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Isfahan (song)
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Wikipedia article
"'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 StrayhornDavid Hajdu, 'Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn', Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996, , page 234. composed it, months before the 1963 Ellington orchestra world tour during which the group traveled to Iran.
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."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. 437438. .
In 1988 the song was presented in 'Studio Sessions New York 1963' by LMR label and later on by the Saja Records.[http://www.depanorama.net/cds/pc.htm A Duke Ellington Panorama] accessed June 28, 2010
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 - Andr Previn in album 'We Got It Good and That Aint 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
See also
*Duke Ellington discography
References
Category:1967 songs
Category:Compositions by Duke Ellington
Category:Compositions by Billy Strayhorn
Category:Jazz songs
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