Numerous jazz concerts have been offered this year to celebrate the 100th year since the birth of Duke Ellington, but trumpeter Mike Price says they've got the focus all wrong.
"Most of the concerts are dealing with music Duke wrote during the '30s and '40s," Price points out. "The popular songs -- 'Satin Doll,' 'Sophisticated Lady,' 'In a Sentimental Mood' -- are great, but Duke had a whole creative period later, of jazz suites in the '50s and sacred music in the '60s, which is being virtually ignored."
Price's own "Duke Ellington 100th Birthday Concert" Oct. 1 at Jazz Court TUC aims to rectify this with, among other things, the first live performance in Japan of Ellington's 1957 jazz suite "Such Sweet Thunder" and parts of the "Far East" and "New Orleans" suites.