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Our Review

Attention, everyone, Duke Ellington is in the house! Wishes You a Cookin' Christmas is no lie; this is one cookin' instrumental holiday CD. The New England Jazz Ensemble ("NEJE")(16 talented musicians on reeds, trumpets/flugelhorns, trombones, and percussion) provides a "big band" treatment of holiday offerings, including a rare and stunning presentation of The Nutcracker Suite, the astounding Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn arrangement of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet. The jazzy tones on this CD are smooth, cool, and crisp all at once.

The compelling story underlying the Ellington/Strayhorn score--including its creation, disappearance, and reconstruction--makes for good drama and is reflected in the thoughtful liner notes. The Nutcracker Suite (which consists of tracks 8-16) occupies the back half of this CD (approximately 31 minutes of the 66:45 overall), and the execution is exceptional. For any fan of jazz and the Nutcracker Ballet, this CD is a "must have."

Before reaching The Nutcracker Suite, listeners are treated to seven traditional-but-electric holiday cuts. Jeff Holmes and Walter Gwardyak, both NEJE members, traded off arrangement responsibilities for the first six tracks and do a first-rate job. The first song, We Wish You a Cookin' Christmas (arranged by Holmes), gets the CD off to a rollickin' good start with a joyous potpourri of carols, including We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Good King Wenceslaus, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Carol of the Bells. And speaking of Rudolph (arranged by Gwardyak), this holiday number is generally not one of my favorites, but I certainly was smiling as I listened to the NEJE's blistering rendition of this kids' classic. Other favorites include Sugar Rum Cherry ("Sugar Plum Fairy") and Danse of the Floreadores ("Waltz of the Flowers"); these Tchaikovsky take-offs are spirited jazz creations that still retain the beauty and style of the original classical pieces.

In sum, the NEJE has crafted a memorable jazz CD full of fine selections (including the unusual Nutcracker Ballet variations), top-notch production values, and skillful musicianship. Looking for a tasty holiday music treat? This album COOKS.

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2003)

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From the liner notes:

The New England Jazz Ensemble: Reeds:

• John Mastroianni--lead alto & soprano sax, flute, clarinet
• Bob DePalma--alto sax, flute, clarinet
• George Sovak--lead tenor sax, flute, clarinet
• Larry Dvorin--tenor sax, flute, clarinet
• Lisa LaDone--baritone sax, bass clarinet

Trumpets/Flugelhorn: Jeff Holmes (lead), Steve Fitzko, Phil Person, Ken Roe Trombones: Tim Atherton (lead), Peter McEachern, Dave Sporny, Dave Wampler Rhythm Section:

• Walt Gwardyak--Music Director, piano
• Steve Bulmer--bass
• Jon Mele--drums, percussion

"A Christmas Chorale (Riffing on a Dickensian Theme)"

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… Peace on Earth toward Men of Goodwill? Bah! Humbug! Snorted the self-annointed leaders of nations. A new meanness prevailed, though this was called 'compassion'--in true Orwellian fashion (oops! Wrong author!). Funding for the arts was one of the first lambs to be sacrificed. Nevertheless, the New England Jazz Ensemble succeeded in winning a grant to help fund its third CD. And so it came to pass that on three snowy days in January 2003, sixteen intrepid musician/educators gathered in Rehearsal Room 102 of the Fine Arts Building on the deserted campus of the University of Connecticut. Their mission: to bring you holiday cheer for this and years to come. The piece de resistance--a bold undertaking--a recording the Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn arrangement of The Nutcracker Suite…."

"The Duke Ellington Orchestra represents many things in the history of modern music. It originated as a dance band (the Cotton Club days) and continued to present dance recitals pretty well until the founder's passing in 1974. And so, the Suite from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker ballet was not a surprising choice when it was decided to produce an album of re-orchestrations of other composers' works… [I]t was Bill's idea to do the Tchaikovsky, a task he undertook in early 1960. Working from his New York base, he consulted with Ellington while the latter was on the road with the band--as he always was--playing their ideas back and forth over the telephone with whatever pianos were at hand…In an interview conducted just months before his passing, Strayhorn [said], 'The actual writing was nothing. You could do that overnight. It was the preparation that was tremendous…The Tchaikovsky took six months. We through it and played those pieces over the over again.' The end product was recorded in Los Angeles in mid-1960 and released to critical acclaim."

"Unfortunately, the Ellington/Strayhorn score vanished without a trace. Enter Mr. David Berger, trumpeter, bandleader, composer and orchestrator. In the late 1970s he conceived the idea of adding 90 minutes of his own material to Duke's Nutcracker Suite, with original book and choreography, for a grand presentation to be called 'The Harlem Nutcracker'… [T]his project finally came to fruition in 1996 and has toured since then at the Winter holiday season… Berger set about transcribing the charts himself by listening to the Ellington recording. We are indebted to him for having undertaken that Herculean task, which made it possible for New England Jazz Ensemble to establish in recent years its own holiday tradition of presenting The Nutcracker Suite in conjunction with the Hartford Conservatory." "Our version of The Nutcracker Suite--we believe it is only the second post-Ellington recording--aims to be faithful to the spirit of the original without slavishly imitating it. Soloists are encouraged to improvise in a contemporary style (actually, they were compelled to, under threat of loss of eggnog privileges if they failed!). You'll note that Duke and Billy also had some fun reinventing the names of the movements of the Suite; the original Tchaikovsky title appears in parentheses…"

"…Two final thoughts: We hope that if you acquired this CD with 'great expectations,' they were fulfilled. Hint: the higher the quality of the audio system you use to enjoy this CD, the more you'll be able to appreciate the little nuances and inner voicings the arrangers came up with; and… We wish you merry and bright holidays, now and always…"

--Jazz Officer Spaak (Itinerant CD Producer and Jazz Journalist)

New England Jazz Ensemble

Wishes You a Cookin' Christmas

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Track List