Lastly, while Ellington didn't collaborate with as many mainstream pop stars as his colleague Count Basie (although he teamed up with more instrumental modernists, like Coltrane and Mingus). "Sophisticated Lady" comes from Blue Rose, a 1956 album that Strayhorn scored for Rosemary Clooney to sing (via overdubbed orchestral tracks) with the band. "Hello Little Girl" derives from Jazz Party, a 1959 studio celebration with blues great Jimmy Rushing (while the tune sounds like Rush's own "Sent For You Yesterday," it's credited to Ellington and his own former blues singer Chubby Kemp), Dukish pianist Jimmy Jones and bop innovator Dizzy Gillespie. The only guest vocalist to help the band show what it could do on a blues (which came through often enough instrumentally, especially via Hodges), the track also marks one of Gillespie's most authentically-blues statements.
