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Mood Indigo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mood Indigo is a classic jazz composition and song, with words and music by Duke Ellington, Barney Bigard, and Irving Mills [1].
The main theme was provided by Bigard, who learned it in New Orleans, Louisiana from his clarinet teacher Lorenzo Tio, who called it a "Mexican Blues". Ellington's distinctive arrangement was first recorded by his band for Brunswick Records (Cat No. 01068) on 17 October 1930. This recording featured Arthur Whetsel (trumpet), Joe Nanton (trombone), Barney Bigard (clarinet), Duke Ellington (piano), Fred Guy (guitar), Wellman Braud (bass), Sonny Greer (drums).
According to Amanda Wilde on KUOW, Duke once said he composed this song in 15 minutes, while he was waiting for his mother to finish dinner[citation needed].
The tune originally known as "Dreamy Blues", has now become a jazz standard.
"Mood Indigo" is at least as often performed as an instrumental as a song, and is often also done mostly featuring the instruments with a short vocal chorus (such as Nina Simone's rendition of the song on her debut album Little Girl Blue (1958) and Let It All Out (1966)). The number has enjoyed substantial success in all arrangements, as well as countless interpretations by a countless number of artists, ranging from Paul Robeson to Ella Fitzgerald to Nat King Cole.
