MISSION – Even if you don’t get around much anymore, it could be worth a trip to the Wildhorse Casino this weekend.

Local residents will have the opportunity to hear Paul Mercer Ellington lead the Duke Ellington Orchestra in its exclusive eastern Oregon performance beginning at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Ellington, 24, is the grandson of Duke Ellington, the famous founder of the orchestra. Duke Ellington headed the orchestra for 50 years after forming it in the 1920s. The elder Ellington made songs like “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” “Satin Doll” and “Take the A Train” favorites of several generations of music lovers.

Those familiar tunes, and much more, will unfold Sunday, Ellington said.

“People who come to see the band expect to hear what the band was like when my grand-dad was alive, and they will hear that,” he said. “But they also leave the show genuinely feeling good, and that’s what we try to do.”

Ellington was born in Denmark and spent his early childhood there, traveling in the summer with his father, Mercer, who took over the band in 1974 after Duke Ellington’s death. He returned to New York at age 16 and began leading the band in 1996.

Ellington is a skilled and versatile musician in his own right, playing a wide variety of instruments, including drums, trumpet and piano. Before his father’s death in 1996, the pair released several songs together. Ellington is also a composer and is presently under contract with Viacom.

In addition to writing music for Viacom, Ellington maintains a tight schedule during the three or four months each year that the band tours. This week they spent 23 hours traveling from a date in Japan through San Francisco to Seattle, where they will perform on Saturday with the Seattle Symphony, then on to Pendleton for the Sunday show.

Ellington expresses admiration for the musicians in the current band, saying the tough schedule is little price to pay for the opportunity to play with such high-caliber musicians.

“My lead alto player is a music professor at Howard,” he said. “At school you may get to play with them twice a week, I get to travel with them three to four months a year.”

Tickets for the show are on sale for $15 at the casino gift shop or at the door, if available. For more information, call 278-2274.