Sophisticated Lady


"Sophisticated Lady" is a jazz standard, composed as an instrumental in 1932 by Duke Ellington.

Background

Additional credit is given to publisher Irving Mills whose words were added to the song by Mitchell Parish. The words met with approval from Ellington, who described them as "wonderful—but not entirely fitted to my original conception". That original conception was inspired by three of Ellington's grade school teachers. "They taught all winter and toured Europe in the summer. To me that spelled sophistication."
Duke Ellington and His Orchestra introduced "Sophisticated Lady" in 1933 with an instrumental recording of the song that featured solos by Toby Hardwick on alto sax, Barney Bigard on clarinet, Lawrence Brown on trombone and Ellington on piano. The recording entered the charts on 27 May 1933 and rose to number three.
Singer Adelaide Hall recorded with Ellington in 1927, 1932, and 1933. The song appeared on the soundtrack of the 1989/90 documentary celebrating her life entitled Sophisticated Lady.

Other recordings