"It Don't Mean A Thing" - Delfeayo Marsalis

“It Don’t Mean A Thing” (PDF) from the Delfeayo Marsalis album, Kalamazoo

In a 2007 Chicago Tribune feature promoting an upcoming performance by Delfeayo Marsalis in the Windy City, the bandleader comments on modern jazz by saying, “there are not as many guys that are really dedicated to swinging.” His remarks may have been a subtle nod to the origins of the tune “It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” as jazz historians like Ted Gioia believe the phrase was first suggested to Duke Ellington in a Chicago ballroom where his stage show was not translating onto the dancefloor. However, Marsalis was more likely echoing the sentiment of his former bandleader, drummer Elvin Jones, who adopted the tune as a theme song, according to the Kalamazoo liner notes - that rhythm and blues are the ice breakers in the jazz conversation.

Here is a YouTube video from 2008 of The Delfeayo Marsalis Sextet performing this tune in New Orleans:

Recommended reading: The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire by Ted Gioia. Published by Oxford University Press.