The Nutcracker was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-93) in 1892 for a two-act ballet. Nine of the numbers from the ballet were selected by Tchaikovsky to form The Nutcracker Suite independently of the ballet and were debuted months earlier. It was very popular from the start, particularly “Dance Of The Sugar-Plum Fairy.” During the swing era, the Larry Clinton Orchestra (1940) and the John Kirby Sextet (calling their 1941 version “Bounce Of The Sugar Plums”) made notable recordings of that theme. Probably the first jazz group to record the full Nutcracker Suite was the Les Brown Orchestra which recorded versions in 1952 and 1958. Trumpeter Shorty Rogers documented his rendition of what he called The Swinging Nutcracker in 1960, 23 days before the Duke Ellington Orchestra began recording for their full-length album.
The Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn adaptation of The Nutcracker Suite has dwarfed all other post-Tchaikovsky versions. Few remember the Brown and Rogers adaptations and all other jazz renditions since then have had to at least pay tribute to the Ellington/Strayhorn arrangements.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Hall during the Christmas season, advertised that they were going to perform both the Tchaikovsky and the Ellington/Strayhorn versions of The Nutcracker Suite, with half of the evening dedicated to each. Its conductor Gustavo Dudamel was typ
