: (213) 283-1932.