The music of a legendary jazz musician will be performed in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth at a Glasgow concert.

Coveted pianist Duke Ellington first met Her Majesty in 1958 after a performance by his orchestra in Leeds. 

The pair were said to have gotten on so well that the 'smitten' Duke then composed a suite of music, recorded it on a gold disc and sent it to Buckingham Palace just for her. 

Now after being released to the public, the Suite will be performed by the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (SNJO) in a special show, In The Spirit of Duke, at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Saturday, December 3.

Glasgow Times:

SNJO founder and saxophonist Tommy Smith asked the late Queen about the gold disc when he received an OBE from her in 2019 and said that she told him she remembered it. 

He added: “The music was supposed to remain unavailable to the general public but an album was eventually released in 1976 following Ellington’s death.

“I’m really glad that it was because the Queen’s Suite includes some outstanding writing by Ellington and his co-composer/arranger, Billy Strayhorn that really needs to be heard and appreciated.”

Among the pieces in the suite, the band will perform The Single Petal of a Rose, which has become an acclaimed piece of jazz music and featured on their 2013 album, also named In The Spirit of Duke. 

Glasgow Times:

Smith said: “We included three of the movements from the Queen’s Suite on the album alongside other Ellington classics including Rocking in Rhythm and Black and Tan Fantasy. 

“The great thing about Ellington and Strayhorn’s music is that it spanned some six decades and it maintained its high quality all the way through and right up to Duke’s death in 1974.”

Smith, who played with the former Ellington sidemen as a young musician, also spoke of his excitement to be celebrating such an icon.

He added: “He’s such an inspirational figure. 

"We’ll be following every last Ellington detail, including the stage set-up, using specially sourced period trumpet and trombone mutes and playing scores that in some cases were specially transcribed from Ellington performances.

"We want to give audiences as close to the real-deal Ellington experience as possible.”