Duke Ellington at 125
Jazz at Lincoln Center: Rose Theater & Dizzy’s Club
Various events, Through May 11

Celebrating Duke Ellington’s 125th Birthday in the City of Jazz
Symphony Space
May 6

At Dizzy’s on Monday night, the celebration of Duke Ellington’s 125th birthday was officially launched when a composer, arranger, and bandleader, ​​Ayn Inserto, performed stunning new interpretations of two Ellington classics with her 19-piece jazz orchestra.

There are any number of Ellington standards that are continually played in the clubs — such as “Caravan,” “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” and “Take the A-Train” — but Ms. Inserto surprisingly gave us “Warm Valley,” a 1940 ballad rarely heard in contemporary contexts. This was one of a series of pastoral sketches by Ellington; although he more famously celebrated Harlem nightlife, the Duke and his musical partner, Billy Strayhorn, also composed many original works inspired by the natural world — there are enough of these, in fact, to form a floral suite.

Ms. Inserto’s arrangement began with a dissonant, mostly brass fanfare, equal parts baroque and Stan Kenton. Audience members were feeling like we were traveling through a dark, thick forest of trees, but then we come to a clearing and suddenly there’s the warm valley; our arrival is signified by the entrance of trombonist John Fedchock.  

The original spotlighted a legendary alto saxophonist who was the great romantic of the Ellington aggregation, Johnny Hodges, but in Ms. Inserto’s worthy interpretation, Mr. Fedchock is our guide through the hills and dales of the musical terrain. He doesn’t evoke any specific Ellington trombone player, but his smooth reading gives the tune a whole new shine. 

It was a lovely travelog, symbolic of the journey that this music has taken between Ellington’s time and ours, illustrating how 21st century musicians still revere the Maestro as the greatest of all American composers.

This season, Jazz at Lincoln Center is going all out for the Duke. JALC honors him every year — last year’s concert, reviewed in these pages, was especially memorable — but for the 125th, they’ve assembled their most ambitious DukeFest since the centennial, which was especially memorable in that back in 1999, there were numerous original Ellingtonians around to participate.  

This year, the big-ticket event is a three-night concert by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the direction of the redoutable Ted Nash (May 2-4). The announced theme is Ellington’s more “socially conscious repertoire,” which will serve to remind us that as far back as the 1920s, Ellington was telling the world that Black is beautiful.

Before and after the main concert, the Ellington legacy is being honored all week and beyond down the hall at Dizzy’s, starting with Ms. Inserto last night, the actual birthday. Most of this week, the focus is on contemporary jazz pianists teaming up to play the Ducal catalog in sets of two.

It all starts with two nights featuring the stylish modernist Helen Sung, first with Aaron Diehl (April 30) and then Geoff Keezer (May 1). They’re followed by a bebop-era veteran, Bertha Hope, and the younger Mike King (May 1-2), and then Marc Cary and James Hurt will conclude the two-piano Ellington series (May 4-5). 

If that isn’t enough, there are late night shows starting at 11 p.m. featuring a young Korean pianist, Dabin Ryu, and vocalist Simona Daniele. Here’s hoping at least one of these four-handed piano nights will include the duet music that Ellington and Strayhorn created together, especially “Tonk.”

The JALC Duke @ 125 series will then continue with college and high school bands. Between May 9 and May 12, a conductor, author, and educator, Loren Schoenberg, is leading the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra in a program called “Duke’s Long Form Pieces.” Mr. Schoenberg, who is also senior scholar at the National Jazz Museum, Harlem, is enough of a hardcore historian to include some truly out-of-the-way slices of Ellingtonia and Strayhorniana. Then, the 29th annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival will feature 15 different teenaged ensembles from all over the country.

The major Duke @ 125 event outside of JALC will be co-hosted by Mercedes Ellington, the well-known choreographer, producer, and granddaughter of the Maestro, and Tony Waag, founder of the American Tap Dance Foundation. “Celebrating Duke Ellington’s 125th Birthday in the City of Jazz,” on May 6 at Symphony Space, will focus on many sides of Ellington: Latin-ate and pan-global, with pianist Arturo O’Farrill and percussionist Bobby Sanabria; terpsichore, with dancer DeWitt Fleming Jr.; vocal, with singers Ty Stephens, Antoinette Montague, and Marion Cowings; and theatrical, with a singer and raconteur who is a New York institution, Sidney Myer.    

On Monday, Ayn Inserto’s other major homage to the Duke was an exciting new arrangement of “Cotton Tail.” Because this 1940 swinger constitutes Ellington’s most famous variation on “I Got Rhythm,” this new chart, by trumpeter Jeff Claassen, left space for both the source material melodies to emerge.  

In fact, it was like Ellington and George Gershwin were both popping in and out of a rabbit hole; perhaps not coincidentally, this Boston-based big band’s most recent album is titled “Down a Rabbit Hole.”  

There were tons of solos, among them a chase chorus between guitarist Eric Hofbauer and pianist Jason Yeager, and a two-trombone “battle” between Randy Pingrey and Chris Gagne. It wasn’t just the rabbits; by the time the ensemble regathered for the climactic tutti shout chorus, the whole room was hopping.