Film: Duke Ellington Day

Films are back on display at The Jazz Centre UK! We will be screening 'The Royal Ellington Concert' and 'Duke: The Last Jam Session' on our digital display within our Media Room. Entrance Free, Donations Welcome. 

On-the-door entry is available however we recommend registering a free ticket at the bottom of this page. If our capacity fills we may refuse entry to the Media Room and by getting a ticket you can reserve your entry to the room on the day.

Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn wrote The Queen᾽s Suite for Queen Elizabeth who was presented with a single pressing of the recording, which was not commercially issued during Ellington’s lifetime. Its six episodes were inspired

by natural phenomena encountered in his travels. In 1989 at the Royal Festival Hall, Ellington specialist Bob Wilber and a 16-piece orchestra recreated and filmed the Suite.

In the summer of 1966, Duke Ellington ventured to the south of France with his band to perform at the Antibes Jazz Festival. The group’s performances —and their rehearsals— were captured on 16mm black-and-white film thanks to the enterprising jazz entrepreneur Norman Granz. Restored and remastered Granz’s footage includes an Ellington trio performing outdoors for Spanish artist Joan Miró, who later accompanies Ellington on a tour of the art gallery. The icing on the cake, though, is a cameo appearance by Ella Fitzgerald, who performs magnificently on Satin Doll, Something To Live For and a scat-saturated Jazz Samba.