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 StrayhornHajdu, David (1996). Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. . p. 234. composed it, months before the 1963 Ellington orchestra world tour during which the group traveled to Iran.

Legacy 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; Cook, Richard (2010) . 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. .

In 1988 the song was presented in Studio Sessions New York 1963 by LMR label and later on by the Saja Records.

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) 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) 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