Duke Ellington, music · Irving Gordon and Irving Mills, lyrics · First recorded by Ellington's orchestra in New York, August 1938
Prelude to a Kiss
Prelude to a Kiss is a 1938 ballad by Duke Ellington, with words by Irving Gordon and Irving Mills. Players like its chain of dominant chords and a middle section that moves to a new key. You will hear it on records by Johnny Hodges, Sarah Vaughan, Jim Hall and Brad Mehldau.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra✓
- 2 Hear the changes Duke Ellington✓
- 3 Sing it Sarah Vaughan✓
- 4 Hear it on tenor Ben Webster✓
- 5 Hear a guitar lead Wes Montgomery and the Eddie Higgins Trio✓
- 6 Hear the original soloist again Johnny Hodges✓
- 7 Hear phrasing Nancy Wilson✓
- 8 Hear it with two players Jim Hall and Ron Carter✓
How the tune works
Prelude to a Kiss runs 32 bars in four eight-bar sections: A, A, B and A. Each A section starts away from home on D7 and G7♯5, then circles through C7 and Fmaj7. The same circle repeats a minor third lower on B7♭9, E7, A7♭9 and Dm7. Dm7 and G7♯5 come twice, with Am7 and D7♯11 between them, which delays the arrival in C. The first A lands on Cmaj7 and A7♯5, which leads back to D7. The second A lands on C6 and B7♭9, which leads into the bridge. The B section sits in E major. It opens on Emaj7, C♯m7, F♯m7♭5 and B7, then moves through G♯m7, G°7, F♯m7 and F7♭5, and the opening bars come back. Emaj7 and A7♭9 follow, and Dm7, E♭m7, Em7 and E♭7 climb by half steps and fall back to D7 for the last A. The last A matches the first, with a single C6 in its final bar.
Read each line as four bars. Two chords in one bar share it equally, and four chords in one bar get a beat each. A key tag marks the first bar where a new key area arrives. The chart is in C, the key most sources give.
Source is a free lead sheet in C, engraved in Overture in 2007 and hosted on swiss-jazz.ch. It writes the A section with a repeat: bars 7 and 8 end on Cmaj7 and A7♯5 the first time, and bars 15 and 16 end on C6 and B7♭9 the second time. The final A is written out, and the tune ends on C6. Its chord symbols match the harmonic analysis on JazzStandards.com (a circle of fifths from D7, repeated a minor third lower; a bridge in E major; a return through A7♭9 and Dm7). Sources disagree on key: JazzStandards.com gives the original as C, Standard Repertoire and Learn Jazz Standards give C as the common key, and Wikipedia says Ellington's 1938 record is in A♭ major. Extensions vary by edition, and the source here writes G7♯5, A7♯5 and D7♯11 where other charts may use plainer chords. The key regions in the form tour are a reading of this chart.
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗The path starts with Duke Ellington's 1938 record and his own 1953 piano trio, then hears a vocal, two saxophone ballads, a live guitar quartet, a second vocal and a guitar and bass duo. Each step shows the song in a new setting.
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Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra 1938
Brunswick 78 rpm single 8204
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- Listen for
- Listen for Johnny Hodges on alto saxophone playing the tune with the band behind him. The tune has four eight-bar sections: two alike, a different one, then the first again.
- Try this
- Hum the tune along with the record until you can follow all four sections without the music. Then play its first eight bars on your instrument.
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Step 2 · Hear the changes Now playing
Duke Ellington 1953
The Duke Plays Ellington
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- Listen for
- Listen to how softly Ellington plays, and to the drummer, who uses brushes on most of this session.
- Try this
- Play one A section from the chart slowly, with the melody in one hand and the chords in the other. If that is too much, play only the chords.
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Step 3 · Sing it Now playing
Sarah Vaughan 1954
Images
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- Listen for
- Follow the tune as she sings it with the trio. Listen for the middle section, where the harmony leaves the home key, and for the return to the opening.
- Try this
- Sing the tune with the record. Then sing it again without the record, at your own tempo and in a key that suits your voice.
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Step 4 · Hear it on tenor Now playing
Ben Webster 1954
Music for Loving
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- Listen for
- Listen to Webster's tenor saxophone against the strings. Compare it with Hodges's alto saxophone on the first record: this one runs 4:46 against 2:56.
- Try this
- Play the first A section at about half the speed you think you need, and hold each note for its full length.
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Step 5 · Hear a guitar lead Now playing
Wes Montgomery and the Eddie Higgins Trio 1959
One Night in Indy
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Hear the guitar lead a piano trio in a live club. The audio is rough in places, so listen past it to the guitar line and the way the players answer each other.
- Try this
- Play the melody twice, changing the rhythm a little the second time and keeping the same notes. Playing a full solo over the changes needs more practice, so this is the small version.
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Step 6 · Hear the original soloist again Now playing
Johnny Hodges 1962
The Eleventh Hour
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- Listen for
- Compare Hodges's alto saxophone here with the 1938 record. Listen for how Oliver Nelson's arrangement sits behind him.
- Try this
- Play the first A section plainly once. On the second pass, add one small touch of your own, such as a held note or a slide into one note, and keep the rest the same.
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Step 7 · Hear phrasing Now playing
Nancy Wilson 1969
But Beautiful
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- Listen for
- Listen for the places where she starts a phrase a little later than you expect. The jazz.org guide calls this back phrasing and says it makes the line sound more like speech.
- Try this
- Sing or play the first A section on the beat, then again a touch behind the beat, and compare the two.
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Step 8 · Hear it with two players Now playing
Jim Hall and Ron Carter 1972
Alone Together
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- There is no piano or drums, so each chord change is easy to hear. Try to name each one as it arrives, and follow how the bass moves from chord to chord.
- Try this
- Play only the chord roots of one A section from the chart, one per chord, at a slow tempo. Then add the melody on top. A friend or a recording of the roots can cover the bass part.
More great versions
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Duke Ellington and His Orchestra 1957
Ellington Indigos
A 1957 orchestra version with Shorty Baker and Hodges.
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World Saxophone Quartet 1986
Plays Duke Ellington
A saxophone quartet plays the tune on an all-Ellington album from 1986.
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Jim Hall (with Gerry Mulligan) 1989
Jim Hall and Friends: Live at Town Hall
Jim Hall plays it live at Town Hall in New York in 1989, with Gerry Mulligan featured.
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Brad Mehldau 1995
Introducing Brad Mehldau
A ten-minute trio reading from Mehldau's first album as a leader, with Christian McBride and Brian Blade.
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Dee Dee Bridgewater with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra 1996
Prelude to a Kiss: The Duke Ellington Album
Dee Dee Bridgewater sings it with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra under John Mauceri, on an album named after the song.
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Claudia Acuña 1999
Wind from the South
A short vocal reading from the 1999 album Wind from the South, listed on Wikipedia and on JazzStandards.com's compare list.