Echoes of Ellington Big Band The Duke Ellington Song Book
PizzaExpress Jazz Club, Dean Street, Soho, London
Following their sold-out inaugural Dean Street 2023 concert and a follow up successful return last year, we had no hesitation in arranging this further 2025 Summertime return for Pete Long and his Echoes of Ellington Big Band presenting the Duke Ellington Song Book, featuring the sensational voice of Sara Oschlag, echoing the style of the great Ella Fitzgerald.
In 1914, a young man, Edward Ellington, wrote a simple piano piece entitled Soda Fountain Rag. Over the next sixty years, he would compose a cannon of work which would have him recognised as the foremost American composer of any genre. Nicknamed Duke by his school-friends because of his regal bearing, Ellington’s music contains a unique blend of contrasts and contradictions. At once cutting edge and elegant, intimate and shouting, traditional and progressive, the music is unique, exciting, earthy and refined.
The Echoes of Ellington Orchestra, was formed to celebrate the Duke’s music, and to bring it, by live performance, to a modern audience. Jazz enthusiasts the length and breadth of the U.K., and later on in Europe and the United States, have been amazed by the group’s ability to get inside the scores and really bring out the Ellington flavour.
Today, the orchestra is in its finest incarnation yet, with highly specialised virtuoso players on all the instruments who understand intimately the nuances put on the page by the Duke.
This concert will focus on the great hits- expect to hear “Take The A Train”, “Cotton Tail”, “All Too Soon”, “Caravan”, “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”, “Passion Flower”, and all your other Ellington favourites!
This Duke Ellington Song Book concert is conducted and presented by clarinettist Pete Long, who over the years has built a reputation as the pre-eminent big band front man in the United Kingdom today.
“Pete Long’s Echoes of Ellington orchestra creates results that are amazingly truthful to the original Duke Ellington Orchestra” – Ronnie Scotts Club
Here’s just a short, in advance, taste of the style of the Echoes of Ellington Orchestra, blowing in full force.
Vocalist Sara Oschlag joins the Echos of Ellington Orchestra. Her stage presence, expressive voice and effortless sense of swing have made her a firm favourite with musicians and audiences alike. Her Ella Fitzgerald interpretations of the Duke Ellington Song book have amazed and entertained audiences across the UK.
Here she is fronting the Swing Paradise All Stars Big Band.
This will be another inspiring and enjoyable way to spend a Sunday Lunchtime in the company of great musicians making wonderful music.
