Duke Ellington's Sacred Music Concert

Sacred Music by Duke Ellington features the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, plus guest vocalists, a gospel choir, and tap dancers at Town Hall Seattle. Ellington’s wonderful “Sacred Music” is both serious and swinging. It is a reverent and hip body of jazz composition, written late in his career, for jazz big band, vocal and instrumental soloists, and tap dancers.

For the past 30 years Earshot Jazz and Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra have partnered to present an annual concert of Ellington’s Sacred Music. The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, led by Artistic Director Michael Brockman (who co-founded SRJO alongside Clarence Acox Jr.), features the 17-piece big band with trumpeters Jay Thomas, Nathan Breedlove, Michael Van Bebber, and Brad Allison; trombonists Dan Marcus, Scott Brown, Jerome Smith, Bill Anthony, and David Bentley. Rhythm includes Randy Halbertstadt, D’Vonne Lewis, Milo Peterson, and Phil Sparks. This year’s vocal soloists are Robert Neal (baritone voice) and Nichol Eskridge (alto voice), the tap dancer is Cipher Goings and the two choirs are Sound of the Northwest directed by Vanessa Bruce, and Northwest Chamber Chorus directed by Jeremy Edelstein.