Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook

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Track listing

1. "Rockin' in Rhythm" (Harry Carney
   Harry Carney
   
   Harry Howell Carney was a swing music baritone saxophonist, clarinetist, and bass clarinetist best known for his 45-year tenure in Duke Ellington's band....
   , Duke Ellington
   Duke Ellington
   
   Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader.Duke Ellington was recognized during his life as one of the most influential Jazz royalty, if not in all American music and he is of only four jazz musicians ever to have been featured on the cover of Time magazine ....
   , Irving Mills
   Irving Mills
   
   Irving Mills was a jazz Music publisher , also known by the name of Joe Primrose.Mills was born in New York City. He founded Mills Music with his brother Jack in 1919....
   ) – 5:17
2. "Drop Me Off in Harlem
   Drop Me Off in Harlem
   
   "Drop Me Off in Harlem" is a 1933 song composed by Duke Ellington, with lyrics written by Nick Kenny .A.H. Lawrence writes that the song originated from an off the cuff remark from Ellington....
   " (Nick Kenny
   Nick Kenny (poet)
   
   Nicholas Napoleon Kenny was a syndicated newspaper columnist, a song lyricist and a poet who wrote light verse in the Edgar Guest tradition....
   ) – 3:48
3. "Day Dream
   Day Dream
   
   "Day Dream" is a 1946 song composed by Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington, with lyrics by John La Touche....
   " (John La Touche
   John La Touche
   
   John Treville Latouche was a musician and writer.Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Latouche's family moved to Richmond, Virginia, Virginia when he was four months old....
   , Billy Strayhorn
   Billy Strayhorn
   
   William Thomas "Billy" Strayhorn was an United States composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting close to three decades....
   ) – 3:56
4. "Caravan
   Caravan (song)
   
   "Caravan" is a jazz standard composed by Juan Tizol and first performed by Duke Ellington in 1937. Tizol also composed "Perdido" for the Ellington band....
   " (Mills, Juan Tizol
   Juan Tizol
   
   Juan Tizol was a Puerto Rico trombone and composer.He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and moved to the mainland United States in 1920. He trained as a valve trombonist and Valide trombone....
   ) – 3:51
5. "Take the "A" Train" (Strayhorn) – 6:37
6. "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues
   I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues
   
   "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues" is a 1937 song composed by Duke Ellington, with lyrics written by Don George....
   " (Don George) – 4:39
7. "Clementine" (Strayhorn) – 2:37
8. "I Didn't Know About You
   I Didn't Know About You
   
   "I Didn't Know About You" is a 1944 in music song composed by Duke Ellington, with lyrics written by Bob Russell .Alec Wilder wrote that it "works well as a song in [the] series of Ellington instrumentals with Russell lyrics....
   " (Bob Russell
   Bob Russell (songwriter)
   
   Sidney Keith Russell, known as Bob Russell was an American songwriter born in Passaic, New Jersey. Although he was primarily a lyrics who collaborated with composers, he was, on occasion, a composer who collaborated with lyricists....
   ) – 4:10
9. "I'm Beginning to See the Light
   I'm Beginning to See the Light
   
   "I'm Beginning to See the Light" is a popular music song and jazz standard, written by Duke Ellington, Don George, Johnny Hodges, and Harry James, and published in 1944 in music....
   " (George, Johnny Hodges
   Johnny Hodges
   
   John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophone and lead player of Duke Ellington's saxophone section. He spent 38 years with Ellington, leaving to lead his own band from 1951 to 1955, returning to the fold shortly before Ellington's triumphant return to prominence via the orchestra's performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz F...
   , Harry James
   Harry James
   
   Harry James was an United States musician and band leader, and a well-known trumpet virtuoso. James was one of the most outstanding instrumentalists of the swing era, employing a bravura playing style that made his trumpet work instantly identifiable....
   ) – 3:24
10. "Lost in Meditation" (Mills, Lou Singer, Tizol) – 3:24
11. "Perdido" (Ervin Drake
    Ervin Drake
    
    Ervin Drake is an American songwriter. Born in New York City, he was active in the United States throughout much of the '40s, '50s and '60s as a composer of pop and jazz numbers....
    , H.J Lengsfelder, Tizol) – 6:10
12. "Cotton Tail
    Cotton Tail
    
    "Cotton Tail" is a 1940 Musical composition by Duke Ellington. It is based on the rhythm changes from George Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm". The first Ellington recording is notable for the driving tenor saxophone solo by Ben Webster....
    " – 3:23
13. "Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me" (Russell) – 7:38
14. "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'
    Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'
    
    "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin" is a 1941 song composed by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, with lyrics written by Lee Gaines. It was released on his 1941 album ?Take the ?A? Train? ....
    " (Lee Gaines, Strayhorn) – 3:30
15. "(In My) Solitude
    (In My) Solitude
    
    " Solitude" is a 1934 jazz standard, composed by Duke Ellington, with lyrics by Eddie DeLange and Irving Mills....
    " (Eddie DeLange
    Eddie DeLange
    
    Eddie DeLange was an United States bandleader and lyricist. Famous artists who recorded some of DeLange's songs include Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman....
    ) – 2:04
16. "Rocks in My Bed
    Rocks in My Bed
    
    "Rocks in My Bed" is a 1941 song written by Duke Ellington....
    " – 3:56
17. "Satin Doll
    Satin Doll
    
    "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, and Nancy Wilson....
    " (Johnny Mercer
    Johnny Mercer
    
    John Herndon "Johnny" Mercer was an American songwriter and singer. As a songwriter, he is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music....
    , Strayhorn) – 3:26
18. "Sophisticated Lady
    Sophisticated Lady
    
    "Sophisticated Lady" is a jazz standard, composed as an instrumental in 1932 by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills, to which words were added by Mitchell Parish....
    " (Mitchell Parish
    Mitchell Parish
    
    Mitchell Parish was an United States lyricist....
    ) – 5:18

1. "Just Squeeze Me (But Please Don't Tease Me)
   Just Squeeze Me (But Please Don't Tease Me)
   
   "Just Squeeze Me " is a 1941 popular song composed by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Lee Gaines. The song has been recorded by artists such as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck....
   " (Gaines) – 4:13
2. "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
   It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
   
   "It Don't Mean a Thing " is a 1931 composition by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Irving Mills, now accepted as a jazz standard. The music was written and arranged by Ellington in August 1931 during intermissions at Chicago's Lincoln Tavern and was first recorded by Ellington and his orchestra for Brunswick Records on February 2, 1932....
   " (Mills) – 4:12
3. "Azure
   Azure (song)
   
   "Azure" is a 1937 song composed by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills....
   " (Mills) – 2:18
4. "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" (Mills, Henry Nemo
   Henry Nemo
   
   Henry Nemo was a musician, songwriter and actor in Hollywood films who had a reputation as a hipster and was sometimes referred to as the "creator of jive" talk....
   , John Redmond
   John Redmond
   
   John Edward Redmond was an Irish nationalism politician, barrister, Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 to 1918....
   ) – 4:08
5. "In a Sentimental Mood
   In a Sentimental Mood
   
   "In a Sentimental Mood" is a jazz Musical composition by Duke Ellington which is also performed as a song. Ellington composed the piece in 1935 and recorded it with his orchestra the same year....
   " (Manny Kurtz, Mills) – 2:44
6. "Don't Get Around Much Anymore
   Don't Get Around Much Anymore
   
   "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" is a jazz standard with music by Duke Ellington and lyrics by Bob Russell . The tune was originally titled "Never No Lament" and was first recorded by Ellington in 1940 as a big band instrumental....
   " (Russell) – 4:59
7. "Prelude to a Kiss
   Prelude to a Kiss (song)
   
   "Prelude to a Kiss" is a 1938 song composed by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills, with lyrics by Mack Gordon....
   " (Mack Gordon
   Mack Gordon
   
   Mack Gordon was an United States composer and lyricist of songs for musical theatre and musical film. He was nominated for the best original song Academy Awards nine times, including six consecutive years between 1940 and 1945, and won the award once, for "You'll Never Know"....
   , Mills) – 5:26
8. "Mood Indigo
   Mood Indigo
   
   "Mood Indigo" is a jazz composition and song, with music by Duke Ellington and Barney Bigard with lyrics by Irving Mills.Disputed authorship - In a 1987 interview, Mitchell Parish claimed to have written the lyrics:...
   " (Barney Bigard
   Barney Bigard
   
   Albany Leon Bigard, aka Barney Bigard, was an United States jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist, though primarily known for the clarinet....
   , Mills) – 3:24
9. "In a Mellow Tone
   In a Mellow Tone
   
   "In a Mellow Tone" is a 1939 jazz standard composed by Duke Ellington, with lyrics written by Milt Gabler....
   " (Milt Gabler
   Milt Gabler
   
   Milton Gabler was an United states record producer, responsible for many innovations in the recording industry of the 20th century....
   ) – 5:07
10. "Love You Madly" – 4:37
11. "Lush Life
    Lush Life (song)
    
    "Lush Life" is a jazz standard with lyrics and music written by Billy Strayhorn from 1933 to 1938. However, the song was only performed privately by Strayhorn until he and vocalist Kay Davis performed it on November 13, 1948 with the Duke Ellington Orchestra at Carnegie Hall....
    " (Strayhorn) – 3:37
12. "Squatty Roo" (Hodges) – 3:38
13. "I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So
    I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So
    
    "I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So" is a 1945 song composed by Duke Ellington, with lyrics written by Mack David....
    " (Mack David
    Mack David
    
    Mack David was an American lyricist and songwriter, best known for his work in film and television in the 1960s, particularly his work on the Walt Disney Pictures films Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland ....
    ) – 4:12
14. "All Too Soon
    All Too Soon
    
    "All Too Soon" is a 1940 song composed by Duke Ellington with lyrics written by Carl Sigman....
    " (Carl Sigman
    Carl Sigman
    
    Carl Sigman was a major United States songwriter....
    ) – 4:22
15. "Everything But You
    Everything But You
    
    "Everything But You" is a 1945 song composed by Duke Ellington and Harry James with lyrics written by Don George....
    " (George, James) – 2:53
16. "I Got it Bad (And That Ain't Good)
    I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)
    
    "I Got It Bad " is a popular music and jazz standard, by Duke Ellington and Paul Francis Webster....
    " (Paul Francis Webster
    Paul Francis Webster
    
    Paul Francis Webster was an United States lyrics who won three Academy Award for Best Song and was nominated sixteen times for the award....
    ) – 6:11
17. "Bli-Blip" (Sid Kuller
    Sid Kuller
    
    Sid Kuller...
    ) – 3:01

1. "Chelsea Bridge" (Strayhorn) – 3:20
2. "Portrait of Ella Fitzgerald
   Ella Fitzgerald
   
   Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as "Jazz royalty" and the "First Lady of Song", is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century....
   " (Strayhorn) – 16:10:
   • First Movement: "Royal Ancestry"
   • Second Movement: "All Heart"
   • Third Movement: "Beyond Category"
   • Fourth Movement: "Total Jazz"
3. "The E and D Blues" (E for Ella, D for Duke) (Strayhorn) – 4:48

Personnel

• Ella Fitzgerald
  Ella Fitzgerald
  
  Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as "Jazz royalty" and the "First Lady of Song", is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century....
   — vocals
• William "Cat" Anderson — trumpet
  Trumpet
  
  The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
  
• Dizzy Gillespie
  Dizzy Gillespie
  
  John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie [/g?'l?spi/] was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer. He was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, the youngest of nine children....
   - trumpet
• Clark Terry
  Clark Terry
  
  Clark Terry , is an American swing music and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, and NEA Jazz Masters inductee....
   - trumpet
• Willie Cook
  Willie Cook
  
  Willie Cook was an American jazz trumpeter.Cook grew up in Chicago and learned to play violin before settling on trumpet as a teenager. He joined King Perry's band in the late 1930s, then replaced Charlie Parker in Jay McShann's band early in the 1940s....
   - trumpet
• Frank Foster
  Frank Foster (musician)
  
  Frank Foster is an United States Tenor saxophone and Soprano saxophone, flautist, arranger, and composer, who is best known for his work in different periods with the Count Basie orchestra, as well as under his own name....
   — tenor saxophone
  Tenor saxophone
  
  The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the Alto saxophone, is the most common size of saxophone....
  
• Paul Gonsalves
  Paul Gonsalves
  
  Paul Gonsalves, was an American jazz saxophone.Gonsalves made his name at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival with an arresting, 27-chorus solo in the middle of Duke Ellington's performance of "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" ....
   - saxophone
• Ben Webster
  Ben Webster
  
  Benjamin Francis Webster , aka "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential United States jazz tenor saxophone. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young....
   - saxophone
• Johnny Hodges
  Johnny Hodges
  
  John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophone and lead player of Duke Ellington's saxophone section. He spent 38 years with Ellington, leaving to lead his own band from 1951 to 1955, returning to the fold shortly before Ellington's triumphant return to prominence via the orchestra's performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz F...
   — alto saxophone
  Alto saxophone
  
  The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by the Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax. The alto, with the Tenor saxophone, is the most common size of saxophone....
  
• Russell Procope
  Russell Procope
  
  Russell Procope , an United States clarinettist and Alto saxophone, was known best for his long tenure in the reed section of Duke Ellington's orchestra, where he was one of its two signature clarinet soloists....
   — clarinet
  Clarinet
  
  The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning a particular type of trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet....
  , alto saxophone
• Jimmy Hamilton
  Jimmy Hamilton
  
  Jimmy Hamilton was an United States jazz clarinettist, Tenor saxophone, arranger, composer, and music educator, best known for his twenty-five years with Duke Ellington....
   — clarinet, tenor saxophone
• Harry Carney
  Harry Carney
  
  Harry Howell Carney was a swing music baritone saxophonist, clarinetist, and bass clarinetist best known for his 45-year tenure in Duke Ellington's band....
   — clarinet, bass clarinet
  Bass clarinet
  
  The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet....
  
• John Sanders — trombone
  Trombone
  
  The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass instrument family. Like all brass instruments, it is a lip-reed aerophone: sound is produced when the player?s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate....
  
• Britt Woodman
  Britt Woodman
  
  Britt Woodman was a jazz trombonist. He is perhaps best known for his work with Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus.He knew Mingus from childhood, but first worked with Phil Moore and Les Hite....
   - trombone
• Quentin Jackson
  Quentin Jackson
  
  Quentin Jackson was an American jazz trombonist. In the early stage of his career he worked with Cab Calloway and was in the Duke Ellington Orchestra....
   - trombone
• Ray Nance
  Ray Nance
  
  Ray Willis Nance was a jazz trumpeter, violinist and singer.Nance is best known for his long association with Duke Ellington through most of the 1940s and 1950s, after he was hired to replace Cootie Williams in 1940....
   — trumpet, violin
  Violin
  
  The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
  
• Stuff Smith
  Stuff Smith
  
  Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith , better known as Stuff Smith, was a jazz violinist.Smith was, along with St?phane Grappelli and Joe Venuti, one of jazz music's preeminent violinists of the swing music era....
   — violin
• Oscar Peterson
  Oscar Peterson
  
  Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, Order of Canada, National Order of Quebec, Order of Ontario was a Canada jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends, and was a member of jazz royalty....
   — piano
  Piano
  
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
  
• Paul Smith
  Paul Smith (pianist)
  
  Paul Smith , also known as Paul T. Smith is a jazz pianist. He was born in San Diego, California and is often praised for his brilliant technique and lyrical playing....
   - piano
• Ray Brown
  Ray Brown (musician)
  
  Raymond Matthews Brown was an United States jazz double bassist. He is considered by many one of the masters of his instrument, as he developed an almost perfect sense of timekeeping and had a hard swing feel to his lines....
   — double bass
  Double bass
  
  The double bass or contrabass is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow string instrument used in the modern orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string musical ensembles in European classical music....
  
• Joe Mondragon
  Joe Mondragon
  
  Joe Mondragon is an United States jazz double bass.Mondragon was an autodidact on bass, and began working professionally in Los Angeles, California....
   - bass
• Jimmy Woode
  Jimmy Woode
  
  Jimmy Woode was a jazz double bass. His father, also named Jimmy Woode, was a music teacher and pianist who played with Hot Lips Page. Woode studied piano and bass in Boston at Boston University and at the Conservatory of Music, as well as at the Philadelphia Academy....
   - bass
• Herb Ellis
  Herb Ellis
  
  Mitchell Herbert Ellis is an United States jazz guitarist....
   — guitar
  Guitar
  
  The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
  
• Barney Kessel
  Barney Kessel
  
  Barney Kessel was an United States jazz guitarist born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA. He was a member of many prominent jazz groups as well as a "first call" guitarist for studio, film, and television recording sessions....
   - guitar
• Sam Woodyard
  Sam Woodyard
  
  Sam Woodyard was an American jazz drummer.Woodyard was largely an autodidact on drums, and played locally in the Newark, New Jersey area in the 1940s....
   — drums
  Drum kit
  
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbell s, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer....
  
• Alvin Stoller
  Alvin Stoller
  
  Alvin Stoller was an United States Jazz drumming. Though he seems to have been largely forgotten, he was held in high regard in the 1940s and 1950s....
   - drums
• Billy Strayhorn
  Billy Strayhorn
  
  William Thomas "Billy" Strayhorn was an United States composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting close to three decades....
   — piano, narrator
• Duke Ellington
  Duke Ellington
  
  Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader.Duke Ellington was recognized during his life as one of the most influential Jazz royalty, if not in all American music and he is of only four jazz musicians ever to have been featured on the cover of Time magazine ....
   — piano, narrator, arranger, conductor.