"African Flower" or "Little African Flower" (Petite Fleur Africaine) is a composition by jazz pianist and composer

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

. He first recorded it for his 1962 LP ''

Money Jungle ''Money Jungle'' is a studio album by pianist Duke Ellington with double bassist Charles Mingus and drummer Max Roach. It was recorded on September 17, 1962, and released in February 1963 by United Artists Jazz."Album Reviews" (February 9, 196 ...

''. Ellington originally named it "La Plus Belle Africaine" when he composed it for the Negro Arts Festival in Dakar. He can be heard playing it at ''The English Concert'' in 1970. He recorded it with

Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz Jazz drumming, drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in h ...

and

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and ...

as "La Fleurette Africaine". Writer Peter Lavezzoli calls it "a masterpiece of simplicity and grandeur.

Norah Jones Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and as of 2012, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. ''Billboard'' named her the ...

recorded it for her 2016 album ''

Day Breaks ''Day Breaks'' is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Norah Jones, released on October 7, 2016, through Blue Note Records. The album features nine original songs and three covers. Jones returned to a piano-driven sound as heard ...

''.

Composition

According to Janna Tull Steed, the composition was the result of Ellington's "imaginary vision of a beautiful flower blooming "only for God" in the heart". "African Flower" is composed in the key of

E-flat minor E-flat minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature consists of six flats. Its relative key is G-flat major (or enharmonically F-sharp major) and its parallel key is E-flat major. I ...

, and consists of cascading sequences, with an E-flat minor 7, A-flat minor 7, G-flat minor 7, E-flat-minor 7, B-flat minor 7 flat 5 progression. It is the very first entry in Volume One of the

Real Book The ''Real Book'' is a musicians' fake book – a compilation of lead sheets for jazz standards. Fake books had been around at least since the late 1920s, but their organization was haphazard, and their content did not always keep pace with co ...

, the original fakebook which appeared in the 1970s but has been brought up to date and made legal. Scott Saul says of the recording with Mingus and Roach: "Mingus spirals down the bass clef to create a stirring contrapuntal line that evenly balances the stateliness of Ellington's theme."

References

1962 songs 1960s jazz standards Compositions by Duke Ellington Jazz compositions in E-flat minor {{1960s-jazz-composition-stub