C Jam Blues

As the title suggests, the piece follows a twelve-bar blues form in the key of C major. The tune is well known for being extremely easy to play, with the entire melody featuring only two notes: G and C.

A performance typically features several improvised solos. The melody likely originated from the clarinetist Barney Bigard in 1941, but its origin is not perfectly clear.[1]

It was also known as "Duke's Place", with lyrics added by Bill Katts, Bob Thiele and Ruth Roberts.

• Ellington's original black and white film was produced in 1942. The video depicts a jam session, where Ellington begins playing with only a bass, before being gradually joined by other members of his band, among them drummer Sonny Greer and trumpeter Rex Stewart. Correspondingly, the film title is Jam Session.
• Western Swing band leader Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys recorded the song sometime between mid-1945 through 1947 as part of the Tiffany Transcriptions.[2]
• Bill Doggett recorded a version on his 1958 tribute album Salute To Duke Ellington (King Records 533).
• "C Jam Blues" was used by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band as the basis of their song "The Intro and the Outro".[3]
• Mulgrew Miller and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen included the song in their 1999 album The Duets.[4]