The song of the day for Friday, May 29, 2020, is “Mood Indigo.”
About This Song
Duke Ellington wrote “Mood Indigo” in 1930 and named it “Dreamy Blues”; the lyrics by Irving Mills were added later. The song, which is based on a theme by Barney Bigard, who is said to have learned it from his New Orleans clarinet teacher, Lorenzo Tio. Ellington wrote the song specifically for “microphone transmission” and it was first played on a 1930 radio broadcast. Audiences loved the song, and so Irving Mills wrote the lyrics, changing the name of the song to “Mood Indigo.” The song has been widely recorded by instrumental and vocal artists, including Tony Bennett, Charles Mingus, Ella Fitzgerald, Thelonious Monk, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole.
About This Version
Tony Bennett recorded “Mood Indigo” in May 1999 for the album Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool, which was released in the 100th year anniversary of Ellington’s birth. The album won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance.
“Mood Indigo,” as well as Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool, is available from iTunes.
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