
CCM’s Jazz Ensemble performed with Musical Theatre dancers at CCM’s 2011 Moveable Feast benefit event. Photography by Dottie Stover.
CCM presents a special seasonal treat at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 2, as the departments of Jazz Studies and Musical Theatre unite to present Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite for one night only in UC’s Corbett Auditorium.
One of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century, Duke Ellington recorded The Nutcracker Suite for the Columbia record label in 1960. The album featured jazz interpretations of well-known melodies by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, arranged by Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.
Under the musical direction of Scott Belck and Dominic Marino, dancers from CCM’s Musical Theatre program will join the Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Lab Band to transform The Nutcracker Suite’s romantic orchestrations into jumping jazz melodies, including “Toot Toot Tootie Toot (Dance of the Reed-Pipes),” “Peanut Brittle Brigade” and “Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy).” Featuring choreography by Diane Lala, a classical ballet becomes cool-cat jazz, infused with Vegas glitz, Hollywood glamour and a little New York razzmatazz.