"Do Nothing till You Hear from Me" (also written as "Do Nothin' Til You Hear from Me") is a song with music by Duke Ellington and lyrics by Bob Russell. It originated as a 1940 instrumental ("Concerto for Cootie") that was designed to highlight the playing of Ellington's lead trumpeter, Cootie Williams.[1] Russell's words were added later. In 1944, Ellington's own recording of the song was a number one hit R&B chart for eight non-consecutive weeks and number six on the pop chart.[2]

Other recordings to reach the Billboard charts in 1944 were by Woody Herman and by Stan Kenton (vocal: Red Dorris).[3]

Other versions

"Do Nothing till You Hear from Me" has since been performed by many other famous musical artists, including:

• Nat King Cole, 1944, with The King Cole Trio[4]
• Billie Holiday, 1944 - Live, 1955, Studio, Stay With Me[5]
• Lena Horne, 1944, appears on her 2002 compilation album The Young Star[6]
• Patti Page, 1949, released in 1986 on The Uncollected Patti Page (1949): Patti Page with Lou Stein's Music[7]
• Hampton Hawes, 1956 - All Night Session! Vol. 3
• Bing Crosby recorded the song in 1957[8] for use on his radio show and it was subsequently included in the album Shall We Dance? (2012).[9]
• Ella Fitzgerald, 1957, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book
• Mose Allison, 1959 - Autumn Song
• Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, 1961, The Great Summit[10]
• Frances Faye, 1962, Swinging All the Way with Frances Faye
• Al Hirt, 1962, Horn-A-Plenty[11]
• Joni James, 1962, After Hours
• Don Lamond & His Orchestra, 1962, Off Beat Percussion
• Anita O'Day, 1962, All the Sad Young Men
• Nina Simone, 1962, Nina Simone Sings Ellington
• Dinah Washington, 1962, In Love
• Sammy Davis Jr. (with Sam Butera & the Witnesses, 1965, When the Feeling Hits You!
• Cal Tjader & Carmen McRae, 1982, Heat Wave
• Keith Jarrett, 1987, Solo Tribute
• Harry Connick Jr., 1988, 20
• Robert Palmer, 1992, Ridin' High
• Diana Krall, 1993, Stepping Out
• Phil Collins, 1995, from Quincy Jones's album Q's Jook Joint
• Tony Bennett, 1999, Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool
• Dr. John, 1999, Duke Elegant[12] -
• Silje Nergaard, 2000, Port of Call[13]
• Andy Williams, 2000, Released on his 2001 live album Andy Williams Live[14]
• Mary J. Blige, 2001, Red Hot + Indigo
• Robbie Williams, 2001, Swing When You're Winning
• Suzy Bogguss, 2003 - Swing[15]
• Gladys Knight, 2006, Before Me[16]
• Fiona Apple & Jon Brion, 2011 or earlier[17]
• Phil Collins again on his 2018 compilation Plays Well With Others with Quincy Jones.

References

This article about a jazz standard or composition written in the 1940s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e