Jazz, ballet combine in Santa Rosa production of Duke Ellington’s ‘Nutcracker’

Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky finished his music for the two-act ballet “The Nutcracker” in 1892. Although it took until the 1960s for the complete ballet to build the broad popularity it has now, the composer’s condensed 20-minute “Nutcracker Suite” scored immediate success.

In 1960, pianist, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington recorded his own jazz interpretations of the suite for the Columbia label, in collaboration with Billy Strayhorn.

Enough history. Let’s skip forward to Sunday, when Santa Rosa’s New World Ballet company, led by Victor Temple, will team up with San Francisco jazz musician and composer Marcus Shelby and his orchestra to present Ellington’s “Nutcracker Suite.”

“Ellington took all the themes from the ‘Nutcracker’ ballet and gave it some swing,” said Shelby, who became artistic director for the Healdsburg Jazz Festival two years ago. “In all of it, you hear the delicious themes Tchaikovsky wrote, and now it swings.”

Shelby founded his orchestra, which has long performed at the Healdsburg festival, in 1998.

“We’ve been doing the Ellington ‘Nutcracker’ for the past 20 years, including the last six years at the SFJAZZ festival. I follow the Duke Ellington mold,” Shelby said. Shelby’s orchestra includes 15 musicians, not counting Shelby as conductor, just as Ellington’s did.

Although Shelby’s orchestra has collaborated with dance companies before and has performed Ellington’s “Nutcracker” many times, this is the first time his group will work with dancers on the piece.

Temple will present more than 40 dancers from his school and company, from age 4 to adults, plus two professional dancers from San Francisco.

For a second act Sunday, after the 38-minute Ellington piece, the New World Ballet will perform to recorded classic Christmas songs set to a variety of dance styles, including disco versions of “Santa Baby,” “Winter Wonderland” and “Deck the Halls.”

In costumes ranging in style from the 1920s to 1970s and representing a variety of characters, the performers will present a show that differs from many.

“We’re calling it ‘not your average Christmas show.’ It’s updated,” Temple said. “We have a very diverse group: young, old, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, tall, short, rich, poor and some who are a mixture of those.”

This is not the first time Shelby and Temple have worked together. Two decades ago, when Temple was a dancer with the Oakland Ballet, he performed to compositions by Shelby. During his dance career, before he became artistic director at New World Ballet, Temple also worked with the Dance Theater of Harlem and Cirque du Soleil.

Temple and Shelby got reacquainted at last summer’s jazz festival in Healdsburg, which Temple attended at the invitation of a San Francisco musician who knows them both.

“Marcus and I spoke and started tossing around ideas,” Temple recalled. “I started choreographing and we presented a piece to him. He was impressed with the kids I’m working with, and we’re very fortunate to be working with such a big name.”

As for Shelby, he’s happy to be part of this project.

“I’m excited about it. I like diversity and staying open to new things. I thrive on working with other artists, and I do tend to look for this type of collaboration,” he said.

Temple is already looking to the future.

“I think this will become a new tradition in Santa Rosa,” Temple said. “You don’t have to go to San Francisco to see a quality show. We have plenty of talent here.”

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5243. On Twitter @danarts.