"Cotton Tail" is a 1940 composition by

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was bas ...

. It is based on the rhythm changes from

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

's " I Got Rhythm". 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 saxophonist. Career Early life and career A native of Kansas City, Missouri, he studied violin, learned how to play blues on the piano from ...

. Originally an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

, "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 John Carl Hendricks (September 16, 1921 – November 22, 2017), known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and re ...

, and recorded by

Lambert, Hendricks and Ross Lambert, Hendricks & Ross were an American vocalese trio formed by jazz vocalists Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross. From 1962 to 1964, Ross was replaced by vocalist Yolande Bavan. History The group formed in 1957 and recorded their f ...

. 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 Locksley Wellington Hampton (April 21, 1932 – November 18, 2021) was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. As his nickname implies, Hampton's main instrument was slide trombone, but he also occasionally played tuba and flugel ...

'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 ''Dear Ella'' is a 1997 studio album by Dee Dee Bridgewater, recorded in tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, who had died the previous year. For ''Dear Ella'', Bridgewater won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Slide Hampton won the Grammy Aw ...

'' 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 (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, 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, phrasing, timing, in ...

- '' 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 from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized ...

- ''Harry James And His New Swingin' Band'' ( MGM SE-3778, 1959) *

- ''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 an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...

- '' 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, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for " The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an ...

- '' Mel Tormé and the Marty Paich Dektette - In Concert Tokyo'' (1988) * The Buddy Rich Big Band with Neil Peart - '' Burning for Buddy: A Tribute to the Music of Buddy Rich'' (1994) * Dave Grusin - ''

Homage to Duke ''Homage to Duke'' is an album by American pianist Dave Grusin released in 1993, recorded for GRP Records, and is Grusin's interpretation of Duke Ellington's music. The album was well received. In addition to Mood Indigo winning the 1994 Grammy A ...

'' (1993) *

- ''

'' (1997) *

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he hel ...

- ''

Gershwin's World ''Gershwin's World'' is a studio album by the American jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. Prominent guests include Joni Mitchell, Kathleen Battle, Stevie Wonder, Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea. It contains songs written by George and Ira Gershwin. It f ...

'' (1998) *The Duke Ellington Legacy Band, featuring Nancy Reed (vocals) (2007) * Neil Peart - an excerpt is included in his drum solo "De Slagwerker" on Rush's live album ''

Snakes & Arrows Live ''Snakes & Arrows Live'' is a live double CD and DVD by Canadian band Rush. The CD was released on April 14, 2008, in the UK and on April 15, 2008, around the world. It was also released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 24, 2008.Rush NewRush Ne ...

'' (2008)

References

External links

"Cottontail" at jazzstandards.com
Songs with music by Duke Ellington 1940s jazz standards Swing jazz standards 1940 songs Songs with lyrics by Jon Hendricks Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) {{pop-standard-stub

Notable recordings

See also

References

External links