Isfahan (song)

"Isfahan"
Single by Duke Ellington
from the album The Far East Suite
Released	1967
Recorded	December 1966
Genre	Jazz
Length	4:02 4:11(alternative take)
Label	Bluebird/RCA
Songwriter(s)	Billy Strayhorn Duke Ellington
Producer(s)	Brad McKuen
Duke Ellington singles chronology
"Mynah" (1966) "Isfahan" (1967) "Depk" (1966)

"Isfahan" is a jazz piece credited to Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington and released on Ellington's 1967 album The Far East Suite ; Isfahan is a city in Iran. It features long-time Ellington soloist Johnny Hodges on alto saxophone. It was originally called "Elf" when Strayhorn ^[1] composed it, months before the 1963 Ellington orchestra world tour during which the group traveled to Iran.

Legacy

In The Penguin Guide to Jazz , Richard Cook and Brian Morton have suggested that "'Isfahan' is arguably the most beautiful item in Ellington's and Strayhorn's entire output." ^[2]

In 1988 the song was presented in Studio Sessions New York 1963 by LMR label and later on by the Saja Records. ^[3]

Notable covers

• 1980 – Heard Ranier Ferguson in album Heard Ranier Ferguson (Track #2)
• 1980 – Gary Burton in album Easy as Pie (Track #5)
• 1981 – Arnett Cobb in album Funky Butt (Track #7)
• 1985 – Joe Pass in album Akron Concert (Part #1 in track #6, Duke Ellington Medley)
• 1987 – Art Farmer in album Something to Live For (Track #1)
• 1992 – Joe Henderson in album Lush Life (Track #1)
• 1999 – André Previn in album We Got It Good and That Ain’t Bad: A Duke Ellington Songbook (Track #2)
• 2005 – Grace Kelly in album Times Too (Track #1)
• 2012 – Joe Jackson with Steve Vai in album The Duke (Track #1)

Personnel

• Cootie Williams — trumpet
• William "Cat" Anderson — trumpet
• Mercer Ellington — trumpet & flugelhorn
• Herbie Jones — trumpet & flugelhorn
• Lawrence Brown — trombone
• Buster Cooper — trombone
• Chuck Connors — trombone
• Jimmy Hamilton — clarinet & tenor saxophone
• Johnny Hodges — alto saxophone (solo)
• Russell Procope — alto saxophone & clarinet
• Paul Gonsalves — tenor saxophone
• Harry Carney — baritone saxophone
• Duke Ellington — piano
• John Lamb — bass
• Rufus Jones — drums

See also

• Duke Ellington discography

References

1. Hajdu, David (1996). Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN   0-86547-512-1. p. 234.
2. Morton, Brian; Cook, Richard (2010) [1992]. The Penguin Jazz Guide: The History of the Music in the 1001 Best Albums. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (10th ed.). New York: Penguin. pp. 437–438. ISBN   978-0-14-104831-4.
3. "A Duke Ellington Panorama". Archived from the original on December 20, 2012. Retrieved June 22, 2010.