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{{about|the song by Duke Ellington|the album by Willis Jackson|In My Solitude (Willis Jackson album)|the 1994 album by Terence Blanchard and Jeanie Bryson|In My Solitude: The Billie Holiday Songbook}}"(In My) Solitude" is a 1934 composition by Duke Ellington, with lyrics by Eddie DeLange and Irving Mills.WEB, Solitude (1934),weblink jazzstandards, April 4, 2021, Origin and Chart Information, It has been recorded numerous times and is considered a jazz standard.Ellington reported that he composed it in a recording studio in 20 minutes, as his orchestra had arrived with three pieces to record and required another. It is in D{{music|flat}} major and has an AABA form (although "the IV chord in measure 3 is replaced by a II7 the second time").WEB, Solitude (1934),weblink jazzstandards, April 4, 2021, Music and Lyrics Analysis, According to Ellington, the title was suggested by trumpeter Arthur Whetsel. An AllMusic writer describes the composition as "at once optimistic in its tone but somber in its pace, conflicted with the emotions of bitter loneliness and fond remembrance".WEB, Grimshaw, Jeremy,weblink Duke Ellington: Solitude, AllMusic, April 4, 2021, The mood is set "in the very first phrase of the melody, with its ascent to the leading tone of the scale falling just short of the tonic, and in the seemingly unremarkable chord progressions that nevertheless manage to transform harmonic resolution into wistful resignation".The first recording of the song was by Ellington on January 10, 1934.WEB, 1931–1940,weblink ellingtonia.com, April 4, 2021, His second version, from September of the same year, reached No. 2 on the charts in 1935. The Mills Blue Rhythm Band's rendition reached No. 8 that year. "Solitude" was recorded at least 28 times between 1934 and 1942.BOOK, Crawford, Richard, Magee, Jeffrey, Jazz Standards on Record, 1900–1942: A Core Repertory, 1992, Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago, 978-0-929911-03-8, xi, Vocalist Billie Holiday recorded the song several times in the 1940s and 1950s, "with the world-weariness of the words matching to an almost disturbing degree her late-career persona". One of her renditions was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2021.WEB, December 21, 2020, Grammy Hall of Fame Welcomes 2021 Inductions: A Tribe Called Quest, Billie Holiday, Journey, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen and More,weblink grammy.com, December 24, 2020, Writing in 2012, Ted Gioia commented that "For the most part, 'Solitude' serves as a tribute piece nowadays, often played in an overly respectful manner that captures more the sound than the spirit of [Ellington]".BOOK, Gioia, Ted, Ted Gioia, The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire, 2012, Oxford University Press, 978-0-19-993739-4, 379,

Other versions

• Rex Stewart – Rex Stuart Plays Duke Ellington (1955)"Rex Stuart Plays Duke Ellington". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Billy Eckstine – The Duke, The Blues and Me! (1957)"The Duke, the blues". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Al Hibbler – Big Boy Blues (195-?)"Big boy blues". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Josephine Baker – Josephine Baker Chante L'Amour (1959)"JOSEPHINE BAKER CHANTE L'AMOUR". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Tony Bennett with Count Basie – In Person! (1959)"In Person!". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Lucho Gatica – Lucho in Mexico (196-?)"Lucho in Mexico". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Priscilla Paris – Priscilla Love Billy (196-?)"Priscilla Loves Billy". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Carmen McRae – Carmen McRae (rec. 196-?, rel. 1971)Lass, Don (June 20, 1971). "The Modern Carmen". The Asbury Park Press. p. 44. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Earl Hines – West Side Story (1975)"West Side Story". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Jackie Washington – Blues & Sentimental (1976)"Blues & Sentimental". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Mutter Slater – single (B-side of Dancing on Air) (Rocket Records, 1976)weblink. Discogs Retrieved 27 May 2022.
• Oscar Peterson and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen – Oscar Peterson digital at Montreux (1980)"Oscar Peterson digital at Montreux". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Gregory Hines – Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies : Original Broadway cast recording (1981)"Duke Ellington's Sophisticated ladies : original Broadway cast recording". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Dirty Dozen Brass Band – Music With a Smile (1987)"Music With a Smile". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Clark Terry – Just Friends (1989)"Just friends". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Joe Pass – Summer Nights (1990)"Summer Nights". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Paul Bley – Caravan Suite (1993)"Caravan suite". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Terence Blanchard – (In My Solitude: The Billie Holiday Songbook) (1994)"The Billie Holiday songbook". WorldCat. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
• Tina May – It Ain't Necessarily So (1995)"Tina May – It Ain't Necessarily So: Overview". AllMusic. Retrieved April 1, 2022.

See also

• List of 1930s jazz standards

References

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