Rhythmoods

Duke Ellington

General Info

Year: 1938
Duration: c. 4:50
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Mills Music
Cost: Score and Parts – Out of print

For availability information, see Discussion area, above.

Instrumentation

Full Score
D-flat Piccolo
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet Solo-I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Bass Saxophone
B-flat Cornets Solo-I-II-III
B-flat Trumpet
E-flat Horn or Alto I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Drums, including:

Bass Drum
Snare Drum
Suspended Cymbal
Vibraphone

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

"There are two types of music," Ellington famously said, "good music, and the other kind." Though Ellington himself didn't like to assign categories to his creations, his compositions elevated jazz to the same stage as other more traditional music genres.

Rhythmoods is a band arrangement of three such tunes: Sophisticated Lady (1933), Mood Indigo (1931), and Black and Tan Fantasy (1927). Ellington's original all-instrumental Sophisticated Lady was inspired not by a mistress, but by his three grade school teachers. "They taught all winter and toured Europe in the summer. To me that spelled sophistication." Mood Indigo was the first piece Ellington ever wrote specifically for electronic transmission. In its original key, it created an unpleasant resonance with the microphone, so Ellington transposed the piece so that the resonance of the microphone -- what Ellington himself called the "mike-tone" -- gave the audio-illusion of a fourth instrument and provided Mood Indigo with its unified sound. Black and Tan Fantasy is a triumph of the collaboration between Ellington and trumpet player Bubber Miley. Don't let your mind fool your ears - Chopin's Funeral March does emerge from Miley's bluesy spirituals.

-Program Note by Susan Puente-Matos for the Stony Brook Wind Ensemble concert program, 2014

Media

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Karl L. King Municipal Band (Fort Dodge, Iowa) (Jerrold Jimmerson, conductor) - 5 June 2022
Karl L. King Municipal Band (Fort Dodge, Iowa) (David Klee, conductor) – 28 June 2015
Stony Brook University (N.Y.) Wind Ensemble (Bruce Engel, conductor) - 2014

Works for Winds by This Composer

Caravan (arr. Ployhar) (1937/1975)
Caravan (arr. Saucedo) (1937/2000)
Classic Duke
Come Sunday (arr. Murtha) (1943/2007)
Duke Ellington! (arr. Custer) (1994)
Duke Ellington in Concert (arr. Murtha) (2002)
Ellington (arr. Kerchner)
Ellington! (arr. Bulla) (2019)
Ellington Portrait, An (arr. Werle) (1965)
Highlights from "Sophisticated Ladies" (arr. Cacavas) (1981)
It Don't Mean a Thing (arr. Mashima) (1932/2012)
It Don't Mean a Thing (arr. Moss) (1932/1989)
Rhythmoods (arr. Yoder) (1938)
Salute the Duke (arr. Yoder) (1960)
Salute to the Duke (arr. Sweeney) (1999)
Satin Doll (arr. Osterling) (1953/1988)
The Symphonic Duke (arr. Newsom) (1999)

Resources

Ellington, D.; Yoder, P. (1938). Rhythmoods: Band Medley [score]. Mills Music: [New York].