Flaming Youth jazz, big band, standards Now if you want to know how much fun we had in the Roaring 20's, just listen to this song. It bounces all around you like a room full of dancing lovers. Flaming Youth will set the world on fire. I recorded this song with my Cotton Club Orchestra in the late 1920's.
Tiger Rag jazz, standards, swing/big band, ragtime Calling all you musicians out there! I'd like to see you keep up with this one! We were faster than a rocket. You might get some of the Django influence here. Another tune recorded with my Cotton Club Orchestra, circa 1929.
I Must Have That Man jazz, swing/big band Another Cotton Club gem, circa 1928. I love this arrangement, especially the horns. We did this one when that "wah wah" sound was becoming popular. And man those drums are so steady they sound like a sowing machine!
Bandana Babies jazz, swing/big band This song was originally spelled "Bandanna Babies" when it was recorded in 1928. Sung by Adelaide Hall for our show at The Cotton Club, this rare tune often brought the house down. Listen to Bubber blow that horn!
I Can't Give You Anything But Love jazz, standards What a fabulous song. Romantic, passionate, witty and sincere, this tune was a classic from the start. It was featured in the movie "Bringing Up Baby" when Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant attempt to coax a surly leopard named Baby off the roof of a house by singing it.
Louisiana jazz, swing/big band "Music to me is a sound sensation. . . . It takes me to new places and experiences. It brings me invitations to the most interesting occasions in. . Africa, Asia. . . . . I get to smell things in India I couldn't smell anywhere else. . . . I hear distant drums in Africa. . . . ."
--Duke Ellington
Hot And Bothered jazz, swing/big band A seminal jazz gem performed at furious speed! This song is another one of my early recordings featuring the fabulous Bubber Miley on trumpet. He started his "wah wah" sound as an imitation of Mamie Smith, the leader of his first band, but then we were lucky enough have him in The Washingtonians.
The Mooche jazz, swing/big band This song has the same recording date as "Hot and Bothered", but no two songs could be more different. The Mooche is steamy and seductive with it's haunting horn arrangements over the tribal drums. One of the most erotic jazz instrumentals ever written.
Swampy River jazz, piano So for this song I left the band at the club and decided to play on my own, and had a grand time. This performance is just me and my piano. In fact, I was able to make it sound like two piano players at once for certain parts! But it's not, it's just me The Duke.
Diga Diga Doo jazz, standards Oh, Zulu man is feeling blue
Hear his heart beat a little tattoo
Diga Diga Doo, Diga Doo Doo
Diga Diga Doo, Diga Doo
This song is from "Blackbirds of 1928", a revue by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields. The song "Diga Diga Doo" was the duo's first hit! To the right is a picture of Adelaide Hall, one of the stars of the show.
Jubilee Stomp jazz, big band, standards Duke Ellington and his Orchestra is perhaps the greatest of all Jazz bands. The group stayed together for over fifty years and recorded and wrote some of America's greatest music. Here's a celebration of jazz-The Jubilee Stomp.
Black Beauty jazz, jazz blues, piano I wrote "Black Beauty" for the finest dancer in Harlem, Miss Florence Mills, who died suddenly in 1927 at the age of 32. It was a huge loss for all of us. She was one of the greatest performers of my time, and her haunting beauty will be forever memorialized in this song. Here's a great picture of her too.
Sweet Mama jazz, swing/big band Actually it's "Sweet Mama, Papa's Getting Mad", from the New York recording session in 1928. The horns are brilliant on this one too. One of the fabulous early songs of the Washingtonians.
East St. Louis Toodle-Oo jazz, standards Aw man now this is the Real Deal. One of the best examples of Bubber Miley's plunger mute trumpet "jungle sound". Beautifully recorded on November 29, 1926 in New York City, this sound is what put me on the map.
Washington Wobble jazz, swing/big band Duke Ellington grew up in Washington DC and this song is a tip of the hat to his hometown. Jazz.com also states it was originally called "Washington Wabble" in reference to shady dealings between our representatives and lobbyists! This track features Louis Metcalf and Bubber Miley on trumpet, and Joe Tricky Sam Nanton on trombone.
Black And Tan Fantasy jazz, swing/big band, jazz blues This is one of 41 songs recorded by Duke Ellington during 1927. Trumpeter Bubber Miley wrote most of Black & Tan, and was the main attraction in The Washingtonians. He gave the band its unique sound with his use of the plunger mute. The style which featured Miley's growling, drunken, wah-wah trumpet playing was called the "jungle sound". (from www.redhotjazz.com/wash.html)
Bubber is the second cat from the right in this picture....
Creole Love Call jazz, standards "Creole Love Call" features Adelaide Hall as our New Orleans gal singer. The horns rise and fall, glide in and around each other, truly one of my more fabulous arrangements. This song flirts with you as it struts on by.
Hop Head jazz, standards This is so far and above anything that was written in 1927, no wonder most white folks dismissed this art form as the work of the devil! But it wasn't the devil, it was just The Duke, Johnny Hodges, Louis Metcalf, Bubber Miley and 15 other guys playing in The Washingtonians.
Birmingham Breakdown jazz, swing/big band Recorded this tune on November 29,1926 with The Kentucky Club Orchestra. When the Hollywood Club on West 49th Street between 7th Avenue and Broadway in New York reopened in the spring of 1925 it did so with a new name, The Kentucky Club, and we were the band.
Choo Choo jazz I've seen a lot of trains in my day. In fact trains were my home for half my life. I wrote 3,000 songs in my lifetime, and most of them I wrote riding to the next town. This was recorded by my first band The Washingtonians in 1924.
