Ellington’s inspiration

In 1963, Duke Ellington made a tour with his orchestra through the Near and Middle East, including India; the tour - sponsored by the US State Department, by the way - was stopped short by the news of the assasination of John F. Kennedy. A year later, the orchestra came back to Asia for concerts in Japan. His travels inspired him and his co-writer Billy Strayhorn to write the Far East Suite, in which he sketched a musical picture based on his impressions of the countries he visited, in pieces with titles like 'Bluebird of Delhi' , 'Isfahan' , ‘Ad Lib on Nippon’ and ‘Tourist Point of View’. 

The Far East Suite takes a place apart in Ellington’s oeuvre. Kurt Gottschalk writes: “Far East, it seems, was left behind. That may be due to its dated Orientalism. It was recorded in 1966, a strange few years when jazz was looking to other cultures for inspiration but not embracing ethnic traditions the way it would in the coming decades.” While others write: “This album is a landmark in this regard. As has often been pointed out, the music is actually Middle-Eastern and Far-Eastern influenced. But instead of jumping into those sounds full-scale, Ellington's writing style was already so personally developed by then that he incorporates them into his own world, quite beautifully.” and “ For the Far East Suite is not only one of the Duke Ellington Orchestra's greatest sessions, it is one of the greatest jazz records of the '60s, […]. Sinewy, chromatic, Eastern-flavored compositions like "Isfahan" and "Agra" provide utterly fresh-sounding showcases for veteran Ellingtonians.”
For Calefax and Tony Overwater Trio, it is fascinating to delve into the sources that inspired Ellington, and to create a new project that reflects on Ellington’s choices forty years ago.