![\"Sacred](\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Sacred-Concert-1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPacked to capacity, the 11th century Saint Mary\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Church in the center of Ystad hosted a magnificent performance of music from Duke Ellington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sacred Concerts. A citizen who lives nearby told me, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are more people in this church than there were on Christmas Eve.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Eva Ekdahl conducted her 34-voice Stockholm choir and eight instrumentalists in her husband Anders\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 adaptation of Ellington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work. <\/p>\n
From the first bars of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t But The One,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d it was evident that the performers grasped not only the religious conviction that Ellington put into his religious pieces but also the essence of swing that is crucial to their effective A footnote: Among its other fine qualities, the performance was a family affair; drummer Per and guitarist Bo Klum Ekdahl are the sons of conductor Eva and pianist-arranger Anders Ekdahl.<\/p>\n (Photos: Markus Fagersten)<\/p>\n [contextly_auto_sidebar id=”1GWrvXu0jUFe0w2nXbatzCZimkDgHf3y”] Packed to capacity, the 11th century Saint Mary\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Church in the center of Ystad hosted a magnificent performance of music from Duke Ellington\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sacred Concerts. A citizen who lives nearby told me, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are more people in this church than there were on Christmas Eve.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Eva Ekdahl conducted her 34-voice Stockholm choir and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5918\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>interpretation. Helen Larsson, a soprano of astonishing flexibility and accuracy, sang solos that Ellington wrote for his friend the great Swedish singer Alice Babs. The members of the four-man horn section were faithful to the styles of stars of the Ellington band who graced the<\/a> music\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s original performances. Patrik Skogh\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plunger-mute trumpet solos and alto saxophonist P\u00c3\u00a4r Gerbacken\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s evocations of Johnny Hodges were notably effective. Baritone saxophonist Victor Sand recalled Harry Carney, trombonist \u00c3\u2026ke L\u00c3\u00a4nnerholm Lawrence Brown. When the concert ended, bassist Anders Johnsson and drummer Per Ekdahl exchanged wide grins and a hearty handclasp that symbolized the good feeling permeating musicians and audience in the ancient church.<\/p>\n