Three Little Words
Three Little Words is a pop song by Harry Ruby (music) and Bert Kalmar (lyrics) that was released in 1930.
History of origin
The Duke Ellington Orchestra was in Hollywood in mid-1930 to collaborate on the music for the Amos 'n' Andy film Check and Double Check ; this was also the first major film appearance of the Ellington Orchestra. A version of Three Little Words initially recorded by Ellington with the Emmanuel Hall Quintet was discarded. The song Kalmar and Ruby wrote for the film project was originally supposed to be sung by Ellington's drummer Sonny Greer , but Greer got stage fright when he arrived in Hollywood, which then forced Ellington to Bing Crosby's The Rhythm Boys , a Crosby vocal trio, Engage Harry Barris and Al Rinker . After the screen tests, the director Melville W. Brown decided to use Bing Crosby alone as a vocalist, but only for the film version. In a longer sequence of the film, trumpeters Freddy Jenkins , Cootie Williams and Arthur Whetsol can be seen holding small megaphones and pretending to be singing; the political correctness of this period forced the Hollywood film industry to admit not to show a white vocal group accompanied by a black orchestra.
Features of the song
The 32- bar song written in C major in the song form A1-A1-B-A2 seems melodically nervous and excited, especially when it is played at today's tempo. The song has extended harmonies, which can be seen as a musical influence of Impressionism on the jazz of the 1920s (as it was also visible in Bix Beiderbecke ). The text is about the three small words or eight letters of the declaration of love "I love You" that the singer would like to hear.
First recording and cover versions
The following recording of Duke Ellington with his orchestra and the Rhythm Boys for Victor Records on August 26, 1930 (Victor 22528) came in October 1930 at position 1 on the US charts, where it remained for three weeks; it became Ellington's first number 1 hit. This first version, which was in the US charts for a total of thirteen weeks, was soon followed by successful cover versions of Jacques Renard and His Orchestra (1930, # 3), the Ipana Troubadors (1930, # 10), and Ethel Waters with the Dorsey Brothers (1931 , # 8) and Claude Hopkins and His Orchestra (1934, Orlando Robeson, vocal, # 15).
Jazz singers such as Ella Fitzgerald (1939) Carmen McRae (with Ernie Wilkins , 1955), Mel Tormé (1996) and finally Kevin Mahogany (with Kenny Barron , 2005) recorded the song, which became a jazz standard mainly because of the numerous instrumental versions . An early instrumental version of the song played Lester Young in 1944 with the Kansas City Six ; it was followed by Milt Jackson / John Coltrane ( Bags & Trane , 1959) and Willis Jackson / Jack McDuff ( Together Again , 1965). Further recordings by Pepper Adams , Gene Ammons , Benny Carter , Ron Carter , Art Farmer , Joe Farrell , Bud Freeman , Jan Garber , Stan Getz / Oscar Peterson , Richie Kamuca , Charlie Mariano , Branford Marsalis ( Trio Jeepy , 1988), Miff Mole , Jimmie Noone , Les Paul , Sonny Rollins , Bud Shank , Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson show the popularity of Three Little Words .
The song was also used in Richard Thorpe's 1950 film musical of the same name, starring Fred Astaire and Vera-Ellen , which was a biography of Kalmar and Ruby.
Individual evidence
- ^ Ellingtonia.com
- ↑ It had previously appeared in the 1929 short film Black and Tan Fantasy , which was made in New York.
- ^ Gerhard Klußmeier : Jazz in the Charts. Another view on jazz history. Liner notes and booklet for the 100 CD edition. Membrane International GmbH. ISBN 978-3-86735-062-4
- ↑ a b c song portrait at Jazz standards
- ↑ Cast: Arthur Whetsel, Cootie Williams, Freddie Jenkins (tp), Tricky Sam Nanton , Juan Tizol (tb), Barney Bigard (cl, ts), Johnny Hodges (cl, ss, as), Harry Carney (cl, as, bar), Duke Ellington (p), Fred Guy (bj), Wellman Braud (b), Sonny Greer (dr), The Rhythm Boys (voc)
- ↑ Consisting of Joe Bushkin (piano), Bill Coleman (trumpet), Dicky Wells (trombone), John Simmons (bass) and Jo Jones (drums), March 28, 1944.
- ↑ See Bielefeld catalog 1985, 1988, 2001