Harlem Nocturne was written in 1939 by Earle Hagen and Dick Rogers for the Ray Noble Orchestra, of which they were members at the time.  It quickly became a jazz standard and has since been recorded by nearly 100 artists!  Here are just 5 different versions, including the very first recording of the tune on Columbia Records by Ray Noble.  Then there was a recording by The Viscounts that ran up the Billboard charts, not once but twice … in 1959 and again in1966.  Lyrics were eventually added and in 1963 Mel Torme painted a lonely picture of nighttime in New York.  While many of the others smack of a certain “stripperesque” quality, the fourth arrangement imparts a certain elegance we’ve learned to expect from Duke Ellington.  Finally, a treatment of Harlem Nocturne by Illinois Jacquet that makes all the hairs on the back of my neck stand at full attention!