“It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” is a 1931 composition by Duke Ellington and is probably the first song to use the phrase “swing” in the title. It introduced the term into everyday language three years before the actual Swing Era. The Ellington band played the song continuously over the years and recorded it numerous times.
Keep your eye out for the sax solo by Johnny Hodges in the middle. John Coltrane called Hodges the “world’s greatest sax player”. Pretty high praise from the man often considered the most creative sax player out there.
Reminder… You can click in the lower right of a YouTube video to make it full screen. Also, you can use the Posts menu item to filter news posts to a specific category – e.g. Music Videos – to just show those. Give it a shot!
