Happy Birthday, Duke

Today marks what would have been Duke Ellington’s 120th birthday. Here’s the Pontiac-bred Hank Jones playing Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady” in 1976. It comes from a tremendous solo piano LP, “Satin Doll,” issued on the Trio label in Japan. The record is an Ellington tribute with half the selections by Duke, though the title track was co-written with Billy Strayhorn. Note perfect — which you can see by following along with the transcription in the video 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUYQqQ7bFZ8

(Photo of Hank Jones at the 2009 Detroit Jazz Festival, by Kimberly Mitchell / Detroit Free Press)