“Duke Ellington’s instrument was his big band…. Yet Ellington also aspired to have his music played by symphony orchestras,” writes Richard Ginell in Wednesday’s (1/26) Classical Voice North America. “The Los Angeles Philharmonic, buoyed by the success of its Harlem Renaissance concerts over a weekend in 2019, concocted a ‘Symphonic Ellington’ weekend Jan. 20-23 as a sequel. As before, Thomas Wilkins, the … principal conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra who displayed a flair for this sort of thing then … was called upon to put it together…. At the Jan. 20 concert I attended, two full pieces, Night Creature and New World A-Comin’, occupied the first half, while the second half contained suites from larger compositions, Black, Brown and Beige and The River. Historical note: Ellington himself played the solo piano part and led the only previous LA Phil performance of New World at Hollywood Bowl in 1966—and it had not been played by the orchestra since then…. Wilkins, the rhythm section, and the LA Phil struck a good balance between the loose feeling of Ellington swing and orchestral weight…. The entire weekend … just scratched the surface of this incredibly prolific jazz innovator’s life’s work.”
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