"Cotton Tail" is a 1940

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

. It is based on the

rhythm changes The Rhythm changes is a common 32-Bar (music), bar jazz chord progression derived from George Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm". The progression is in Thirty-two-bar form, AABA form, with each A section based on repetitions of the ubiquitous I–vi–ii� ...

from

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swan ...

's "

I Got Rhythm "I Got Rhythm" is a piece composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and published in 1930, which became a jazz standard. Its chord progression, known as the " rhythm changes", is the foundation for many other popular jazz tunes su ...

". The first Ellington recording (4 May 1940) is notable for the driving tenor saxophone solo by

Ben Webster Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor Saxophone, saxophonist. He performed in the United States and Europe and made many recordings with Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Johnny Hodges, a ...

. Originally an

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

, "Cotton Tail" later had

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

written for it by Ellington. Later, more lyrics were written, based on the 1940 recording, by Jon Hendricks, and recorded by Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. The 1941 Soundie gives the title as "Hot Chocolate", with "Cotton Tail" below it in parentheses and smaller letters, but this was likely done by the producer, as that title does not seem to appear anywhere else between the original record's release and this production. Slide Hampton's arrangement of "Cotton Tail" on

Dee Dee Bridgewater Dee Dee Bridgewater (née Denise Garrett, May 27, 1950) is an American jazz singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National ...

's 1997 album '' Dear Ella'' won him the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) in 1998. "Cotton Tail" is the theme song for "The Art of Jazz", a music history radio program hosted by Ken Wiley on KNKX-FM. Wiley plays Ellington's entire version of "Cotton Tail" both at the beginning and at the end of every show.

Notable recordings

*The

Orchestra, May 2, 1940 *

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...

- '' Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook'' (1957) *The Big Four ( George Kawaguchi, Go Ueda, Hachidai Nakamura, Hidehiko Matsumoto) - ''Jazz at the Torys'' (1957) *

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band to great commercial success from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947, but ...

- ''Harry James And His New Swingin' Band'' (

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

SE-3778, 1959) * Lambert, Hendricks and Ross - ''Everybody's Boppin (August 6, 1959) *

Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for his unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and for his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a ...

- '' So Much Guitar'' (1961) *

and Duke Ellington - '' Ella at Duke's Place'' (1965) *

Mel Tormé Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "the Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arrangement, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roa ...

- '' Mel Tormé and the Marty Paich Dektette - In Concert Tokyo'' (1988) * The Buddy Rich Big Band with

Neil Peart Neil Ellwood Peart ( ; September 12, 1952 – January 7, 2020) was a Canadian and American musician, known as the drummer, percussionist, and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush (band), Rush. He was known to fans by the nickname "the Profe ...

- '' Burning for Buddy: A Tribute to the Music of Buddy Rich'' (1994) *

Dave Grusin Robert David Grusin (born June 26, 1934) is an American composer, arranger, producer, jazz pianist, and band leader. He has composed many scores for feature films and television and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, incl ...

- '' Homage to Duke'' (1993)

References

External links

"Cottontail" at jazzstandards.com
1940s jazz standards 1940 songs Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals Real Book Song Songs with lyrics by Jon Hendricks Songs with music by Duke Ellington Swing jazz standards {{pop-standard-stub

Notable recordings

See also

References

External links