All Duke Ellington concerts offered music of substance. Audiences listened patiently through the medleys and Tony Watkins’ vocals. Some performances, however, stood apart because they contained material that was fresh — music not yet worn thin by repetition, where both the thinking and playing could still surprise.
Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, and the orchestra toured Asia (the “Far East”) in 1963. Rather than immediately writing new compositions, they deliberately allowed the impressions of the journey to settle, preferring that the process of transformation occur naturally rather than risk producing a mere pastiche.
Ellington’s “The Far East Suite” (RCA 1966) was eventually recorded over three days, from…