Cotton tail

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Cotton Tail is a jazz composition by Duke Ellington from 1940 that became the jazz standard .

Background of the composition

Ellington's composition Cotton Tail was one of the series of pieces the pianist and his orchestra recorded for Victor between March and October 1940 , such as the Concerto for Cootie , Ko-Ko , Bojangles, Harlem Air Shaft, Warm Valley and In a Mellotone , den classic pieces of the " Blanton-Webster-Band " , which was strongly influenced by the newcomers Jimmy Blanton , Ben Webster and Billy Strayhorn . Duke Ellington wrote Cotton Tail in 1940 after completing a European tour. and as a feature for his new saxophonist Ben Webster.

Musical analysis

Ben Webster 1943

Cotton Tail is a hard swinging riff piece based on a 32-bar song form AABA; its harmonies are based on the standard I Got Rhythm , which however has 34 bars . When the subject was first introduced, Ellington shortened the second A section to four bars, so that the first chorus only had 28 bars; in this abbreviated A section he introduces "a new musical idea that reflects Gershwin's original".

In contrast to Gershwin's melody, which was built on a diatonic scale , Ellington's piece is more complicated and "almost becomes a bebop theme". It "begins with a ninth and contains a diminished fifth - two examples of Ellington's tendency to break the rules:"

“The piece begins abruptly, without warning, with the first note in the first measure, although you can hear a fraction of a bass note before the piece jumps towards us. A moment passes before the beat starts and you are temporarily displaced. The theme is played and repeated for eight bars. Then growling [in the first recording] Cootie Williams through the central part. "

Gunther Schuller emphasizes Ellington's skill in " making the standard scheme interesting" with small formal irregularities and melodic-harmonic finesse , when he emphasizes that Cotton Tail (as well as Mood Indigo ) has a similar status to the Nocturnes for African American music and ballads by Frédéric Chopin for 19th century European music.

First recording

The composition was first recorded by the Ellington Orchestra on May 4, 1940 in Los Angeles , together with Don't Get Around Much Anymore , whose B-side Cotton Tail was on the record (Victor 26610). Cotton Tail was interpreted at a rapid pace.

In the first recording, the song is characterized by the riffs of the saxophone setting and the winding choruses of the soloist Ben Webster. Fragments of Gershwin's melody appear in the original version especially in Webster's solo. After introducing the theme, Webster plays two “gripping” choruses over the harmonies, “showing all his strength - his full, slightly smoky tone, his power, his forward movement.” Webster's solo is followed by a chorus that runs between the whole brass and Solos from Harry Carney (during the B part ) and Ellington (last A part) is split. After the smooth saxophone choruses, the brass section comes again, and the piece ends with the repetition of the opening theme.

In November of the same year, another version of the piece was recorded at a concert in Fargo, North Dakota .

reception

John Edward Hasse wrote in the biography The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington : “With the inclusion of Cotton Tail in May 1940, Ellington opened a window into the future and anticipated future developments in jazz.” Gunther Schuller said, “It had the face of jazz and foretold in many directions where the future of this music would lie. ”[...]“ The rhythmic inflections, the line of the melody, and the boldness of this piece as a whole pointed far ahead .. .. Ellington was ultimately to lay the foundation for what soon became known as bebop . ”The importance of Cotton Tail , Gunther Schuller continues, lies partly in its performance,“ The gust of spontaneity, freshness and flexibility that the Ellington-Band should never let go and open a whole new way to unite composition and improvisation. "

For the Ellington biographer Hans Ruland, the first recording of Cotton Tail gives an impression of the changes in the Ellington band and the newly acquired format; this "new dimension" would be clearly evident in Cotton Tail :

“Ben Webster seems to be flying here, and looking back you can confidently call this solo in the same breath as Coleman Hawkins ' famous Body and Soul or Lester Young's thesis Foolish Things . The saxophone setting in Cotton Tail is a chorus later like a one again, and the whole band swings like hell out of it. "

Bassist Jimmy Blanton also played a major role in this, "whose solid bass foundation gave both the band and the soloist the necessary support and pressure."

At the time, Webster's solo was felt to be so "sensational" that the audience wanted to hear it again and again "note for note" in concerts.

Further recordings

Cootie Williams.
Photography by William P. Gottlieb .

In January 1943, the Duke Ellington Orchestra played the piece at their Carnegie Hall concert. In February 1956 there was a new recording for Bethlehem Records . There is also a version of Ellington and Billy Strayhorn with two pianos and bass ( Wendell Marshall ) from 1950 for the short-lived Mercer label , later released on the Great Times album . In 1961, Ellington played it again in his session with Louis Armstrong for Roulette Records . Other versions took u. a. Buddy Featherstonhaugh , Wynton Marsalis / Illinois Jacquet , Marian McPartland , Wes Montgomery , Oscar Peterson , Rufus Reid , the RIAS Big Band Berlin , Clark Terry and Warren Vaché . Later recordings were made by Wycliffe Gordon (2001), Harry Allen (2005), Martin Taylor and Howard Alden (2005). Numerous versions simplify the topic by “straightening it to 32 bars according to the standard”, such as those by Benny Carter ( Further Definitions ) , James Newton or Ray Brown / Ulf Wakenius . Herbie Hancock (in a quartet with Wayne Shorter , 1995) simplifies the piece with a new B-part, presumably because he "only knows it from memory and does not know the bridge exactly."

Sung versions

Jon Hendricks wrote a text for his recording in a trio with Dave Lambert and Annie Ross for their album LH&R Sing Ellington (1960). The cotton tail becomes the tail of a fast rabbit that stole its food rations from the farmer (based on a children's story by Beatrix Potter ). The text begins with:

"Way back in my childhood
I heard a story so true
'Bout a bunny stealing the food
From the garden he knew. "

In this version, Hendricks sang a vocalese of the Webster solo. In the liner notes for Everybody's Boppin ' , Hendricks said:

With 'Cottontail' Duke and Ben Webster established the tenor saxophone as the must solo instrument in the jazz orchestra. Lyrically, I retell the fairy story we all heard as children, the story of Flopsie, Mopsie and 'Cottontail' . "

Rather textless versions were introduced by Ella Fitzgerald and later by Dee Dee Bridgewater . In her sung version of the piece for her album Ella Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook, Ella Fitzgerald scatted for the words:

"Come on, wail, wail, cotton tail, Benny Webster, come on and blow for me."

Dee Dee Bridgewater later scatted the song in her 1997 tribute album to Ella Fitzgerald. The arrangement of this recording by Slide Hampton was awarded a Grammy in 1998 as the best vocal-accompanying instrumental arrangement .

literature

  • James Lincoln Collier: Duke Ellington . Berlin: Ullstein 1999
  • Hans Ruland: Duke Ellington . Oreos.
  • John Edward Hasse: Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington . New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993.
  • Gunther Schuller: The Swing Era . New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
  • Hans-Jürgen Schaal (Ed.): Jazz standards. The encyclopedia. 3rd, revised edition. Bärenreiter, Kassel u. a. 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1414-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f Collier, Ellington, p. 333.
  2. a b c d e f g h H.-J. Schaal, Jazz-Standards , p. 102ff.
  3. Victor Records 25600 series at 78discography.com
  4. a b c d e f Portrait of the piece at Jazzstandards.com
  5. ^ A b Hans Ruland, Ellington, p. 82.
  6. Later it appeared on the CD Everybody's Boppin ' or the double CD compilation The Hottest New Group in Jazz.