Biography
SOPHISTICATED LADIES highlights the music of the great Duke Ellington. From his days in the Cotton Club to his jazz suites this review is packed with audience favorites. Envisioned as a musical portrait of Duke Ellington, Sophisticated Ladies opened at the Lunt Fontanne Theatre in New York on March 1, 1981. Gregory Hines, Judith Jamison, Hinton Battle and Gregg Burge were among the original stellar cast. Act I takes us through the early stages of Ellington’s growth as a major musical force, from the Cotton Club era through his travels here and abroad. Act II takes us on a more personal journey, exploring the private man as captured in his music.
Born Edward Kennedy Ellington in 1899, in Washington, D.C. He formed a band in 1918 and became nationally famous while appearing in Harlem nightclubs. His orchestra, playing his own often complex compositions, made many innovations in the jazz idiom. Ellington's compositions include “Solitude” and “Mood Indigo” as well as such long concert works as Black, Brown, and Beige .
Ellington possessed a social elegance and gift of articulate verbal expression that inspired respect. He was the only jazz musician to receive an honorary degree from Columbia University and was also the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. SOPHISTICATED LADIES brings the suave “love you madly” world of the great Duke Ellington to life with over 20 classics including Satin Doll, Take the A Train and It Don’t Mean A Thing, If It Ain’t Got That Swing. A crowd pleaser for all sophisticated ladies and gents and a great way to mark the hundredth anniversary of his birth
Instrumentation
12 Piece band and a cast of 12 singers and dancers.
Discography
Links
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