It Don't Mean a Thing [Score]

Edward Kennedy ‘Duke’ Ellington’s influence on the swing era as musician, bandleader and composer is unparalleled. His arrangement of his own composition It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) is perhaps the first to carry the word ‘swing’ in the title, thereby coining a musical phrase. Toshio Mashima’s stylish arrangement of this jazz standard for concert band hits the perfect note.