Celebrating Duke’s Birthday Part 1: The Stray Horns Play Ellington at Musically Minded Academy

Named for Duke Ellington’s protege and intimate collaborator Billy Strayhorn, this little big band will explore corners of the ducal canon that still resonate in modern music. Trends like Exotica and the Bebop revolution will be shown to have clear precedent in the repertoire of the great Ellington Orchestra. Duke’s unique mastery of song form will be displayed in mash-ups, straight readings and updated approaches.

David Slusser is a musician and sound artist active in the bay area since 1977. He was a founding member of the musical groups Jive Soup, Avant Gardeners, Pluto, Rubber City,Lost Planet and the Stray Horns. Through work with the ROVA saxophone quartet, he began an association with composer John Zorn in the mid eighties that led to touring and recording, and continues in the present. Through Zorn he met vocalist Mike Patton, who included him in a trio with drummer Han Bennink at the 1996 Saafelden Jazz Festival in Austria, and a large ensemble at the 2010 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. Zorn also introduced him to trumpeter Dave Douglas, in whose group he performed at Stanford in 2014. Writing for big band since high school, Slusser received two prizes in the 1999 Julius Hemphill Composition Awards, including first prize for jazz orchestra. He has also composed for film documentaries and public radio....

read more

Named for Duke Ellington’s protege and intimate collaborator Billy Strayhorn, this little big band will explore corners of the ducal canon that still resonate in modern music. Trends like Exotica and the Bebop revolution will be shown to have clear precedent in the repertoire of the great Ellington Orchestra. Duke’s unique mastery of song form will be displayed in mash-ups, straight readings and updated approaches.

David Slusser is a musician and sound artist active in the bay area since 1977. He was a founding member of the musical groups Jive Soup, Avant Gardeners, Pluto, Rubber City,Lost Planet and the Stray Horns. Through work with the ROVA saxophone quartet, he began an association with composer John Zorn in the mid eighties that led to touring and recording, and continues in the present. Through Zorn he met vocalist Mike Patton, who included him in a trio with drummer Han Bennink at the 1996 Saafelden Jazz Festival in Austria, and a large ensemble at the 2010 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. Zorn also introduced him to trumpeter Dave Douglas, in whose group he performed at Stanford in 2014. Writing for big band since high school, Slusser received two prizes in the 1999 Julius Hemphill Composition Awards, including first prize for jazz orchestra. He has also composed for film documentaries and public radio.

http://davidslusser.com

show less