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Jazz at Lincoln Center to perform Ellington songs at Hancher

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, under the direction of Wynton Marsalis, will warm up Valentine's Day week with a performance of "The Love Songs of Duke Ellington" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12, in Hancher Auditorium.

Sensual Ellington classics including "Mood Indigo," "Prelude to a Kiss" and "Satin Doll,” will feature soloists including Wess "Warmdaddy" Anderson, Houston Person and Scott Hamilton, who was described in "All About Jazz" as "one of the most melodic saxophone balladeers in jazz."

The JLC Orchestra has performed in Hancher on several occasions, including a celebration of the Ellington centennial in 1999. The Feb. 12 concert is the climax of a nationwide tour of the Ellington love songs including performances at Orchestra Hall in Chicago, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Orchestra Hall in the Twin Cities. The orchestra will reprise the concert in May at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Tickets are $50/45/40; UI student $45/15; senior citizen $45/40.50/36; youth $35/31.50/28. Call 319-335-1160 or toll-free 1-800-HANCHER. Tickets may also be ordered through Hancher’s Web site at http://www.hancher.uiowa.edu.

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, born on April 29, 1899, in Washington, D.C., was the most prolific and versatile American composer of the 20th century with respect to both numbers of compositions -- nearly 2,000 -- and variety of forms. During more than 50 years of sustained achievement as an artist and an entertainer, Ellington wrote popular songs, innovative scores for big band, music for the stage, film scores, jazz suites and large-scale religious compositions.

Ellington synthesized many of the elements of American music -- including the minstrel song, ragtime, Tin Pan Alley tunes, the blues, jazz and European music -- into a style that combined technical complexity with directness and simplicity of expression. His innovations in form, harmony and melody influenced composers worldwide.
Many of the songs he composed alone or with collaborators including brother Mercer Ellington and Billy Strayhorn -- "Satin Doll," "Sophisticated Lady," "Caravan," "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," "I'm Beginning to See the Light," "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing," "Mood Indigo," "Prelude to a Kiss," "Take Love Easy" and many more -- have become indispensable parts of the standard repertory of vocalists and jazz instrumentalists.

The JLC Orchestra has been the "house band" for Jazz at Lincoln Center activities for two decades. Under the leadership of Wynton Marsalis, the orchestra defines jazz in the 21st century through extending the big-band tradition and premiering new works from commissioned artists. One of the highlights of the ensemble's history was Marsalis' Pulitzer Prize-winning "Blood on the Fields," which was performed in Hancher in 1997.

The Chicago Tribune observed, "No institution in America has dared to dream as big as Jazz at Lincoln Center. Jazz at Lincoln Center has given the music a degree of visibility and stature it does not typically receive. The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra is becoming the signature American jazz band to audiences around the world." And the Charlotte Observer observed, "What they've done . . . is nothing short of cultural movement, elevating America's music and enshrining its creators, establishing a baseline of jazz literacy and encouraging young people to take up the torch."