"Take Five": One Hit
The Dave Brubeck quartet went into the studio on July 1, 1959 to record a new album. Drummer Joe Morello, who had joined the group in 1956, was tired of playing in strictly 4/4 time and pressed the...
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It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing
  75 years ago, a young Edward Kennedy Ellington, newly arrived in the Big Apple, was dazzled by the glitter of big city music. He was taken with Broadway, in awe of Carnegie Hall, and impressed by Tin Pan Alley. Maybe he was over-impressed, because every time Duke expressed his appreciation, his trumpeter, Bubber Miley, would admonish Ellington, telling him that "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing." Duke's composition shows he got the message. "It Don't Mean A Thing," a de facto theme song for jazz, is highlighted by Ivie Anderson's vocal, and by Johnny Hodges' alto solo, which Duke himself considered a masterwork.

(D. Ellington/I. Mills); Duke Ellington, piano; Freddy Jenkins, Arthur Whetsol, Cootie Williams, trumpet; Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton, trombone; Juan Tizol, valve trombone; Barney Bigard, Harry Carney, Johnny Hodges, reeds; Fred Guy, guitar; Wellman Braud, bass; Sonny Greer, drums; Ivie Anderson, vocal. Solos: Nanton; Hodges, alto sax; Rec. New York, February 2, 1932. Brunswick 6265 (mx. B.11204-A); Originally Released 1932