A piano played by jazz legend Duke Ellington during a show in Eastbourne is being restored.
Ellington, who led and composed music for his band across six decades, performed at the Congress Theatre in December 1973, five months before he died aged 75.
A recording of the concert was released two years later as an album called Eastbourne Performance.
In 2020, as the theatre was being refurbished, the Steinway grand piano he used in the show was found to be in a poor condition and sold.
It is now being repaired by the family-run business Sussex Pianos in Hailsham for a private buyer and work is due to be completed at the end of the month.
Musician Mark Edwards plays the Steinway piano used by Ellington at the Congress Theatre [David Forman]
To commemorate the Eastbourne show, musicians Mark Edwards and Arnie Somogyi have organised a concert and produced a new album which features the sound of the original piano.
The concert takes place at the Congress Theatre on 12 October.
Mr Somogyi called the American musician’s Sussex performance “a moment of cultural history which has been overlooked”.
“His output was so prodigious. He influenced musicians in all genres and is regarded as one of the greats of the 20th Century,” said Mr Somogyi.
Ellington recorded more than 3,000 songs in his lifetime. He made Washington DC a top destination for jazz, along with performers like Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.
This month’s concert will be headlined by The Echoes Of Ellington orchestra and will feature the Brighton and Hove Youth Big Band.
Mr Somogyi added: “We feel it’s really important to introduce the next generation of musicians to his legacy.”
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