The Duke Ellington Orchestra delivers vibrant performance at Hendricks Chapel

As students flocked to the Dome for the annual music festival Juice Jam, Hendricks Chapel hosted a different concert just around the corner as part of the Malmgren Concert Series. The legendary Duke Ellington Orchestra, led by Charlie Young and accompanied by the Hendricks Chapel Choir, packed the pews and swung with vibrancy for an evening of jazz honoring legacy and lineage. 

An homage to Duke Ellington, the late jazz pianist and composer, today’s orchestra features musicians dedicated to something bigger than themselves, commemorating Duke’s greatest compositions with their creative style. The program included selections from the 1960s onward, some of which had never been performed live. Each song was arranged with dynamic solos that commanded the crowd—every generation was clapping, tapping toes, and swinging to the harmonies. 

Young, who joined the orchestra in 1988, introduced each piece with a story, amassing laughter and applause with his anecdotes. There was never a dull moment—the crowd moved with the band as the final notes from the piano swung into a brass quintet, the musicians exchanging smiles and shoulder taps as they shifted to the center of the stage for the next solo. 

For the hit “Midnight Indigo,” a slower serenade, a brass trio raised mutes to their instruments for a more muffled sound. The bass and snare slowed as Ravi Best, one of four trumpet players, used his bell as a baton to command the group to a stop. One of the standout performers, Best said the group has been “friends for years,” and he always looks forward to playing with them in any ensemble. 

“We all do a lot of different work with different groups and artists,” Best said. “When we’re able to come together, it’s really like a family reunion. I never take it for granted.” 

Their camaraderie showed in the chapel, for every improvisation was quickly met with a response—sometimes literally, as one number included a call-and-response between a saxophonist and the rest of the band, everyone matching doo-wop syllables to the notes. 

“I thought it was fantastic,” said graduate student Julia Liebell-McLean of the performance. “Beautiful music, bombastic performances. [It was great] to see so many people from the community out.” 

Some of the audience was there to support friends in the Hendricks Chapel Choir, which joined the orchestra for two gospel-inspired pieces, whereas others wanted to take advantage of the free opportunity. 

First-year architecture student Maria Guzman-Duchitanga joined the crowd thirty minutes before the show started with another friend for their shared love of jazz. 

“To have orchestras visit—I love that,” said Guzman-Duchitanga, who is a musician herself. “I’m a big jazz fan, and I immediately was like, ‘I need to go to this.’”

The Sunday evening concert was in conjunction with a photography exhibit by Gordon Park, an artist and jazz musician who rubbed shoulders with Duke Ellington himself in the 1960s. The exhibit, titled “Homeward to the Prairie I Come,” honored that connection at the Syracuse Art Museum and will continue until late December.

Audience members were invited “into the sound world” of the exhibit directly after the concert, and members of the orchestra flooded into the reception, still in their black ties and carrying their instrument cases. 

They each smiled and shook hands with anyone who passed by, and as Best accidentally skipped the refreshment line for a cookie, he shared his gratitude for his place in the orchestra. 

“It’s always really special. This music is very special, and kind of sacred for us,” Best said. “Every time we can come together and play that music… I mean, tonight, we played three pieces that have never been performed before. That’s such a great opportunity, [and it is] an honor to be able to play that music. Today was just really wonderful.”

The Grammy award-winning orchestra has been performing worldwide for over 100 years under the guidance of three Ellington generations, each new group of musicians sharing sounds from Duke’s songbook with their own unique spin.

Sunday’s free concert was made possible by the Malgrem Fund at Hendricks Chapel, and the series brings three more artists to campus in October and November.