The Mooche

"The Mooche" is an American jazz song, composed in 1928 by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills,[1] with scat singing by vocalist Gertrude "Baby" Cox.

"[1] Among the jazz musicians who recorded the original version of the song was James "Bubber" Miley whom Ellington described as "the epitome of soul and a master of the plunger mute.

"[3] Ellington composed the song "for a high reed trio, playing one of the most eerie and haunting themes he had created up to that time.

The theme, a sixteen-bar blues with interpolations by Miley, is followed by an eight-bar orchestral tutti, and then segues to a low register solo by [Barney] Bigard.

"[2] The song is in the so-called "jungle style" and includes the clarinet and muted trumpet typical of Ellington's work.