The Even Newer East St Louis Toodle-ooo
Listen (3.36 Mb)
Background:
The East St Louis Toodle-oo was the signature song for the Famous Duke
Ellington Orchestra in the happy twenties. 
Today, the song
may seem odd with its jumps between suggestive jungle moods and strutting
oldtimer jazz, but back in the day this was as hot as a donkey's knickers
(and it suits us perfectly, of course). The bells in the beginning (and
the slightly slower tempo) are directly inspired by "The New East St
Louis Toodle-oo", Ellington's updated swing version from the 30's.
Sound Sources:
Korg Trident mk II (toms, growl lead, trumpet, pad, etc.)
Roland SH-101 (bass, trombone, drums, brass, clarinets, wood blocks, etc.)
Moog Opus 3 (Solos, bass, drums, chirps, phase strings, car horn, honky tonk, flutter, etc.)
Korg VC-10 (sweepchords)
Clavia Nord Lead (bells, cymbal, drums, brass, etc.)
Hohner Clavinet D6 (banjo backbeat, stride)
Casio MT-31 (banjo fourbeat, flute,
harpsichord, brass, funny fuzz)
Boss DR-110 (cymbal, drums)
Other Equipment:
Zoom Studio 1201 effect processor
Interesting Facts:
The lead trumpet in the jungle choruses is played on the Korg Trident. The arpeggiator of the SH-101 provides fluctuating CV, sent via a volume pedal into the modulation input for the Trident's filter (the player uses one foot to control the amount of growl with this pedal). Both mix outputs of the Trident are used; one signal is sent through a wah pedal (controlled with the player's other foot) to simulate the wah effect of a hand-held mute; the other signal goes through the autofilter on the Zoom instead, set to an almost static filter profile. Furthermore the bottom of this signal is filtered out, to get the typical biting bright sound of a trumpet mute.
After finishing this recording we found that the intellectual pop group Steely Dan made a version of the same song in the early 70's. In their version however, the growl-wah-trumpet was emulated by means of a slide guitar and a talkbox.
Finally, we should mention that all instruments in the first solo chorus are played by the Moog Opus 3 (including the drums).