Duke Ellington   (1899-1974)  

Ellington was a musician in the broad sense of the word. Through his orchestra passed some of the biggest names in jazz. He was also a composer, despite the fact they were not actually composed as songs, but as instrumental pieces. A legend.

Ellington was the closest contact Billie had with the greatest composers. To focus in the recorded tracks, she made a short film with his band, “Symphony in Black” in 1935 (s. 3a). Then, in 1945, she had a radio broadcast with Duke’s Orchestra in the California Philarmonic Auditorium during the Esquire Magazine Second Annual Jazz Concert. In 1952 she took part in the Duke’s 25th Anniversary Concert in Carnegie Hall.

• (LR 1)                 Saddest Tale this song, by Ellington, has the merit to be one of the first recorded by Billie, in the early thirties.
• (MT 226) ÅÅ        Solitude
• (MT 256) ÅÅ1/2   Prelude To A Kiss
• (MT 281) ÅÅÅ1/2 Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me (1943) lyrics by Bob Russell: Do nothin’ till you hear from me / Pay no attention to what’s said, / Why people tear the seams of anyone’s dream / Is over my head. Wow, I still can hear Ben Webster’s sax behind me.
• (MT 287) ÅÅÅÅ   Sophisticated Lady (1933) originally instrumental, the lyrics are by Mitchell Parish: Diamonds shining, dancing, dining with some man in a restaurant / Is that all you really want? / No, sophisticated lady, / I know, you miss the love you lost long ago / And when nobody is nigh, you cry. It sounds quite Billie, right? One of my favorites.