Broadway legend Brian Stokes Mitchell headlines Boston Pops tribute to Duke Ellington

Thanks to his father’s love of jazz music, actor and singer Brian Stokes Mitchell has had a lifelong affinity for Duke Ellington, the iconic American composer, pianist and orchestra leader.

“Duke Ellington was playing in our house before I was even born,” Mitchell said recently in a telephone interview from his Manhattan home. “My dad, who was a Tuskegee airman and an electronics engineer, would play albums by Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Ellington and others in his private time.”

Mitchell is a true Broadway leading man – with starring roles in “Kiss of the Spiderwoman,” “Ragtime,” “Man of La Mancha” and “Shuffle Along” – and a four-time Tony Award nominee, including a win for best actor in a musical for the 1999 revival of “Kiss Me Kate.” He will co-headline “Duke Ellington Reimagined,” with pianist Lara Downes, for two concerts with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops  on Thursday and Friday at Boston’s Symphony Hall.

Mitchell – whose son with his wife, actress and producer Allyson Tucker, is named Ellington – and Downes will explore the musical legacies of both Ellington and his collaborator of some 30 years, composer, lyricist and pianist Billy Strayhorn.

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Downes will perform the world premiere of “A Lovesome Thing: Billy Strayhorn Suite,” based on three haunting Strayhorn songs – “A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing,” “Strange Feeling” and “Something to Live For.” Arranged by composer Chris Walden, the “Strayhorn Suite” is a Boston Pops co-commission with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Brevard Music Center and South Carolina Philharmonic.

A classical pianist, Downes will also join Mitchell on a Strayhorn jazz standard that has been recorded by  a wide range of musicians, including Billy Eckstine, Nancy Wilson, Sammy Davis Jr., Natalie Cole, Linda Ronstadt and Lady Gaga.

“Lara and I will be doing ‘Lush Life’ together. Strayhorn wrote it when he was just a teenager and it became one of the greatest jazz songs ever. I’ve never, ever done it before because I’ve always felt I needed to grow into it.

“It’s rangy and chromatic – not a song for a young singer. To do it justice, you need an old jazzer to sing it. It demands a very precise vocal,” Mitchell said. “You can’t take the liberties with it that you can take with other jazz music.”

Strayhorn’s lyrics detail the author’s sense of defeat when a romance ends badly and the nightlife loses its luster.

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“It’s a wonderful song, of course,” Mitchell said, “but it’s also kind of a downer. It can only be done well in certain settings because it has to fit in emotionally. After ‘Lush Life,’ you need a palate cleanser.”

But Mitchell needed more than sorbet in early 2020 when he came down with COVID-19 for the first time.

“My head and body ached terribly,” Mitchell said. “My doctor told me that as long as I could breathe, I should stay home and away from any hospital. So I did. I just kept taking Tylenol as my fever went up and down. It was the worst experience I’ve ever had.”

As he recovered, Mitchell found a new way to share his talent.

“I was vocalizing to see how my lungs were feeling, and one day I just decided to hang out my apartment window and sing ‘The Impossible Dream’ from ‘Man of La Mancha.’ It was a way of thanking my doctors and all the essential workers who were so valiant during the height of the pandemic.

“I did it for over two months and it became a way to help feel joy again and reconnect to a happier place,” Mitchell said.

This week, that place will be the musical world of Ellington – who wrote “Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me” and “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” with lyricist Bob Russell – and Strayhorn, the composer behind Ellington’s signature song, “Take the A Train.”

“Duke Ellington popularized the jazz form, essentially making it America’s music. His orchestra was the zeitgeist band of the 1940s and beyond,” Mitchell said. “He was magical in knowing what people wanted and having the ability and intelligence to provide it.”

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Ellington also had the wisdom to make Strayhorn a major, if sometimes unsung, part of his team.

“The thing is that when you’re talking about Ellington, you’re really talking about the two of them,” Mitchell said. “Ellington was the frontman while Strayhorn, who was openly gay at a time when that was not common, was kept out of the spotlight. It was, however, a wonderful, symbiotic relationship that allowed them to make brilliant music together.”

'Duke Ellington Reimagined'

When: 8 p.m. June 9-10

Where: Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Ave., Boston

Tickets: Starting at $33

Info: 888-266-1200, bso.org/pops/

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Broadway's Brian Stokes Mitchell joins Boston Pops tribute Ellington