Harman Patil (Editor)

Isfahan (song)

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Released
  
1967

Genre
  
Jazz

Recorded
  
December 1966

Label
  
Bluebird/RCA

Length
  
4:02 4:11 (alternative take)

Writer(s)
  
Billy Strayhorn Duke Ellington

"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 Strayhorn composed it, months before the 1963 Ellington orchestra world tour during which the group traveled to Iran.

Contents

Legacy

Isfahan is widely considered as a jazz standard.

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."

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 Funkey 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)
  • 1992 - Stephanie Nakasian in album French Cookin' (Track #11)
  • 2005 - Grace Kelly in album Times Too (Track #1)
  • 2008 - Donny McCaslin in album "Recommended Tools" (Track #5)
  • 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
  • References

    Isfahan (song) Wikipedia