Duke Ellington’s The Nutcracker Suite performed by Roosevelt High School Jazz Band

Past Event

Seattle’s Roosevelt High School has one of the most legendary high school jazz music programs in the country and on December 6th they bring Ellington’s “Nutcracker” suite and Billy Strayhorn’s version of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” to BIMA. This hard-swinging, jazzed up version of the Nutcracker has become an annual tradition to the Seattle area and is the perfect way to kick off the festival of lights.

Directed by native Bainbridge Islander, Scott Brown, the Roosevelt Jazz program is one of the most important anchors of the Seattle jazz music scene. Their 19 appearances in the prestigious Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition, started by Wynton Marsalis and held at Lincoln Center in New York every year, speaks for itself. Roosevelt bands have won the competition 4 times, most recently in 2019, and continually stun audiences with their hard-swinging performances.

Watch the winning performance here!

Special thanks to Scott Brown and Roosevelt Jazz Band.