Title: ADAPTATIONS BY A PEERLESS GENT
Product review: This is a melding of two earlier albums, both recorded around 1960. These adaptations of works by Tchaikovsky and Grieg tend to get ignored by the jazz critics, and are probably deplored by the classical ones. Which is a pity, because the love affair between the two genres goes back a long way, think of Stravinsky and Ravel, for example. This was another attempt to bridge the gap, by orchestrating the Nutcracker and Peer Gynt suites for Ellington's orchestra. But whereas the Duke composed with his instrumentalists in mind, neither Peter Ilich nor Edvard had that advantage.Of the two, I think Peer Gynt has the edge, mainly because the resultant textures are more keeping with the spirit of the music. Duke's attitude to the Nutcracker suite is more tongue-in-cheek, as witness his retitlings, but it's an interesting approach nevertheless. The filler is the Ellington/Strayhorn "Suite Thursday", which the band attacks with relish.
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