The story behind puzzle No. 58
Duke Ellington & John Coltrane · Duke Ellington & John Coltrane · Impulse! · 1962 (released 1963)
Duke Ellington was jazz royalty, John Coltrane its restless modernist. On this 1935 ballad they sound like old friends.
Ellington and Coltrane recorded In a Sentimental Mood on September 26, 1962, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, for Impulse!, with Bob Thiele producing. The album came out in January 1963.
On this track the rhythm section is Ellington's own: Aaron Bell on bass and Sam Woodyard on drums. Coltrane said he was really honored to work with Duke.
Ellington wrote In a Sentimental Mood in 1935. He said he made it up at the piano after a dance in a tobacco warehouse in Durham, North Carolina, to calm down two women who were arguing, one standing on each side of the piano.
Manny Kurtz wrote the lyrics, and Ellington's manager Irving Mills also took a share of the credit.
Coltrane plays the melody almost straight, with a warm, full tone and just a little ornament.
Listen to Ellington's piano between the phrases, spare and elegant, setting up each line for Coltrane.
Who's on it
Keep listening
Hear each of them in his own element: Take the "A" Train (puzzle No. 5) for Ellington's band and My Favorite Things (puzzle No. 18) for Coltrane's quartet.
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