Originally written in 1939, the story told to me by Mercer Ellington goes that Ellington wasn’t happy with it and put it aside. While Strayhorn was staying with Mercer, he studied Duke’s scores that were laying around the apartment. When he came across this one, he understood the problem Ellington was having with it and offered a solution. 

Two major changes were made: adding an intro using the reed soli from the first shout chorus in call-and-response with bass solo and replacing the opening tutti call-and-response with piano/tutti call-and-response. In the recap the new bass player replaces the piano and continues to play a cadenza in time. This was Jimmy Blanton’s spectacular debut on vinyl with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Jazz bass playing would never be the same.

Between Blanton’s huge sound, virtuosity, propulsive, swinging time, and adventurous harmonic and melodic ideas he eclipsed every bassist on earth. After Sonny Greer heard Blanton in a club in St. Louis, he brought Ellington to hear this 19-year-old phenom. Duke hired him on the spot. On his first gig with the band, he stood next to Billy Taylor, who approached Ellington at the end of the night with his resignation saying that sharing the bandstand with this kid would be too embarrassing.

Immediately, Ellington knew he had the next innovation in jazz. On November 22, 1939 he recorded three duet tracks with Blanton, two of which were released by Columbia. Not being big band recordings, Columbia didn’t push them, so they didn’t reach a wide audience, but Blanton was playing with the band nightly and lighting a fire under everyone. Count Basie’s rhythm section had been the standard for the past three years, but now Ellington was pushing the boundaries of swing.

In January, 1940 Ben Webster joined the band. This gave Ellington a great tenor saxophone soloist for the first time and a fifth voice in the sax section, which would now rival Jimmie Lunceford’s 5-man sax section. Ellington began writing new charts to feature Blanton and Webster, but he needed to continue to play some of the older charts written for four saxes, two, of which, were not recorded: Ko-Ko and Jack The Bear. For Ko-Ko Ellington wrote Ben a new part, but for Jack The Bear and all the other charts the band played, Ben, who sat between Hardwick and Bigard doubled their lead parts down a octave. 

Like many other Ellington charts, he combines the 12-bar blues form with other forms. The solos, accompaniment, ensemble playing, composition and arranging are all at the highest level. Recorded in tandem with Ko-Ko, Ellington ushered in a new era, which has come to be called The Blanton-Webster Band. 

Although Ellington had great bands before and afterwards, this 3-year period from 1940-43 is recognized as not only his best band, but the best large ensemble in the history of jazz. With the exception of the two newcomers, the personnel has been steady for years, with the core of the band going back to the 1920s.

Ellington’s writing became more inspired and mature. In his personal life, Cotton Club dancer Evie Ellis moved in with him and would stay for the rest of his life. These first three years were fulfilling for him with her, but like all his other relationships, he got tired of the same thing. His aversion to confrontation and not wanting to hurt Evie, he never asked her to leave, but it was never the same. A few years earlier with Mildred, he just moved and neglected to tell her. Apparently, that wouldn’t work with Evie.

In the meantime, for these first three years, Ellington is at the top of his game—a man possessed. The experimentation of the 1930s has led to everything coming together in ways that the other bands and arrangers have never even dreamed possible, while serving the swing dancers and listeners.

He has become a cultural icon displaying elegance and sophistication in dress, manners, elocution and intelligence. Orson Welles said that Ellington was the only genius he knew besides himself.  The two of them planned to make a movie about the history of jazz at this time, but it never came to fruition.

Although the public was unaware, the Duke Ellington Orchestra was the first racially integrated band since Juan Tizol joined in 1929. In January, 1940 Herb Jeffries joined. He previously sang with Earl Hines and acted in films, where he was billed the Bronze Buckaroo, but in reality Herb was of Sicilian decent, which means that somewhere in his family’s history there were some Africans, but not recently. Herb was in the vernacular “passing”.

Instrumentation

Recorded in Chicago March 6, 1940, Victor 044888-1

Otto Hardwick, Johnny Hodges: alto saxes

Barney Bigard: clarinet

Ben Webster: tenor sax

Harry Carney: baritone sax

Wallace Jones, Cootie Williams: trumpets

Rex Stewart: cornet

Lawrence Brown, Tricky Sam Nanton: trombone

Juan Tizol: valve trombone 

Fred Guy: guitar

Duke Ellington, piano

Jimmie Blanton: bass

Sonny Greer: drums

Form

Key of Ab major. The 12-bar choruses are blues.

8  bars             Intro: trbs/rds vs bs solo call-and-response

12 bars           Head: pno/tutti call-and-response

4 bars             Signal: sx/bs unison

8 bars             A Strain: Clar/brass

8 bars             B Strain: Tpt/unis sxs vs tbn triads

8 bars             C Strain: Clar/unis sxs vs harmonized brass

8 bars             A Strain reprise

4 bars             Signal Reprise: sx/bs unison

12 bars           Bari soli w/piano accompaniment

12 bars           Plunger tbn solo w/rd bkgd

12 bars           Shout Chos #1: brass/harmonized rds call-and-response

8 bars              Truncated Shout Chos #2: harmonized rds/brass call-and-response

4 bars             Signal Reprise #2: sx/bs unison

12 bars           Recap: bs/tutti call-and-response

4 bars             Bass cadenza and final chord

Soloists: Ellington, Blanton, Bigard, Williams, Nanton