JLCO: The Best of Duke Ellington

• A sampling of Duke Ellington’s extensive songbook

• Music that uplifts, enlightens, and rewards everyone from first-time listeners to lifelong fans

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis closes the 2021-22 concert season with an audience favorite: an all-Ellington evening of musical masterpieces.

The possibilities are endless in an Ellington extravaganza like this. Over the course of six decades, Duke Ellington wrote well over 1,000 compositions, some of the richest and most enduring music of the past century. From his early days at the Cotton Club when Duke first took the world by storm with hits like “Creole Love Call” and “Black and Tan Fantasy” to his next wave of classics like “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If it Ain’t Got That Swing),” “Mood Indigo,” “Sophisticated Lady,” and “In a Sentimental Mood,” Duke set the standard for concise songs in which every moment makes an impact.

Duke’s conceptual works—including his “Sacred Concerts” series and extended suites like Black, Brown & Beige, The Far East Suite, New Orleans Suite, and Latin American Suite—go even deeper. The music provides the ultimate canvas for a big band—and nobody plays it quite like the JLCO.

This program is presented through the generosity of Mica and Ahmet Ertegun.