The Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra

The Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra: Ellington Celebration

by Jack Bowers
January 1, 2000

While the number of recorded tributes to Duke Ellington last year during hundredth anniversary of the late maestro’s birth was truly enormous, there’s always room for one more, especially when it’s as well–designed and picturesque as this one by the Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra. The KJRO travels backward as far as 1927 to recreate Ellington’s earliest version of “Black and Tan Fantasy” and ranges forward to 1970 to touch up his handsome “Portrait of Louis Armstrong.” The arrangements are faithful ...