"Ko-Ko“ was a songrecorded on this date in 1940 by the famous Blanton-Webster version of the DukeEllington Orchestra (bassist Jimmy Blanton and saxophonist Ben Webster werefeatured soloists). Ellington said that the song was meant to evoke CongoSquare in New Orleans (where Louis Armstrong Park is now), a place whereAfrican-Americans gathered on Sundays in the pre-jazz days of the nineteenthcentury to dance to drum music. The Duke originally intended it to be part ofhis musical history that eventually became the jazz symphony “Black, Brown andBiege" (1943).
Even today, this song hasan exotic, raw energy to it. One can hear how it might have been disturbing forsome people who listened to it at the time. The whole Ellington band is inattack mode on the piece, with Harry Carney blowing a rhythmic baritone sax andJoe “Tricky Sam" Nanton “speaking" through his trombone. Nanton was one of thepioneers of the use of the plunger mute and he employs a raucous “wah-wah" voicing togreat effect here.
Even today, this song hasan exotic, raw energy to it. One can hear how it might have been disturbing forsome people who listened to it at the time. The whole Ellington band is inattack mode on the piece, with Harry Carney blowing a rhythmic baritone sax andJoe “Tricky Sam" Nanton “speaking" through his trombone. Nanton was one of thepioneers of the use of the plunger mute and he employs a raucous “wah-wah" voicing togreat effect here.
