Duke Ellington and Irving Mills, “Sophisticated Lady” (1932)

Like many Duke Ellington songs, this Jazz standard was originally an instrumental piece. The beauty of its melody is matched by its difficulty. In listening to “There’s No Business Like Show Business” and “Be My Baby” earlier in this book, you observed how a chain of secondary dominants could be transformed to include Tritone Substitutions. Keep that notion in mind while listening to and analyzing “Sophisticated Lady.”