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Legendary Sax Players Bootsie Barnes, Larry McKenna and Jimmy Heath Play with the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, Led by Terell Stafford

Legendary trumpeter Terell Stafford led the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia in a stunning holiday performance of "The Harlem Nutcracker" Dec. 3. Philadelphia saxophone tenor legends Bootsie Barnes, Larry McKenna and Jimmy Heath headlined the show.JOP performed in the Perelman Theatre at the Kimmel Center. The first set of the show was the full Duke Ellington-Billy Strayhorn's "The Harlem Nutcracker," a jazz classic of a theme and variation from Pyotr llyich Tchaikovsky's ballet score "Nutcracker Suite,” first recorded in 1960. "The Harlem Nutcracker" hails from New York, where the full version was first performed in 1996.“It’s not done too often because it is such a challenging piece. The group that mainly does it is Lincoln Center, and they do it all the way in New York,” says Stafford."The Huffington Post" says JOP “completely cracks this nut completely open. 'Sugar Rum Cherry,' for instance, was more soused via a scorching, muted trumpets line and Sean Bailey's punch-drunk clarinet on 'Arabesque Cookie,' got us all intoxicated.”
By Jaime Prisco