MY LITTLE BROWN BOOK
DUKE ELLINGTON & JOHN COLTRANE
SONGWRITER: BILLY STRAYHORN
HOW: INSTRUMENTAL
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: DUKE ELLINGTON & JOHN COLTRANE
LABEL: IMPULSE!
GENRE: JAZZ
YEAR: 1974
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April
29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and leader of a jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life.
Born in Washington, D.C.,
Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s and gained a national profile through his
orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. In the 1930s, his orchestra
toured Europe several times.
Some of the jazz musicians who were members
of Ellington's orchestra, such as saxophonist Johnny Hodges, are
considered among the best players in the idiom. Ellington melded them into the best-regarded
orchestral unit in the history of jazz. Some members stayed with the orchestra
for several decades. A master at writing miniatures
for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington wrote or collaborated
on more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the
largest recorded personal jazz legacy, and many of his pieces have become standards. He also
recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's
"Caravan",
which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz. At the end of the 1930s, Ellington began a nearly
thirty-year collaboration with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he
called his writing and arranging companion. With Strayhorn, he composed
multiple extended compositions, or suites, as well as many short pieces. For a
few years at the beginning of Strayhorn's involvement, Ellington's orchestra is
considered to have been at its peak, with bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster briefly members. Following a low-profile period (Hodges temporarily
left), an appearance by Ellington and his orchestra at the Newport Jazz
Festival in July 1956 led to a major revival
and regular world tours. Ellington recorded for most American record companies of
his era, performed in and scored several films, and composed a handful of stage
musicals.
Although a pivotal figure in the history of jazz, in the opinion of Gunther Schuller and Barry Kernfeld,
"the most significant composer of the genre", Ellington himself
embraced the phrase "beyond category", considering it a liberating
principle, and referring to his music as part of the more general category of American
Music. Ellington was known for his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band,
as well as for his eloquence and charisma. He was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize Special Award for music in 1999
John William Coltrane(September 23, 1926–July
17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist and
composer.
Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms
early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes and was one of
the players at the forefront of free jazz.
He led at least fifty recording sessions and appeared on many albums by other
musicians, including trumpeter Miles Davis and pianista Thelonious Monk.
Over the course of his career, Coltrane's music took on an increasingly
spiritual dimension, as exemplified on his most acclaimed albums A Love Supreme(1965)
and Ascension(1966).
He remains one of the most influential
saxophonists in music history and has received numerous posthumous awards,
including a Pulitzer Prize in 2007, and was canonized by the African
Orthodox Church.
His second wife was pianist and harpista Alice Coltrane. The couple had three children:
John Jr. (1964–1982), a bassist; Ravi(born
1965), a saxophonist; and Oran(born 1967), a saxophonist, guitarist, drummer
and singer.
My little brown book
With the silver binding
How it keeps reminding me
Of a memory
That's haunting me.
In some quiet nook
I go thru its pages
And peruse this ageless tale
Of a love that failed
To ever become true.
On this page is the date
Of that fateful night at eight
When I found you were no longer in love.
After that there's nothing more
Just a dark and futile door
That shuts out the stars above.
In my little book
I inscribed your heart vow
But since we're apart now
This and that last sweet kiss
Is all that's left of you
Is all that's left of you.
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