Uploaded September 2012 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Black and Tan Fantasy
Music by Bubber Miley and Duke Ellington
Clyde McCoy and His Orchestra
Recorded April 10, 1931
Columbia 2466-D
Clyde McCoy (1903 - 1990) assembled his first band in 1920 playing in a Knoxville Tennessee resort and then took his group to New York and played along the East Coast for several years. In 1924 he relocated to California and the band toured in the Los Angeles area. He began to use a trumpet mute and developed a style that produced the "wah-wah" sound that was to become his signature. In 1930 while performing at Drake Hotel in Chicago he first performed "Sugar Blues" and it became his first hit. Within a year he signed his first record contract with Columbia Records and on January 22, 1931 he recorded "Sugar Blues" which became a huge hit and it sold several million copies.
"Black and Tan Fantasy" was written by Bubber Miley and Duke Ellington in 1927 and it featured the growling and muted trumpet of Miley. It seems obvious that McCoy used this tune to demonstrate his own muted trumpet tricks. McCoy's arrangement is quite faithful to the original Ellington version, but slower. It also omits the piano solo that's on the Ellington recording(s). While McCoy is no match to Ellington's Orchestra and Miley's trumpet, you have to give him credit for a great cover of this Ellington classic.
Black and Tan Fantasy
Music by Bubber Miley and Duke Ellington
Clyde McCoy and His Orchestra
Recorded April 10, 1931
Columbia 2466-D
Clyde McCoy (1903 - 1990) assembled his first band in 1920 playing in a Knoxville Tennessee resort and then took his group to New York and played along the East Coast for several years. In 1924 he relocated to California and the band toured in the Los Angeles area. He began to use a trumpet mute and developed a style that produced the "wah-wah" sound that was to become his signature. In 1930 while performing at Drake Hotel in Chicago he first performed "Sugar Blues" and it became his first hit. Within a year he signed his first record contract with Columbia Records and on January 22, 1931 he recorded "Sugar Blues" which became a huge hit and it sold several million copies.
"Black and Tan Fantasy" was written by Bubber Miley and Duke Ellington in 1927 and it featured the growling and muted trumpet of Miley. It seems obvious that McCoy used this tune to demonstrate his own muted trumpet tricks. McCoy's arrangement is quite faithful to the original Ellington version, but slower. It also omits the piano solo that's on the Ellington recording(s). While McCoy is no match to Ellington's Orchestra and Miley's trumpet, you have to give him credit for a great cover of this Ellington classic.
