Duke Ellington and His Orchestra introduced this standard in 1940. Although he did have three tunes in the charts that year, “Mellotone” wasn’t one of them.

The period of 1939-1942 is regarded by many critics to be the golden era of Duke Ellington’s career. He had a band comprised of sterling talent, and Duke himself was turning out a stellar grouping of original compositions for the orchestra such as “Ko-Ko,” “Jack the Bear,” “Warm Valley,” “Sepia Panorama,” and “In a Mellotone.”

What makes Ellington performances such great triumphs, however, is not just the tune or the arrangement but how he utilized the soloists of the orchestra so perfectly within his arrangements. “In a Mellotone” is a perfect example of how Duke could take the chord changes of an old standard (in this case, the 1919 tune “Rose Room”), write a simple riff (what is now considered the “head” of the tune), and then spice it up with great solos (the original recording contains one of alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges’ premier solos, played in “double-time.”) Undoubtedly the reason this number has achieved standard status is not due to the chords or the melody but what Ellington did with it originally and how jazz players reacted to his concept. (Ellington ends the arrangement with a clever “lift” from Louis Armstrong’s first solo on record, “Chimes Blues,” recorded by King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band in 1923.)

As was the case with many Ellington compositions, words were added a later date. It’s not clear who did write the lyrics, but record producer Milt Gabler (of the indie jazz label Commodore and later Decca Records), gets co-composer credit.