Happy Fourth of July!

 Happy Fourth of July!

In keeping with the situation, let's go back to 1938 and spin the two sides of this Victor Red Seal recording by The Boston Pops Orchestra conducted by Arthur Fiedler:

Enjoy the day!

Sunday with Duke #23: A Song from the Heart

Moving into 1938 with Duke Ellington, we land on another of his classic compositions that became a standard in the Great American Songbook: I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart.

Duke's First Word

Ellington first recorded the tune as an instrumental on March 3, 1938 for Brunswick, and it quickly became a major hit - one of those three‑minute gems where the band’s personality shines through every bar.

Let’s spin it:

That’s just a tremendous record. The interplay between Johnny Hodges on alto sax and Harry Carney on baritone is pure Ellington magic - two voices that know exactly how to lean into and away from each other. Lawrence Brown (trombone) and Barney Bigard (clarinet) also turn in beautifully shaped solos.

The song was written for The 4th Cotton Club Parade, and lyrics by Henry Nemo followed almost immediately.

Johnny Floats It In

Later that same month - March 28, 1938 - Duke participated in a vocal recording of the tune with a Johnny Hodges–fronted small group featuring vocalist Mary McHugh, issued on Vocalion.

Let’s hear that one:

This little unit is a delight: Otto Hardwick and Harry Carney join Johnny in the sax section, with Lawrence Brown and Cootie Williams rounding out the brass. The rhythm section is classic Ellington - Duke on piano, Fred Guy on guitar, Billy Taylor on bass, and Sonny Greer on drums.

I don’t know much about Mary McHugh beyond her handful of appearances with the Hodges small groups, but I like her! She brings a light, unaffected charm to the lyric.

And as for Johnny himself - these 1938 sides show him at his most effortless. There’s something about his playing that just floats: ethereal, singing, and yet delivered with that famously dour, deadpan expression. Truly one of a kind!

Joya "Crushes" It

As with many of Duke’s popular songs, I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart became a staple of his repertoire, though he didn’t revisit it often in the studio - perhaps because it leans more toward the pop side of his songbook than the jazz side.

He did return to it in 1945, when he recorded new versions of earlier hits for Victor. This one features a vocal by my retro‑crush Joya Sherrill:

It’s great to have this full band vocal version alongside the original instrumental - a reminder of how adaptable the tune is.

Rosie in Full Bloom

Jumping ahead to 1956, Duke recorded a backing track for Rosemary Clooney, who overdubbed her vocal for the Blue Rose album on Columbia.

We previously heard Rosie’s take on Sophisticated Lady from the same album, and this one has that same mix of poise and warmth.

Taking it to the Pops

And speaking of Sophisticated Lady, we also heard Duke revisit it on his 1966 RCA album The Duke at Tanglewood with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. That album includes a lovely instrumental version of I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart, so let’s spin that too:

A graceful, late‑career reading - polished, affectionate, and unmistakably Duke!

So there you have it: a handful of wonderful versions of the song Duke let out of his heart.

Sundays with Duke #16 – Sophistication to Spare

As we continue our musical journey with Duke Ellington, we come across another of his compositions that grew into one of the great standards - Sophisticated Lady.

The Early Years & The "Daddy" That Wasn't

Here’s the popular instrumental version recorded for the Brunswick label in May 1933:

The lovely arrangement features solos by Otto Hardwick on alto sax and Barney Bigard on clarinet, with Duke himself at the piano. The melodic trombone solo is by Lawrence Brown, whose smooth, lyrical style provided a striking contrast to Tricky Sam Nanton’s plunger growl and Juan Tizol’s valve trombone. That trio has to be the greatest trombone section ever assembled!

In researching the tune’s history, I was surprised to learn that Duke had previously recorded it for Victor in September 1932, but that take was rejected and does not survive. The wacky part? It was originally titled My Sophisticated Daddy!

Not as wacky, but still surprising: Duke had also recorded another earlier version in February 1933, but that take was issued only in the U.K. on the British Columbia label!

Let’s spin that one:

You can have some fun with a spot‑the‑difference game between the two 1933 versions, but keeping track of these variations makes my head spin a little!

Interesting to see Otto Hardwick and Lawrence Brown get composer credit on that label, along with Duke's wheeler-dealer manger Irving Mills.

A bit more intrigue enters the picture when you consider Duke’s original intention for the title. He meant it as a tribute to the women who were important to him growing up - teachers and mentors he genuinely considered sophisticated. But when manager Mills had Mitchell Parish add lyrics, the song became the story of a world‑weary socialite wondering whether the sophistication was all it was cracked up to be.

Apparently Duke was fine with the new lyrics. He knew they were good, and he knew they would help the tune become a standard. Besides, he almost always performed it as an instrumental anyway.

The Blanton Connection

We’re going to spin some of those later recordings, and what better place to start than this 1940 Columbia version - one of the first recordings by the famed Blanton/Webster band, nicknamed for bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor saxist Ben Webster, two brilliant musicians who had relatively short but highly memorable stints with the band.

Nice to hear a baritone sax solo by the ever‑present Harry Carney added to the mix.

Of the four sides recorded at that session, three featured vocals by Ivie Anderson, including former Ellington instrumentals Mood Indigo and Solitude. But Sophisticated Lady was kept as an instrumental. Hmmm…

As mentioned, this was an early recording featuring bassist Jimmy Blanton, a tremendous innovator on his instrument. Duke admired him so much that he recorded several piano‑and‑bass duets with him.

Among them was this intimate take on “Sophisticated Lady,” recorded in October 1940 after the band returned to the Victor label:

Some sources say James Blanton preferred the Jimmie spelling rather than the commonly used Jimmy. Whatever the case, his premature death in 1942 at only 23 was a tremendous loss to the music world.

The Later 1940s: Revisiting the Lady

Duke and his band were still with Victor in 1945 when they revisited some of his most memorable pieces. Included was this updated version of Sophisticated Lady:

I love Duke’s minute‑long piano solo that opens the record. You get the impression he really loved playing this tune.

I’m not sure how those sides were originally issued, but by the early 1950s they were appearing on “greatest hits”‑type albums, such as the 1954 release shown above.

We stop in 1947 for this small‑unit performance released on V‑Disc, featuring our man with a bari sax, Harry Carney:

Those V‑Discs really are a treasure trove - preserving performances that might otherwise have been lost.

The 1950s: The Ladies Sing

A lot of early LPs, like that RCA Victor release, were compilations of earlier 78s. But some artists quickly saw the longer format as a chance to record extended arrangements. A case in point is Duke’s first 12‑inch album, “Masterpieces by Ellington” (Columbia, 1951). Included in these “uncut concert arrangements” is what I think is the only proper studio recording of Sophisticated Lady by Duke to include a vocal. Said vocal - a brief but striking appearance in the eleven-minute track - is by the mysterious “Yvonne.”

That’s really something. Apparently Yvonne is Yvonne Lanauze, whose real name was Eve Smith. My head keeps spinning!

I mentioned this version as the only proper studio recording of the song with a vocal so that I don’t sound like a liar when we get to this next recording, which features Rosemary Clooney singing with the Ellington orchestra on Columbia in 1956:

This cut, from the album “Blue Rose,” actually has Rosie’s vocal overdubbed onto the instrumental track that Duke and the band recorded separately. Pretty cutting‑edge for the time - commonplace now.

The 1960s: Victor-ious Albums

Next, we skip ahead to 1966 for two very different RCA Victor releases, both intriguing in their own way.

First is “The Popular Duke Ellington,” which features updated arrangements of several of Duke’s best‑known numbers. Naturally, “Sophisticated Lady” makes an appearance.

You know that sounded awesome on the home stereo set!

The tune pops up again on “The Duke at Tanglewood,” which teams Duke with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops.

Now that’s a sophisticated setting!

Being from the Boston area, I’m well aware of the Pops and remember Arthur Fiedler releasing many albums on RCA’s Red Seal imprint — some featuring fellow RCA artists, many featuring fun arrangements of current pop tunes.

We’ve been on quite a ride with Duke’s lady — from title changes to mood‑altering lyrics, from misspelled bassists and pseudonymous singers to overdubs and a classical venue. But what a wonderful ride!

Drop a comment to let me know your favorite!