Sophisticated Lady

Ellington’s songbook might be one the most inspired and colorful in Jazz history. From “It don’t mean a Thing” to “Black, Brown, and Beige” Ellington masterfully incorporated harmonic and melodic elements from the works of classical composers such as Debussy and Ravel into the rhythmic fabric of the Swing tradition.

Sophisticated Lady was written in 1932. In my humble opinion, one of his greatest ballads. The chromaticisms and parallelisms found in this beautiful song make it almost hypnotizing. I wanted to emphasize those aspects by adding even further chromaticisms in the middle voices of my arrangement, as if I intended some passages to almost melt down into the listeners ears.

Recorded with a handmade semi hollow-body guitar built by IS Guitars through a Pod Go by Line6