Eric Reed
Piano Solo on
It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)

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Eric Reed wraps up the solo sequence with two choruses on piano, the last of three improvisations. Taken at a medium-up swing tempo of 162 BPM over the 32-bar AABA in G, the improvisation flows with assured, relaxed momentum. Eric Reed rounds out the solo section with two choruses of piano, his improvisation rich with the Ellingtonian harmonic sensibility appropriate to the material. Recorded for the album Standards Only in 2001, the performance captures Eric Reed at 30 to 31 years old. "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" was composed by Duke Ellington in August 1931, with lyrics credited to Irving Mills.

Eric Reed was 30 to 31 years old at the time.