 Don’t Get Around Much Anymore
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| Originally called “Never No Lament”, the Jazz Standard “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” with music by Duke Ellington and lyrics by Bob Russell, was first recorded by Ellington in 1940 as an instrumental for big band. The lyrics were later added in 1942. Many artists have recorded the song over the years including The Ink Spots, Ella Fitzgerald and June Christy to name a few. I’ve listed some of my favourites below. | |
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Duke Ellington Album – Best of Duke Ellington The original version without vocal. A great arrangement with lots of bluesy single lines and Big Band Stabs. Lots of material in here for you to plunder for your guitar solos. |
Ella Fitzgerald Album – Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook Lovely slow swing feel to this version. Great guitar vamp at the beginning. There’s lots of scope in this song for fills in between the vocal, maybe because it wasn’t originally written as vocal? |
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Martin Taylor Album – Sketches: A Tribute to Art Tatum One of the albums that originally got me into playing solo fingerstyle guitar. A truly virtuosic performance from the period when Martin was playing with Staphane Grappelli.
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Charlie Byrd Album – I’ve Got The World On A String Another master of fingerstyle guitar Charlie Byrd plays here with his trio. Listen out for the tasteful accompanyment when the double bass takes a solo. This is an area which I cover in our video guitar lesson course.
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Kenny Burrell Album – 75th Birthday Bash Live! In this version Kenny Burrell plays with a big band. What a privilege it is to play single line on top of a Big Band like this, something we guitarists don’t often get the chance to do, what power!
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Which artist’s version of Don’t Get Around Much Anymore would you recommend? Tell me about it and I can feature it here |
