Far East Suite

Limited edition of 1500 numbered copies on orange coloured 180-gram audiophile vinyl. Far East Suite is a 1967 concept album by American jazz musician Duke Ellington, inspired by his group's tour through Asia. Ellington and longtime collaborator Billy Strayhorn wrote the compositions. Strayhorn died in May 1967, making Far East Suite one of the last albums recorded during his life to feature his compositions. The album won the Grammy Award in 1968 for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance - Large Group or Soloist with Large Group. The Penguin Guide to Jazz gives the album a four-star rating, noting that "Ellington's ability to communicate points of contact and conflict between cultures, assimilating the blues to Eastern modes in tracks like "Blue Pepper (Far East of the Blues)", never sounds unduly self-conscious. This remains a postwar peak." Allmusic calls this one of Ellington's "more memorable recordings," describing it as an example of "Ellington and Strayhorn in their late prime," and as such, "quite essential."