78TH SEASON OF

CONCERTS

national gallery of art | october 27, 2019
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PROGRAM

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Slavic Soul Party!

David Leon, saxophone, clarinet 

John Carlson, trumpet 

Kenny Warren, trumpet 

Adam Dotson, trombone 

Tim Vaughn, trombone 

Kenny Bentley, tuba 

Matt Moran, percussion 

Chris Stromquist, percussion 

Peter Stan, accordion

Far East Suite 

Duke Ellington (1899 – 1974) and Billy Strayhorn (1915 – 1967) Reimagined

October 27, 2019 | 3:30

West Building, West Garden Court

Slavic Soul Party!, photo by Jason Schaltz
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THE MUSICIANS

Fiery Balkan brass, irresistible beats, virtuoso jazz chops, and Roma (Gypsy) accordion 

wizardry make Slavic Soul Party! (SSP!) — New York City’s official, “Number One” brass 

band for Balkan, Soul, Gypsy, and Funk. These nine musicians pump the sounds of New 

York life through a Balkan brass filter, making new music out of immigration, integration, and ingenuity. The band’s Tuesday night residency in Brooklyn has become a 

destination for music fans from around the world, and is famous for “delivering a great 

time” (The New York Times). In over a decade of touring North America, Europe, and 

beyond, SSP! has performed extensively in Serbian schoolyards, prison courtyards, 

Turkish palaces, Russian baths, dive bars, and Carnegie Hall. The band’s most recent 

record SSP! Plays Duke Ellington’s Far East Suite (Ropeadope) is its sixth album. 

Reviews have praised it for honoring “the tunes and spirit of the Ellington opus while 

adding [the band’s] own flavor” (Chicago Reader); “[It’s] a pretty heavenly match” 

(TimeOut NY); and “[It’s] a manifesto on cultural boundaries, historical lineage and 

how they play into individual creativity” (Wall Street Journal).

Far East Suite 

Slavic Soul Party! has reimagined Duke Ellington’s iconic Far East Suite as an East 

European brass band discovering a uniquely American sound, reversing the “exotic 

tinge” and reveling in this subtle, funky, and brilliant music. Ellington’s suite (created 

with Billy Strayhorn) was inspired by a 1963 State Department tour to the Middle East, 

South Asia, and the Balkans cut short by the Kennedy assassination — they never made 

it to the “Far East”— and serves as a perfect foil for SSP!’s blend of East European, 

Romani, and American sounds. 

The essence of Ellington and Strayhorn’s collaboration is apparent from the first 

notes — the pulsing, harmonically rich chords of Tourist Point of View — but there’s something clearly different here. The sleight of hand that Slavic Soul Party! achieves with deft 

arrangements and strong Balkan playing is wonderfully disorienting. This is music that 

has taken several trips across the Atlantic and is played by a brass band that has fallen 

in love with the sound of jazz. But where is this music from? Slavic Soul Party! has an 

answer to that question, enthusiastically entangling issues of originality, expression, and 

identity. In our view, we are a rambunctious Balkan party band reinterpreting Ellington’s 

earthy, yet endlessly sophisticated music. We take a beloved big-band score, reconfigure it for a much smaller group and execute it with precision — and dazzling energy.

PROGRAM NOTES
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Edmond Lebel, Still Life of Musical Instruments, c. 1863, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Robert B. Menschel Fund, 

2006.109.1

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Upcoming Events of the SeventyEighth Season of The William Nelson 

Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin Concerts

Unless otherwise noted, concerts 

are held in the West Building, West 

Garden Court.

Gaelynn Lea, singer-songwriter 

and violinist

Presented in honor of Disability 

Employment Awareness Month *

October 29, 12:10

West Building Lecture Hall

Jenny Scheinman and Allison Miller

Parlour Game *

November 3, 3:30

Gewandhaus Woodwind Quintet

With the Musik Tanztheater Kids 

from the German International School, 

Washington, DC

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the 

fall of the Berlin Wall, and the finale to 

the year of German-American friendship, 

“Wunderbar Together.” Presented in 

collaboration with the Embassy of the 

Federal Republic of Germany.

November 10, 3:30 

Winners from Washington Performing

Arts 48th Annual Joseph and Goldie

Feder Memorial String Competition

November 16, 3:00

 * This concert is part of a series of 

performances by female violinists, 

showcasing the brilliance and stylistic 

versatility of the instrument.

General Information

Admission to the National Gallery of Art 

and all of its programs is free of charge, 

except as noted.

The use of cameras or recording 

equipment during the performance 

is not allowed.

Please be sure that all portable electronic 

devices are turned off.

—

Concerts are made possible in part 

through the generosity of donors to the 

National Gallery of Art through The Circle. 

Reserved seating is available in recognition 

of their support. Please contact the 

development office at (202) 842-6450 or 

circle@nga.gov for more information.

—

The department of music produced 

these program notes. Copyright © 2019 

Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, 

Washington
NGA.GOV/MUSIC