Duke Ellington

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1= Caravan
2= Satin Doll
3= Take The A Train


Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader of a jazz orchestra, which he led from 1923 until his death in a career spanning over fifty years.

Born in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s onward, and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem.

In the 1930s, his orchestra toured in Europe. Though widely considered to have been a pivotal figure in the history of jazz, Ellington embraced the phrase "beyond category" as a liberating principle, and referred to his music as part of the more general category of American Music, rather than to a musical genre such as jazz.


Some of the musicians who were members of Ellington's orchestra, such as saxophonist Johnny Hodges, are considered to be among the best players in jazz. Ellington melded them into the best-known orchestral unit in the history of jazz. Some members stayed with the orchestra for several decades. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington often composed specifically to feature the style and skills of his individual musicians.


Often collaborating with others, Ellington wrote more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, with many of his works having become standards. Ellington also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, for example Juan Tizol's "Caravan", and "Perdido", which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz. After 1941, Ellington collaborated with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his writing and arranging companion.

With Strayhorn, he composed many extended compositions, or suites, as well as additional short pieces. Following an appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival, in July 1956, Ellington and his orchestra enjoyed a major career revival and embarked on world tours. Ellington recorded for most American record companies of his era, performed in several films, scoring several, and composed stage musicals.

Due to his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, and thanks to his eloquence and charisma, Ellington is generally considered to have elevated the perception of jazz to an art form on a par with other more traditional musical genres. His reputation continued to rise after he died, and he was awarded a special posthumous Pulitzer Prize for music in 1999.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkLBSLxo5LE



"Caravan" is a jazz standard composed by Juan Tizol and Duke Ellington, and first performed by Ellington in 1936. Irving Mills wrote seldom performed lyrics. Its exotic sound interested exotica musicians; Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, and Gordon Jenkins all covered it. Woody Allen used the song in two of his films, Alice and Sweet and Lowdown. The song is also heavily featured in the 2014 film Whiplash as an important plot element.

The Mills Brothers recorded an a cappella version, making the instruments' sounds with their voices, and Johnny Mathis recorded the song in 1956. There are more than 350 recordings of this song by Duke Ellington's orchestra, the great majority of them now in the public domain.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrytKuC3Z_o



Satin Doll" is a jazz standard written by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Written in 1953, the song has been recorded countless times, by such artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, 101 Strings, Terry Callier, and Nancy Wilson. Its chord progression is well known for its unusual use of chords and opening with a ii-V-I turnaround.  According to Richard Pryor, the piece was written for a famous black stripper by the same name.

Johnny Mercer was often asked to write lyrics to already popular songs. The lyrics to "Satin Doll" were written after the song was already a hit in its instrumental version. Ellington used "Satin Doll" as the closing number at most of his concerts.

The popular 1950s group The Gaylords recorded a version of "Satin Doll" in 1958.

Bill Doggett recorded a version on his 1959 tribute album Salute To Duke Ellington (King Records 533).

The Coasters released a version of the song on their 1960 album, One by One.

In 1960 Harry James released a version on his album Harry James...Today. (MGM E-3848)

The American vocal group The Stylistics recorded a cover version for their 1976 album, Once Upon a Juke Box.

Dr. John released a version of the song on his 1999 album, Duke Elegant.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb2w2m1JmCY



Take the 'A' Train" is a jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn that was the signature tune of the Duke Ellington orchestra. It is arguably the most famous of the many compositions to emerge from the collaboration of Ellington and Strayhorn

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR551AVRgWI

"Don't Get Around Much Anymore" is a jazz standard with music by Duke Ellington and lyrics by Bob Russell. The tune was originally called "Never No Lament" and was first recorded by Ellington in 1940 as a big-band instrumental. Russell's lyrics and the new title were added in 1942.

Two different recordings of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore", one by The Ink Spots and the other by Ellington's own band, reached #1 on the R&B chart in the US in 1943. Both were top-ten pop records, along with a version by Glen Gray. The Duke Ellington version reached #8 on the pop chart.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOlpcJhNyDI

"C Jam Blues" is a jazz standard composed in 1942 by Duke Ellington and performed by countless other musicians, such as Dave Grusin, Django Reinhardt, Oscar Peterson, and Charles Mingus.

As the title suggests, the piece follows a twelve-bar blues form in the key of C major. The song is well known for being extremely easy to play, with the entire melody featuring only two notes: G and C.

The piece typically features several improvised solos. The final solo continues in the upper register as the entire ensemble comes in and the music grows to a climax. The melody likely originated from the clarinetist Barney Bigard in 1941, but its origin is not perfectly clear.

It was also known as "Duke's Place", with lyrics added by Bill Katts, Bob Thiele and Ruth Roberts.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTQHsO6N7NU

"I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" is a 1938 composition by Duke Ellington, with lyrics added by Irving Mills, Henry Nemo and John Redmond.

The song became a number one hit for Ellington in 1938, and vocal versions by Benny Goodman (with Martha Tilton singing) and Mildred Bailey soon followed. Dinah Washington recorded the song in her album After Hours with Miss "D" in 1954, and Thelonious Monk covered it in 1955 on his album Thelonious Monk Plays the Music of Duke Ellington.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GohBkHaHap8

"Mood Indigo" (1930) is a jazz composition and song, with music by Duke Ellington and Barney Bigard with lyrics by Irving Mills.

Ellington's biographer, Terry Teachout, described it as "an imperishable classic, one of a handful of songs that come to mind whenever Ellington's name is mentioned anywhere in the world".

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDQpZT3GhDg

It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) is a 1931 composition by Duke Ellington, whose lyrics were written by Irving Mills.

It is now accepted as a jazz standard, and jazz historian Gunther Schuller characterized it as "now legendary" and "a prophetic piece and a prophetic title."