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N.C.’s jazz all-stars to play classics
by Ellington at Memorial Hall Oct. 14

CHAPEL HILL — Get ready for "The Mooch," "Mood Indigo" and lots more when the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra plays the music of Duke Ellington at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Oct. 14 concert, at 8 p.m. in Memorial Hall, is part of the 2005-2006 Carolina Performing Arts Series. Led by James Ketch, music professor and jazz studies director at UNC, the 18-member orchestra features some of the state’s finest jazz musicians – many of them educators at North Carolina universities.

The "Portraits of Ellington" program will span most of Ellington’s career, including music from the Cotton Club Years (1927-1931) and the Jimmy Blanton-Ben Webster Era (1939-1942). "Harlem Air Shaft," "It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t got That Swing" and "Take the ‘A’ Train" will be among the pieces played.

"The entire second half of the program will be devoted to music the Ellington Orchestra performed at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, including ‘Jeep’s Blues,’ the 1938 composition ‘Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue’ and the ‘Newport Jazz Festival Suite,’" Ketch said.

The festival performance prompted Time magazine to put Ellington on its cover.

The N.C. Jazz Repertory Orchestra specializes in classic jazz and big band music, both uniquely American art forms. It has produced three recordings and two specials for the Public Broadcasting Service that were aired statewide by UNC-TV. Wynton Marsalis has called the group "an important development for the jazz world."

Single ticket prices – $15 for the public, $12 for seniors and $5 for Carolina students – are available by calling (919) 843-3333, or from the Memorial Hall box office on Cameron Avenue, open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Carolina students should call the box office for purchasing information. Series subscriptions also are available.

On performance days, the box office is open from 10 a.m. until intermission. For more information, e-mail performingarts@unc.edu or visit www.unc.edu/performingarts.

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Photo URL: www.unc.edu/news/pics/memorial/north_carolina_jazz_repertory_orchestra.jpg

Carolina Performing Arts Series contact: Jennifer Smith, (919) 966-3834 or jwsmith@unc.edu
N.C. Jazz Repertory Orchestra contact: James Ketch, (919) 962-7560, jketch@email.unc.edu
News Services contacts: Print, L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589; broadcast, Karen Moon, (919) 962-8595