It don't mean a thing...

Cafe Society
1

We ate tonight at Razoo’s, a Cajun place, and in the background music was a version of “It Don’t Mean a Thing (if it Ain’t Got That Swing)” with a distinctly Cajun/zydeco/New Orleans sort of sound. I asked the waiter who it was, and he came back to say that whoever he talked to told him it was “Duke Wellington.” (No, not “Ellington.”) I was a little doubtful, but that’s what he said. It certainly didn’t sound like the Duke, and had only male singers so it wasn’t Ella Fitzgerald or Nina Simone.

I looked on Amazon, and my PC has decided not to play any of the samples. I’ll try tomorrow, but could anybody help me find out who it was before then?

2

Perhaps he simply thought you meant the composer of the piece, since that was the Duke’s song.

3

Could be, but he came back later to mention Ella as having another version. I’ll try my wife’s PC and see if I can hear clips there.

4

No, none of Amazon’s clips sound familiar. Ellington is as good as ever, and the Mills Brothers are still amazing, but neither sound Cajun.

Some CDs didn’t have track lists or clips, so I’m still hoping.

5

In just doing a google on “Duke Wellington”, I found a CD on a website from central or south america but it didn’t include that song. The samples that I did listen to all sounded pretty straight forward Ellington like sound. No cajun sound.