Photo, ‘In a Sentimental Mood,’ courtesy of phil h on Flickr.
…the session with Duke Ellington was a daring move—both parties may have seemed accomodating on the surface, yet each was driven by a tough-as-nails commitment to their personal principles—but this odd couple proved that, on occasion demigods do consent to dive-and-take. On “In a Sentimental Mood” Coltrane even elicitated a breathtakingly fresh reconfiguration of the standard from Ellington (of a piece Duke had been playing regularly for almost thirty years!). Some time later, Johnny Hodges, who had put an indelible stamp on his compositions as a member of the ellington band, told the record’s producer Bob Thiele that Coltrane’s version was “the most beautiful interpretation I’ve ever heard.”
— Ted Gioia. The History of Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
‘In a Sentimental Mood,’ written by Duke Ellington and performed on the record, Duke Ellington & John Coltrane.
Duke Ellington, paino | John Coltrane, tenor saxaophone | Aaron Bell, bass | Elvin Jones, drums
