Ellington and the band were starting their sixth decade and their third generation of musicians and listeners. Johnny Hodges’ health was waning. Norris Turney had joined the band as insurance. On this piece Hodges is tacet and Turney is featured on flute—a new color in the band. Actually, Jimmy Hamilton used to practice the flute when he was in the band, but Duke wouldn’t write him flute parts, because he knew that Jimmy was learning flute in preparation for leaving the band and becoming a studio musician in New York. The funny thing is that when Jimmy left in 1968, he was unsuccessful in getting studio work, so he moved to St. Croix in the Virgin Islands and spent the remainder of his life playing in a hotel there accompanied by his wife on organ.

This mournful bolero is a flute solo from beginning to end. Ellington’s melody is angular, while Turney’s improvisation is mostly stepwise. He is accompanied by triadic trombone half notes, brass double whole notes and unison sax melodic fragments.

When the record was released, Kenny Berger said to me that if Wayne Shorter had written this tune, everyone would be playing it and praising Shorter for his genius. Instead, it went unnoticed. Such is the music business where youth sells.