“Delights of the Duke”
A celebration of the Duke’s music sixty years after Duke Ellington met the Queen in Leeds on Saturday, October 18, 1958. The Queen and the Duke were guests of honour at the finale of the Leeds Centenary Music Festival. The Duke sent Her Majesty a copy of his 1959 composition as a gift and it remains one of his most remarkable, but least well-known, works “The Queens Suite”.
7pm “Unknown Ellington” James Banner double bass-Declan Forde piano
Declan is a pianist and composer, a graduate of Leeds College of Music, currently based in Berlin, and is a previous finalist of the Young Scottish Musician of The Year He regularly performs with the Far East Trio, James Banner’s Eleven
8.30pm Alan Barnes and his “Ellingtonians”
The Ellington Celebration at the festival will be led by LCoM alumnus saxman Alan Barnes. His Ellingtonians include the cream of British jazz players – Alan on alto, clarinet and bass clarinet, Bruce Adams, trumpet; Mark Nightingale, trombone; tbc, clarinet and tenor; Andy Panayi, baritone, clarinet & flute; John Horler, piano; Mark Hodgson, bass Bobby Worth on drums.