BPO Struggles With Jazz Idiom But Supports a Virtuoso

The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Took on a Jazz Program this Weekend with Mixed Results

Friday’s program (May 12, 2023), under the direction of  guest conductor Michael Francis, began with Duke Ellington's "Black, Brown, and Beige," composed in 1943 as a conscious attempt to raise jazz and the music of the African-American experience to the level of "classical" music. 

At its Carnegie Hall premiere, "Black, Brown, and Beige" received mixed reviews, but its chilly reception in 1943 was due more to its racial "leveling" agenda than the work itself. That said, nearly a century later it still feels like "Lesser Ellington." 

The BPO's performance got off to a rough start. It took several measures to find the beat and the horns bleated their way in. The musicians recovered quickly, but the challenging piece sounded under rehearsed, delivering the notes on the page without really delivering the soulful sound of the mid-century African-American experience. The highlight was a powerful, wailing trombone during the "Work Song," a key moment in the work which did not disappoint.