"Do Nothing till You Hear from Me" (also written as "Do Nothin' Til You Hear from Me") is a song with music by Duke Ellington and lyrics by Bob Russell. It originated as a 1940 instrumental ("Concerto for Cootie") that was designed to highlight the playing of Ellington's lead trumpeter, Cootie Williams.[1] Russell's words were added later. In 1944, Ellington's own recording of the song was a number one hit R&B chart for eight non-consecutive weeks and number six on the pop chart.[2]
Other recordings to reach the Billboard charts in 1944 were by Woody Herman and by Stan Kenton (vocal: Red Dorris).[3]
Other versions
edit"Do Nothing till You Hear from Me" has since been performed by many other famous musical artists, including:
- Nat King Cole, 1944, with The King Cole Trio[4]
- Billie Holiday, 1944 – Live, 1955, Studio, Stay With Me[5]
- Lena Horne, 1944, appears on her 2002 compilation album The Young Star[6]
- Patti Page, 1949, released in 1986 on The Uncollected Patti Page (1949): Patti Page with Lou Stein's Music[7]
- Hampton Hawes, 1956 – All Night Session! Vol. 3
- Bing Crosby recorded the song in 1957[8] for use on his radio show and it was subsequently included in the album Shall We Dance? (2012).[9]
- Ella Fitzgerald, 1957, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book
- Abbey Lincoln, 1957, Abbey Lincoln's Affair: A Story of a Girl in Love
- Mose Allison, 1959 – Autumn Song
- Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, 1961, The Great Summit[10]
- Frances Faye, 1962, Swinging All the Way with Frances Faye
- Al Hirt, 1962, Horn-A-Plenty[11]
- Joni James, 1962, After Hours
- Don Lamond & His Orchestra, 1962, Off Beat Percussion
- Anita O'Day, 1962, All the Sad Young Men[12]
- Nina Simone, 1962, Nina Simone Sings Ellington
- Dinah Washington, 1962, In Love
- Sammy Davis Jr. (with Sam Butera & the Witnesses, 1965, When the Feeling Hits You!
- Cal Tjader & Carmen McRae, 1982, Heat Wave
- Keith Jarrett, 1987, Solo Tribute
- Harry Connick Jr., 1988, 20
- Robert Palmer, 1992, Ridin' High
- Diana Krall, 1993, Stepping Out
- Phil Collins, 1995, from Quincy Jones's album Q's Jook Joint
- Tony Bennett, 1999, Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool
- Dr. John, 1999, Duke Elegant[13] –
- Silje Nergaard, 2000, Port of Call[14]
- Andy Williams, 2000, Released on his 2001 live album Andy Williams Live[15]
- Mary J. Blige, 2001, Red Hot + Indigo
- Robbie Williams, 2001, Swing When You're Winning
- Suzy Bogguss, 2003 – Swing[16]
- Gladys Knight, 2006, Before Me[17]
- Fiona Apple & Jon Brion, 2011 or earlier[18]
- Phil Collins again on his 2018 compilation Plays Well With Others with Quincy Jones.
- Gabriela Anders, 2022, Los Dukes: A Latina Tribute to Duke Ellington
References
edit- ^ Gilliland, John (1994). Pop Chronicles the 40s: The Lively Story of Pop Music in the 40s (audiobook). ISBN 978-1-55935-147-8. OCLC 31611854. Tape 2, side A.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Record Research. p. 185.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (1986). Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890–1954. Wisconsin, USA: Record Research Inc. p. 492. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
- ^ The King Cole Trio. Sessions of 1944. Nat King Cole: An Informal Discography.
- ^ Holiday, Billie. B. Live Sessions. Billie Holiday Songs.
- ^ Horne, Lena. The Young Star (CD, Compilation, Remastered, Mono). RCA/BMG/Bluebird. 2 September 2002.
- ^ Page, Patti. The Uncollected Patti Page...with Lou Stein's Music. Hindsight, 1986.
- ^ "A Bing Crosby Discography". BING magazine. International Club Crosby. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
- ^ "allmusic.com". allmusic.com. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
- ^ Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington. The Complete...Sessions. Roulette Records, 1990.
- ^ Al Hirt. Horn A-Plenty. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
- ^ "www.allmusic.com". www.allmusic.com. Retrieved August 14, 2024.
- ^ Dr. John. Duke Elegant (CD, Album).Parlophone, 1999.
- ^ Nergaard, Silje. Port of Call (CD, Album, Digipak). EmArcy, 2000.
- ^ Williams, Andy. Andy Williams Live: Treasures from His Personal Collection. Neon Records, 10 July 2001.
- ^ Bogguss, Suzy. Swing (CD, Album). Compadre Records, 2003.
- ^ Knight, Gladys. Before Me. Verve, 10 October 2006.
- ^ Fiona Apple & Jon Brion. Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me. YouTube: LyricsBYFionaAppleIT. 21 February 2011.
 | This article about a jazz standard or composition written in the 1940s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |