Last night I went to see the LA Master Chorale perform "Ellington: Best of the Sacred Concerts" at Disney Concert Hall. I hadn't known that the Duke had composed sacred music, let alone for a choir. Aside from two acapella pieces, the rest of the numbers included a jazz band, and some songs were for soloist and band.
I enjoyed the music, especially the piece with solo trumpet (Nolan Shaheed) and the two with the great tap dancer, Channing Cook Holmes. Cedric Berry sang a great baritone, but Darius de Haas' intonation was pretty unclear in many parts.
The other thing that occurred to me was that they did not need to amplify the jazz band (maybe the string bass), because at times I could not hear the 120-some voice choir over the instruments.
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