Celebrate the season with Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s 1960 adaptations of Tchaikovsky’s "Nutcracker" and Grieg's "Peer Gynt." To recreate these classics, Ellington and Strayhorn developed a blend of classic thematic materials, faithfully rendering the melodies while mixing in their characteristic horn colorations and chordal voicings. The result includes titles such as “Peanut Brittle Brigade” (originally the “March”), “Volga Vouty” (originally “Russian Dance”), and “Toot Toot Tootie Toot” (originally the “Dance of the Reed Pipes”). 

Under the direction of David N. Baker, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra (SJMO) was founded in 1990 with an appropriation from Congress in recognition of the importance of jazz in American culture. In the fourth year of its series with The Smithsonian Associates, SJMO has been hailed for its “vitality and skill” (Jazz Times), “crisp ensemble work,” and “many gifted soloists” (Washington Post).