Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker & A New Orleans Christmas

Space Coast Symphony Jazz Orchestra
Frank Wosar, Jazz Director

Jazz up your holidays with a dazzling reimagining of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn!  In 1960, Duke Ellington’s recording company asked him what he wanted to record next.  Ellington’s colleague Billy Strayhorn, suggested he do a jazz arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite."  Soon after, “The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” became the swinging “Sugar Rum Cherry," while “The Dance of the Reed Pipes” transformed into the sassy “Toot Toot Tootie Toot,” and the beloved “Waltz of the Flowers” was made over into a glitzy Vegas showstopper, “Dance of the Floreadores.”  Frank Wosar and the Space Coast Symphony Jazz Orchestra add holiday favorites with a New Orleans twist, for the season's jazziest greetings.