Strathmore is honoring Duke Ellington, shown in D.C. circa 1946, with a festival. Courtesy Library of Congress
CapitalBop contributor
This Friday, Strathmore Music Center begins its inaugural Discover Ellington festival, nearly a month of concerts and discussions celebrating the legacy and influence of D.C.’s own Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington.
An array of distinguished local and national musicians will be featured, including Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, with Paquito D’Rivera; the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra; the Morgan State University Choir; vocalists Brian Stokes Mitchell and Julia Nixon; pianist Robert Glasper; the Chris Vadala Trio; and the duo of bassist Karine Chapdelaine and pianist Bob Sykes.
It couldn’t be more appropriate that the events occur during Black History Month, and just two months before the anticipated April opening of the refurbished Howard Theatre, a onetime hub for jazz and Black cultural events. Ellington began his career in the pool halls and taverns on U Street, just one block away from the Howard, and later went on to become a celebrated performer at the theater.
But this month, the action can be found on the outskirts of town, at the Strathmore in North Bethesda. “To highlight Ellington in Strathmore’s yearlong Celebrating American Composers series was a no-brainer,” Artistic Director Shelley Brown said. With more than 1,500 compositions incorporating blues, swing, gospel and classical influences, Ellington significantly broadened the scope and appeal of jazz worldwide. The Strathmore’s series is imaginatively designed to reflect the diversity of Ellington’s work.
In this Friday’s series-opening performance, saxophonist and University of Maryland Professor Chris Vadala will perform an array of Ellington standards. He will appear with two long-time collaborators, guitarist Rick Whitehead and bassist John Previti. The performance at the intimate Strathmore Mansion is already sold out.
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Tony Award-winning baritone Brian Stokes Mitchell will appear with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and local vocalist Julia Nixon on Friday, Feb. 17, exploring the Ellington songbook with graduates from D.C.’s Duke Ellington School of the Arts. The tap dancing Manzari Brothers will add a tip of the hat to Ellington’s star-making emergence at New York’s famous all-music, all-dancing (and dubiously all-white) Cotton Club.
The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and the Manzari Brothers perform again on Feb. 19, this time with the Morgan State University Choir, recreating the rarely performed Sacred Concerts. Ellington composed these liturgical compositions late in his life, and called them “the most important thing I have ever done.” Morgan State’s Choir Director Eric Conway describes the music as “the vintage Ellington big band sound with opportunities for both chorus and solo performance.”
Adding their own take on Ellington at the “Duke Goes Latin” concert on Feb. 18, the Grammy Award-winning Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra will showcase original music inspired by Ellington, as well as his own classics such as “Caravan” and “In a Sentimental Mood.” (If bandleader Arturo O’Farrill’s recent performance at Blues Alley is anything to go by, he will bring an incredible vivacity to the piano chair.
Though Ellington’s fame was launched on the basis of his big band, he also performed in smaller settings, as will be reflected in the solo performance of pianist Robert Glasper on Feb. 16. Glasper’s show which will feature his own original works and the music of Thelonious Monk, in addition to Ellington’s. The Levine School will present two of its faculty members, Karine Chapdelaine and Bob Sykes, in a concert on Feb. 17 focusing on Ellington’s famous duo improvisations with Jimmy Blanton.
Going beyond the concert experience to understand more about the man and his music, jazz musician, broadcaster and educator Rusty Hassan will examine the influences that informed the Duke’s music in a two-hour lecture and demonstration on Feb. 13. There will also be a panel discussion on Feb. 18 investigating Ellington’s life and legacy. The panel will include John Edward Hasse, curator of American Music at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History; Davey Yarborough, director of music at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts; and composer and author David Schiff.
The Discover Ellington series concludes on Feb. 20, President’s Day, with Strathmore’s free annual festival of family concerts and workshops – which this year will be devoted to Ellington’s music.
Duke Ellington is Washington, D.C.’s most celebrated and influential musician. (He left his mark on our city’s landscape, too; perhaps you’ve noticed Duke Ellington Bridge, Duke Ellington Park, the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, his mural on U Street’s True Reformer Building, or the bronze plaque on the site of his birthplace on Ward Place, NW.) Strathmore’s Ellington series appears destined to provide a fitting tribute to the legacy of D.C.’s original jazz ambassador. 
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The Discover Ellington festival begins this Friday at 11 a.m. with the Chris Vadala Trio’s performance at the Strathmore Mansion. More info is available here on that show, but it is sold out. A full guide to the festival is available at strathmore.org/discoverellington.
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