Press release: Orchestras celebrate Duke royally across Scotland

© Shawn Pearce

Comprising thirty-four musicians, Remembering Duke will feature an opening set by the seventeen-strong Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra. The SNJO will then play its internationally acclaimed Ellington interpretations with their special guest, singer Lucy-Anne Daniels adding gospel music-inspired selections of the great composer’s songs.

“Duke Ellington has been an inspiration to musicians and composers across the musical spectrum for almost 100 years,” says SNJO founder and musical director, saxophonist Tommy Smith. “The breadth of his writing encompasses songs that were the pop music of the day and hugely descriptive suites that compare with works in the classical canon in terms of ambition. It’s wonderful to witness young players from the TikTok era finding their way into playing jazz through Ellington as generations before have done.”

© Derek Clark

The SNJO’s expertise as Ellington interpreters has developed over its twenty-eight-year history and was recognised internationally through its 2012 recording, In the Spirit of Duke, which captured the orchestra in top form live on tour.

“To be praised in the US for performing Duke Ellington’s music was special recognition,” says Smith. “Quite a few of the musicians who took part in that tour are no longer with us but the players who have come in have picked up the baton, knowing they must measure up to high standards. At the same time, Ellington is now in the orchestra’s DNA and his music is an essential part of what we do.”

For Remembering Duke the Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra will reinvigorate Ellington classics and rarities, adding to the SNJO’s command of highlights from throughout the master's repertoire.

The tour opens in Glasgow Royal Concert Hall’s New Auditorium on Friday 29th November before moving on to the Laidlaw Music Centre in St Andrews on Saturday 30th November and reaching its coda in the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh on Sunday 1st December.

“We’re looking forward to playing this great music, which has so much depth and character, and to giving the audience an experience that will be authentic in every way in terms of staging, attire and equipment as well as the music,” says Smith.