LCC Presents Slavic Soul Party

Fiery Balkan brass, irresistible beats, Roma accordion wizardry and great jazz chops make Slavic Soul Party! America's No. 1 brass band for Balkan-soul-gypsy-funk. This dynamic nine-piece brass/percussion ensemble is recognized for virtuosity blended with spontaneous fun. At the Lakewood Cultural Center performance on Nov. 22, Slavic Soul Party! reimagines Duke Ellington's iconic "Far East Suite" by combining Eastern European brass with the uniquely American sound of jazz in what TimeOut NY calls "a pretty heavenly match."

Ellington's suite, created with Billy Strayhorn, was intended for a 1963 State Department "jazz diplomacy" tour. Although the tour was cut short, the funky and brilliant big-band music inspired Slavic Soul Party!'s most recent recording "SSP! Plays Duke Ellington's Far East Suite," blending Eastern European, Romani and American sounds. The sleight of hand that Slavic Soul Party! achieves with deft arrangements and strong Balkan playing is wonderfully disorienting. But where is this music from? Slavic Soul Party! has always had a complex answer to that question, enthusiastically tangling issues of originality, expression and identity.

"With razor-sharp precision, juggernaut force and a healthy dose of playfulness, these guys start out in overdrive and never let up," says National Public Radio. The group's long-standing residency at Barbes, one of Brooklyn's coolest venues, is a hot ticket for music fans from around the globe. In over a decade of touring internationally, the group has performed everywhere from Serbian schoolyards, prison courtyards, Turkish palaces and Russian baths to the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall and the Chicago Jazz Festival.

Tickets start at $22 and are available at 303-987-7845, Lakewood.org/LCCPresents or the Lakewood Cultural Center Box Office, 470 S. Allison Parkway (Wadsworth and West Alameda Avenue).

The Lakewood Cultural Center Presents 2019-2020 season is generously supported by the SCFD, a unique funding source serving hundreds of metro Denver arts, culture and scientific organizations; Colorado Creative Industries; and the National Endowment for the Arts.