“Every man prays in his own language” - Duke Ellington

Earshot Jazz, Seattle’s jazz support nonprofit organization, announces the 35th annual edition of the world’s longest running presentation of Duke Ellington’s sacred music. Ellington’s “Sacred Music” is both serious and spirited. Join us on Saturday, December 30 at 7:30 p.m. PST in-person at Town Hall Seattle’s Great Hall or via livestream.

Sacred Music is a reverential and contemporary body of jazz composition, written late in Ellington’s career, for jazz big band, vocal and instrumental soloists, gospel choir, and tap dancers. His inspiration for the Sacred Music concerts began during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. In his lifetime, Ellington stated this was the most important music he’d ever written, but because of the scale of the music and the sheer number of artists needed to execute each work, Ellington’s sacred concerts have rarely been performed in the years since his death in 1974.

This year's concert features the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, directed by Michael Brockman; along with guest vocalists Nichol Eskridge and Robert Neal, tap dancer Cipher Goings, and two choirs—Sound of the Northwest directed by Vanessa Bruce, and Northwest Chamber Chorus directed by Jeremy Edelstein. The award-winning, 17-piece SRJO, co-founded in 1995 by Clarence Acox and Michael Brockman, includes many of the region's best-loved artists and is the Northwest's premier big band jazz ensemble.