Slavic Soul Party! (SSP) reimagines Duke Ellington’s iconic Far East Suite as an Eastern European brass band discovering an exotic American sound, reversing the “exotic tinge,” and reveling in this subtle, funky, and brilliant music. Ellington’s suite (created with Billy Strayhorn) was inspired by a 1963 State Department tour that was cut short—they didn’t make it to the “Far East”—and serves as a perfect foil for SSP’s blend of East European, Romani, and American sounds. Critics call it “a pretty heavenly match” (TimeOut New York) and say “parts of SSP’s reinterpretation sounds like a Bulgarian wedding, others like a gypsy jazz funeral in New Orleans. And yet . . . it all sounds like Duke Ellington” (Wall Street Journal).

More info at www.slavicsoulparty.com

https://www.nga.gov/calendar/concerts/seventy-eighth/slavic-soul-party.html