Dear Duke Ellington,

As I write this letter, there's a record playing.  Not a CD, but a long-playing record. I bought it from a shop in 1954 and now it's a little worn and scratchy...It's the first record I ever bought...It's called Ellington Masterpieces (Columbia sx 1022). You probably remember it. It has your photograph on the sleeve.

The tune is called 'Mood Indigo' but you'd know that, since you wrote it -- in 1931 according to my big book of famous tunes. It's the first piece of your music I ever heard... Something about it made my ears tingle.