Delights Of The Duke - Alan Barnes Ellingtonians + Declan Forde And James Banner at Jazzleeds Festival at Leeds College Of Music

A celebration of the Duke’s music sixty years after Duke Ellington met the Queen in Leeds on Saturday, October 18, 1958. The Queen and the Duke were guests of honour at the finale of the Leeds Centenary Music Festival. The Duke sent Her Majesty a copy of his 1959 composition as a gift and it remains one of his most remarkable, but least well-known, works “The Queens Suite”. Featuring live painting by Gina Southgate
7.30pm “Unknown Ellington” - Declan Forde piano + James Banner
An intimate duo set featuring bassist James Banner and pianist Declan Forde, a graduate of Leeds College of Music, currently based in Berlin. Declan Forde is a previous finalist of the Young Scottish Musician of The Year. ...

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A celebration of the Duke’s music sixty years after Duke Ellington met the Queen in Leeds on Saturday, October 18, 1958. The Queen and the Duke were guests of honour at the finale of the Leeds Centenary Music Festival. The Duke sent Her Majesty a copy of his 1959 composition as a gift and it remains one of his most remarkable, but least well-known, works “The Queens Suite”. Featuring live painting by Gina Southgate
7.30pm “Unknown Ellington” - Declan Forde piano + James Banner
An intimate duo set featuring bassist James Banner and pianist Declan Forde, a graduate of Leeds College of Music, currently based in Berlin. Declan Forde is a previous finalist of the Young Scottish Musician of The Year.
9pm Alan Barnes and his “Ellingtonians”
Alan Barnes on saxes and clarinet, Bruce Adams trumpet, Mark Nightingale trombone, Karen Sharp saxes and clarinet, Robert Fowler saxes and clarinet, David Newton piano, Simon Thorpe bass, Clark Tracey drums

The Ellington Celebration at the festival will be led by LCoM alumnus saxman Alan Barnes. Alan needs no special introduction here for he’s a one-man force for good in jazz. His all-star ensemble is a kind of buyer’s guide to the best in British jazz and will perform the great arrangements they’ve assembled of superior Duke Ellington numbers.

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