It's a Holiday Early Evening show for families and students of all ages to hear the great Tchaikovsky "Nutcracker Suite" as transformed in 1960 by Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn into an American Big Band jazz masterpiece. It's performed by one of the best college jazz bands in the country: the Central Washington University Jazz Band under the direction of the new CWU Professor of Jazz Studies, Keith Karns.
As an added treat, Local High School Jazz Bands with their directors will open the program with a selection of their best work.
A modern classic, The Jazz Nutcracker is filled with energy, intelligence, swing and all the innovation and improvisation of the jazz age. Each of its songs take off from one of the beloved originals from Tchaikovsky's beloved Holiday Classic, and while the source is recognizable, each is transformed and magnified into a snappy, humorous, high-energy platform for musical fun and improvisation — big band-style.
