Originally titled Cootie’s Concerto (not to be confused with the later Concerto For Cootie), this big band version was preceded by a small band version with a slightly different form. The main theme has Cootie playing over an Fm shuffle bass line ostinato. The contrasting theme in the relative major (Ab), first stated by the saxes and then by Cootie, is one of Ellington’s most expressively beautiful cantabile melodies. This theme was first recorded in a small group recording in 1932 as Clouds In My Heart with alternate titles of Harlem Romance and Never Again.

Aside from the minor/major opposites in the themes, the minor vamp repeats the simple i V chords while the major theme begins on the subdominant and goes through a series of chromatic harmonies not resolving to the tonic until the 16th bar. In addition, Cootie plays plunger on the a theme and open on the b. The plunger/open combination will be used again in Concerto For Cootie.

Echoes Of Harlem is part of the series of concertos Ellington composed for Hodges, Bigard, Stewart, and Brown in the late 1930s. Johnny’s Concerto was never recorded. The set of parts that have survived do not include Hodges’ melody. He never got around to writing concertos for Otto, Harry, Artie, Tricky, Tizol, or the rhythm section.

Echoes Of Harlem was a big hit adding to Cootie’s fame and prompting other bands to play and record it. It also inspired similar pieces from other composers, most notably Earl Hagen’s Harlem Nocturne.