Isfahan (song)
"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.
| "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 | ||||
| ||||
Legacy
Isfahan is widely considered as a jazz standard.
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)
- 1992 - Stephanie Nakasian in album French Cookin' (Track #11)
- 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)
- 2008 - Donny McCaslin in album "Recommended Tools" (Track #5)
- 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
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See also
References
- David Hajdu, Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996, ISBN 0-86547-512-1, page 234.
- Morton, Brian; Richard Cook (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.
- A Duke Ellington Panorama accessed June 28, 2010
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