Delfeayo Marsalis Oct May 17, 2013

Delfeayo Marsalis’ January 2011 release Sweet Thunder, his most ambitious project yet, is a modern interpretation of the Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn suite Such Sweet Thunder. Rather than merely recreating the classic work, which is comprised of musical depictions of characters from William Shakespeareʼs plays, Marsalis took the work as a point of departure for his octet, creating fresh and new music inspired by the original suite.“In some ways Sweet Thunder started for me in the seventh grade when I wrote a paper on my great uncle Wellman Braud, who played with Duke Ellington in the 1920s. While attending the University of Louisville, I wrote a thesis paper on Ellington and Shakespeare. For the project, I went to the Smithsonian and studied the original copies of the music for Such Sweet Thunder. I didnʼt want to just play what Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn wrote in 1957, but to imagine what they might have written if they were here today, more than 50 years later. To me this is jazz opera without the vocals, telling a story with the dramatic music.” Read full bio

Official Website: http://www.pollstar.com/resultsArtist.aspx?ID=64686