New Worlds in Duke Ellington's "Far East Suite"

To celebrate the 125th anniversary of Duke Ellington's life, the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra took on one of his most storied records: Far East Suite, a sprawling concept album born from Ellington's grueling tour of the Middle East. Ellington described the 11-week, state-sponsored journey that inspired this record as “one of the most unusual and adventurous trips [his orchestra] had ever undertaken”. It was high praise, considering his orchestra had been touring relentlessly on and off for three decades. So, after thirteen vaccinations, he, alongside longtime compositional partner Billy Strayhorn and their orchestra, embarked on a musical odyssey that would take them through 22 cities in ten countries. They faced shortages in food, frantic traveling, intestinal flu, and even an attempted coup. Still, through this pain and hardship, they brought home a timeless musical artifact born from cultural collision: the Far East Suite.  

Borrowing from foreign cultures has always been a trope in music, but Far East Suite uses this musical mimicry in a different sense. It doesn’t only borrow or emulate foreign conventions; it places you in Ellington's shoes as he went through that 11-week tour. Far East Suite is a collection of vignettes that vividly guide the listener through a myriad of exotic new places, half-remembered and made mystical by the culture shock Ellington himself experienced.  

Far East Suite is an impression, not a caricature, of Middle Eastern culture. Ellington and Strayhorn draw from the musical vocabulary of Middle Eastern music but intentionally skew certain aspects of it to create a feeling of culture shock. They throw you into a bustling world of new sounds and rhythms that you can only catch glimpses of as the music rushes past. 

Imagine you’re pushing through a crowd in a busy market, such as the Hamidiyah bazaar, being carried down the street by strangers as they go about their day. As you're carried further, you hear beautiful sounds on every side: snippets of conversation, car horns, working people, or birdsong. This is the feeling that the Far East Suite emulates. Ellington remarked on the musicality of the ambient sounds he heard and incorporated them into his compositions. He said of the car horns outside his hotel window: “It seems as though every automobile in the city has converged on the intersection outside my window at six o’clock. If that noise could be properly orchestrated, sung, played, and recorded today, I am sure it would win a Grammy, an Oscar, or an Emmy.”

Billy Strayhorn also drew from what he heard. In the album's second track, Bluebird of Delhi, you can hear the call of an unknown bird outside the window of Billy Strayhorn's hotel room emulated by a prancing clarinet line. 

The second-to-last track, Amad, bears resemblance in its themes to the first, Tourist Point of View, in that it evokes a general sense of mystery and intrigue. You can hear another figment of the sounds they encountered in a trombone line that dominates the tune, which mimics an Islamic call to prayer one may hear in the regions they passed through. 

Given the highly conceptual nature of the album and the very specific feeling it seeks to give, it’s hard to bring out the fine nuances of the music. All of these little snippets of experience can easily go over the listener's head. There’s also a certain hectic quality to the original recording that is hard to describe as it is to pull off. It’s almost clumsy or loose. Throughout the album, fast tempos, aggressive chromatic lines, and disjointed melodies continue to catch one's interest. The brass is often restrained or arranged to sound very natural, and the rhythm section has a driving, aggressive force behind it that delivers much of the aforementioned mystical feel. Extremely dissonant, clattering piano lines are present in the last two tracks, and the drums are almost always in a frantic rush, only breaking for the more calm interludes such as Isfahan or Agra. 

SRJO certainly had a cleaner sound, but they maintained the original intent of the album with great success, especially in their thoughtful solos, which always drove home the imagery of each tune. Each solo brought a new and unique timbre to the table, such as the resounding vocal growl of the muted bass trombone or the surprisingly bluesy, motif-driven alto sax solo by Sidney Hauser on Blue Pepper. The latter specifically did excellent justice to the jarring, almost rock-like feel of the tune, delivering showy runs and repetitive soulful licks one would expect from rock and roll or more traditional blues music. 

Another aspect that SRJO brought out in their interpretation was the low end. The fierce baritone saxophone by Alex Dugdale, as well as the trombone section led by Connor Eisenmenger, stood out against the wide brass chords in the higher end. Despite this, the rhythm section was rather restrained, leaning into their supporting role throughout most of the show. 

In the final track, John Hansen brought things down with a stunning and subtle piano solo that used pentatonic scales and lush harmonic textures. This quiet and contemplative beauty was strongly contrasted against the almost violent clarinet solo that closed out the show. Artistic Director Michael Brockman delivered this spectacle, displaying an impressive altissimo.

SRJO took a fragile and chaotic piece of jazz history and made it their own, displaying immense talent and creativity within the conceptual bounds of the suite. It was refreshing to hear something totally new yet resoundingly familiar as Far East Suite. It explored new worlds while maintaining a strong artistic vision and bluesy core. It was transporting, aggressive, and beautiful.  

Lead photo by Jim Levitt.

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