Home » Jazz Articles » Seattle Repertory
Jazz Articles about Seattle Repertory
Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra: Sacred Music of Duke Ellington
by Jack Bowers
The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra pours its heart and soul into these recent concert performances of Duke Ellington's sacred music, premiered by the Ellington orchestra in 1965, '68 and '73. It's a natural fit, as the SRJO was born in 1989 with a presentation of Ellington's sacred music as an ecumenical winter solstice event. Some members of the band stayed together, presented a second concert of Ellington's music three years later at the University of Washington, and the SRJO--now co-directed ...
read moreThe Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra: SRJO Live
by Jack Bowers
I usually have mixed emotions about repertory Jazz orchestras. On the one hand, they're not playing anything I've not heard before; on the other, the music that comprises the very bedrock of Jazz certainly deserves to be heard again and again. I suppose that, when all is said and done, one's response to revisiting the music of yesteryear depends on the scope of the band's repertoire and how well it is played. The seven-year-old Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra earns high ...
read more