San Francisco bandleader, composer, bassist and educator Marcus Shelby never gets tired of performing Duke Ellington’s jazzy 1960 “The Nutcracker Suite” based on Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet score. “I know the piece really well and just love what has been done. It’s like 40 minutes long so it’s something you can digest and easily relate to,” says Shelby, who has been playing it for more than 15 years. He adds, “Every section has […]
