Duke Ellington: In A Sentimeental Mood

Duke Ellington: In a Sentimental Mood

Background
In a Sentimental Mood is a composition by Duke Ellington and was written and recorded in 1935.
Analysis
The song begins in a slow and introspective making use of a minor tonality. The original piece starts in the key of D Minor and follows an AABA form. The piece uses unlikely and unexpected chord changes, as well as a false key change from D Minor to D♭ Major in the first “A” section, even though this section ultimately ends in F Major. (In a Sentimental Mood) The first seven notes used in the song, although in a different key, identical to the first seven notes in Gershwin’s Someone To Watch Over Me. The piece makes use of the “Circle of Fifths”. The following is a quote from Source 1: (In

Analysis Potato Head Blues is written in a 32 bar form typical of the Dixieland style period and features a stop time section with iconic developmental solos on clarinet and trumpet including one of Louis Armstrong’s most famous solo over the stop-time section of the form. The song begins with polyphony between the clarinet and the trumpet. The piece also makes use of a large dynamic range as well as abundantly using inflections and individual expression in playing style. After the introduction, an initial verse is played by Armstrong on the trumpet for 16 bars, followed by Johnny Dodds playing his inspiring 32 bar clarinet solo over the full ABAC form. This is followed by a 3 bar banjo break which leads into the famous stop-time solo played by Louis Armstrong. This solo takes place over the full ABAC form and features Armstrong playing on the beat for the first half of the solo and meeting the downbeat of each second bar. Armstrong then seems to completely ignore the pulse and plays an intensely syncopated solo which then leads back into the collective improvisation over the AC form for 16

Hot 5 Project. .
Brown, Stephen. The Duke Ellington Collective. 1 October 2014 .
Fickel, Kevin. An Analysis of "When The Saints Go Marching In". .
In a Sentimental Mood. 1 October 2014 .
Potato Head Blues.