Easily the most significant composer to come out of big-band jazz—he now commands an eminent position in mainstream textbooks on 20th-century music—Duke Ellington was an American original. He was a master of instrumental color and texture and special timbral effects, and he experimented with harmony and form.  

“Tone parallel” was Ellington’s version of the descriptive symphonic tone poem, and he wrote Harlem in 1950 while on a ship returning from a European tour. It was originally intended as a sort of concerto for jazz band and symphony orchestra for a performance with Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony. This plan fell through, however, and Ellington’s first performances were with his band alone, recorded on the 1953 release Ellington Uptown. (Several other Ellington versions exist on record now, and the work appears in multiple arrangements.) In his autobiography, Ellington offered this guide to his “tone parallel”: 

“We would like now to take you on a tour of this place called Harlem. It has always had more churches than cabarets. It is Sunday morning. We are strolling from 110th Street up Seventh Avenue, heading north through the Spanish and West Indian neighborhood toward the 125th Street business area. Everybody is nicely dressed, and on their way to or from church. Everybody is in a friendly mood. Greetings are polite and pleasant, and on the opposite side of the street, standing under a street lamp, is a real hip chick. She, too, is in a friendly mood. You may hear a parade go by, or a funeral, or you may recognize the passage of those who are making Civil Rights demands. (Hereabouts, in our performance, Cootie Williams pronounces the word on his trumpet—Harlem!)” —John Henken