Swinging Suites: an homage to Duke Ellington

The Royal New Zealand Air Force Jazz Orchestra is featuring in the 2017Wellington Jazz Festival, with an homage to one of America's great jazz composers, Edward Kennedy 'Duke' Ellington. The orchestra will play selections from Ellington's arrangement of Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt, as well as his muscular Far East Suite.

They'll also premiere a new arrangement for jazz orchestra by NZ trumpeter Lex French, who's taken selections from Sergey Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet suites for orchestra, and given them the 'Ellington' treatment.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force Band is a Reserve Force unit based in Wellington with affiliated volunteer musicians on the RNZAF Bases Ohakea, Woodbourne and Whenuapai. Attached to it is The RNZAF Jazz Orchestra, which draw on the talents of Wellington's most in-demand musicians:

Andre Paris - Oscar Laven - Hayden Hockly - Dan Yeabsley - Nils Olsen
Lex French - Ben Hunt - Michael Taylor - Michael Costeloe
Michael Ashton - Julian Kirgan - Ben Robertson
Darren Mathiassen - Alistair Isdale - Daniel Hayles

Tickets $20 at the door