WRITTEN FOR DUKE ELLINGTON
COMPOSED AND ARRANGED BY MARY LOU WILLIAMS, EDITED BY JEFFREY SULTANOF
Mary Lou Williams left Andy Kirk's band in May of 1942, and traveled with her husband, trumpeter Shorty Baker, who was a member of Duke Ellington's band. She composed and arranged quite a few pieces for Ellington, including an arrangement of 'Blue Skies' that was recorded at Carnegie Hall (for some unknown reason Ellington introduced the piece as 'Trumpets No End'). She also composed several other pieces that were not recorded including Aries Mood (Ben Webster feature), Scorpio, and this arrangement of Lonely Moments, a version of which was recorded by Benny Goodman. Recently this arrangement has been recorded by the Dutch Jazz Orchestra on their tribute to Mary Lou Williams. We are not entirely sure why this arrangement wasn't recorded when it was written, but our guess is that it was a bit 'modern' sounding even for Duke Ellington.
This is a great arrangement that features solos for trumpet and tenor saxophone.
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