Ko-Ko By Duke Ellington: Music Analysis

When listening to Ko-Ko by Duke Ellington’s orchestra, you hear several soloists; such as these five, Jimmy Blanton on bass, Ben Webster on tenor sax, Cootie Williams on trumpet, Johnny Hodges on the alto sax, and Duke Ellington himself on the piano. In this song each soloist plays for entire chorus expect for Joe Nanton which plays for both the second and third chorus; for example in the fourth chorus Ellington plays his piano solo, and in sixth chorus Blanton plays his bass solo. All the choruses throughout the song is in twelve-bar blues form. Nanton has a very distinctive sound, one being the growling “ya-ya” sound, which happens to be his signature sound. During his solo, he uses a pixie mute, which is fixed inside the trombone to create