Jazz Articles about The Swedish Radio Jazz Group

The Swedish Radio Jazz Group: A Swedish Tribute to Duke

by Jack Bowers
November 1, 1999

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Swedish Radio Jazz Group’s two–disc salute to Duke Ellington in his centenary year is that it includes no songs composed by Ellington himself. Son Mercer Ellington is represented by “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be,” strong right arm Billy Strayhorn by the elegant “Portrait of a Silk Thread.” The other half–dozen numbers were written to honor Ellington by a number of Sweden’s leading Jazz composers. There are three suites, Mikael Råberg’s three–part ...