If you watched the latest episode of For All Mankind, you will have seen the cover of the Duke Ellington CD that was being played by Margo as we see both her and Sergei go through their separate rituals preparing their burgers before eating.
The song continues playing as Margo eats her burger, and Sergei moves his burger to his mouth only to be shot in the head by an unknown gunman before he is able to take a bite.
What is that Duke Ellington song, though, and when was it first released?
What Duke Ellington track is played during For All Mankind burger scenes?
The Duke Ellington track played on the ending scenes of this week’s For All Mankind is called ‘Creole Rhapsody‘.
It is one of the American jazz pianist and composer’s earlier compositions, as it is an instrumental track that was first released in mid-1931.
At 6 minutes 25 seconds, is also one of the longest tracks Ellington ever wrote.
Especially at a time when most compositions rarely exceeded 3 minutes, as that was around the limit one side of a 78 record could hold.
That is why the track was released in two parts — so it could fit on both sides.
Ellington himself said years later that his record company was not happy with the length of the track at all, but he refused to cut it.
It isn’t, however, even remotely connected to anything ‘Creole’, so there’s that, but the instrumental piece does feature an interesting arrangement.
Listen to Duke Ellington’s ‘Creole Rhapsody‘ from the burger scene on this week’s For All Mankind in the video, and via The Best of Early Ellington album on Spotify.