In a sentimental mood
In a Sentimental Mood (English: In a soulful mood ) is a jazz composition by Duke Ellington , which was composed in 1935 and was initially recorded by him with his orchestra. Manny Kurtz later wrote a text for the song; next to him is Irving Mills as a copywriter. The song later developed into the jazz standard .
History of origin
According to Duke Ellington, who loved to tell anecdotes about how his songs were made, he composed the piece at a party in Durham, North Carolina . One of Ellington's friends had an argument with two women and to calm the mood, Ellington played the piano and spontaneously composed the song. According to the Ellington biographer James Lincoln Collier , Ellington adapted motifs from Otto (Toby) Hardwick .
Ellington understood In a Sentimental Mood as "a piece about his own melancholy." Kurtz, who worked in Mills' office, wrote a love song about an unexpectedly soulful love.
Structure of the piece
The piece is written in the popular AABA song form . The rising more than an octave opening phrase fgacdfg "looks like the epitome trivial romantic infatuation" The entire A-part consists of ascending and descending eighth notes staircases and varies between major and minor . The whole of the B part is in major.
The original recording was made on April 30, 1935 as an instrumental with the Duke Ellington Orchestra . It contains solos by Otto Hardwick, Harry Carney , Lawrence Brown and Rex Stewart . The recording was published by Brunswick and immediately reached number 14 in the American charts.
Impact history
In a Sentimental Mood was very popular during the 1930s. It was recorded by Benny Goodman and his orchestra in 1936 (number 13 in the American charts); another version from the same year, by the Mills Blue Rhythm Band reached number 19. Other versions were by Jimmy Dorsey , Dick McDonough and Glen Miller . The song was used as the theme tune for nine radio shows.
Critics also praised the link with the lyrics, which resulted in a “delightful song” by Alec Wilder , and came to judgments such as “Simply the most beautiful song ever written” and “The perfect soundtrack to be in love with.” Hans- Jürgen Schaal pointed out the resulting "harmless high bliss". Billy Joel and Nacy Wilson presented newer versions .
Jazz standard
As early as 1937, Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli tried to work on the song without Reinhardt being intimidated by the chord progressions of the song. In the 1940s there were only a few recordings of the song, especially one by Ellington himself, which "with soprano saxophone and trombone quotes the sweetness of earlier interpretations", but "constantly breaks with parodistic or modernistic elements". As a result of recordings by Art Tatum and Sonny Rollins in the early 1950s , the piece was played more frequently in jazz: Rollins took on the Modern Jazz Quartet again in 1953 . This is followed by Oscar Peterson , Bill Evans and numerous saxophonists such as Jerome Richardson , Lucky Thompson , Archie Shepp , Arthur Blythe , Günther Klatt and Craig Handy .
After Ella Fitzgerald , Sarah Vaughan presented an exemplary vocal version in 1961, accompanied by Mundell Lowe and George Duvivier .
Ellington revised the song with John Coltrane in 1962, published on Impulse! Album Duke Ellington and John Coltrane . Jim Hall took a critical look at the structure of the song; as has George Gruntz him as Sentimental over Mental Food listed. There is a version by Eugene Chadbourne (1987).
literature
- 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
- ↑ a b Song portrait at WICN-Radio ( Memento of the original from April 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ See Stanley Dance, in the liner notes for The Ellington Era, 1927-1940, Vol. 2 (LP) and Harvey G. Cohen Duke Ellington's America , p. 277
- ↑ a b c Schaal Jazz-Standards p. 239f.
- ↑ See song portrait at jazzstandards.com
- ↑ Song portrait at jazzstandards.com
