Perhaps nothing has been quite as exuberant for Grant and the Chorale as working with the incomparable James Newton in the unique “co-conduction” experience of two conductors on stage – Grant conducting the Chorale and James conducting the jazz ensemble. This concert reprise is built upon the overwhelming audience response and artistic synergy of the collaboration among Grant, James, the singers of the Chorale and the incomparable talents of Carmen Lundy, Cedric Berry and Darius de Haas.

In spots, these performances even achieved the impossible, surpassing the daunting examples of (Duke) Ellington’s own recordings. Ellington would have killed for a chorus of the caliber of the Master Chorale, which produced a luminous carpet of sound.” – Variety

What a friendship developed between these two talented men as they probed and researched the Ellington Archives at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., to present the music of both Duke Ellington and Mary Lou Williams spanning two early seasons in the new concert hall. This year’s concert reunites these two conductors in a concert featuring the Best of the Sacred Concerts by the incomparable Duke Ellington, music written during the final decade of his life and what Ellington himself called “the most important thing I have ever done.” The selections on this concert are culled from the original three Sacred Concerts.