“Mood Indigo” | Stories of Standards

Tune in to First Take with Lando and Chavis – weekdays from 6-9 am MT – for Stories of Standards to hear our favorite versions of this song all week long!

The story of “Mood Indigo” (1930) by Barney Bigard, Duke Ellington and Irving Mills started with Lorenzo Tio, Jr, who was a member of Piron’s New Orleans Orchestra, where the theme song was “Dreamy Blues”. Barney Bigard, who studied clarinet with Tio, worked on the song for a while before bringing it to Duke Ellington, who used the theme as a base for “Dreamy Blues” before adding lyrics by Irving Mills and recording it as “Mood Indigo”. This became identified with the early Duke Ellington band and accumulated awards up through the mid-1970s when the 1930 Brunswick recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Terry Teachout referred to it as “an imperishable classic, one of a handful of songs that come to mind whenever Ellington’s name is mentioned anywhere in the world”.

Barney Bigard (1906-1980) started as a tenor saxophonist in New Orleans, before moving to Chicago in 1924, where he played with King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Johnny Dodds and Louis Armstrong, before becoming a long-time member of Duke Ellington’s orchestra, where he played clarinet almost exclusively. Bigard left Ellington’s band to live in New Orleans before joining the Louis Armstrong All-Stars, with a couple of years in Cozy Cole’s band.

Duke Ellington (1899-1974) wrote over 3000 songs, received the President’s Gold Medal in 1966, the Medal of Freedom in 1969, 13 Grammy Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, the French Legion of Honor in 1973 and had a US commemorative stamp in 1986. Remarkably, he was most creative while on the road, which was where “Mood Indigo” was written. His funeral was attended by over 12,000 people.

In 1919 Irving Mills (1896-1985) and his brother Jack founded the Mills Music publishing business. Irving Mills  was manager for Duke Ellington from 1926 to 1939, and wrote lyrics including those for “It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got That Swing,” “Mood Indigo,” and “Sophisticated Lady.” In addition, he signed on Hoagy Carmichael and Dorothy Fields, and co-wrote “Minnie the Moocher” with Ellington and Clarence Gaskill.