“The Mooche”
Duke Ellington And His Cotton Club Orchestra
(Brunswick 4122) October 17, 1928
Here is a haunting Duke Ellington recording I came across in the Edward Mitchell collection of one of Ellington’s more famous compositions.
In October 1928, Ellington’s band made four separate recordings of “The Mooche” for different record labels. At the time, his band was not under an exclusive contract with any particular label and was thus free to make recordings for multiple labels. Each of the four versions is a bit different from the others.
Ellington’s first recording of the song was for the OKeh label on October 1, 1928, credited as Duke Ellington And His Orchestra.
Shortly after that (the exact day in October is not known), the band recorded it again for Cameo Records, which had recently merged with Pathe Records. That version was issued on Cameo and its subsidiary Romeo and Lincoln labels credited under the pseudonym The Washingtonians, and on Pathe and its subsidiary label, Perfect, under the pseudonym of The Whoopee Makers.
The band made the recording featured here, credited as Duke Ellington And His Cotton Club Orchestra, for Brunswick on October 17, 1928.
Finally, the band made recorded a fourth version for Victor on October 30, 1928 which was also credited to Duke Ellington And His Cotton Club Orchestra.
All of the versions, besides the one recorded for Victor, feature the stylized trumpet playing of Bubber Miley that helped define the sound of the Ellington band for several years.
At 56 seconds into the recording here, Ellington himself performs a piano solo passage. That passage features other instruments on the OKeh and Victor recordings. The Cameo/Pathe recording also features the piano solo by Ellington, but he performs it a bit differently.
The OKeh version also features a scat passage by Ellington’s female vocalist Baby Cox and is my favorite of the four – though that does not diminish the excellence of the Brunswick version.
In 1938, a few years after the American Record Corporation had taken control of both the Brunswick and OKeh labels, the October 1, 1928 OKeh recording was reissued on Brunswick 8241. Thus, one can find two versions on Brunswick – the original Brunswick recording featured here and the 1938 reissue of the OKeh version.
I am pretty sure I have come across a copy of the Victor version of “The Mooche” in my personal collection – though, if so, I am not sure what condition it is in. And, it is entirely possible that, as I go through Eddie’s collection, I will come across one or more of the other versions. If so, I will prioritize them for digitization and inclusion in Radio Dismuke and, perhaps, another update on this blog.
In the meanwhile, the other versions have been happily uploaded by other collectors to YouTube and can be heard and compared at the following links:
YouTube recording of the October 1, 1928 OKeh version
YouTube recording of the Cameo/Pathe Washingtonians/Whoopee Makers version
“Mooche” is a slang term that can mean either a person who takes advantage of another person’s generosity without giving anything in return or to walk and go about slowly and aimlessly. Ellington indicated that the song’s title referred to the second meaning.