In 1943 Duke Ellington and His Orchestra introduced “Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me” with featured vocalist Al Hibbler. The record became a best-selling rhythm and blues hit and appeared on the R&B charts in early 1944, climbing all the way to number one where it would stay for eight weeks.

Within months of its original release, the song would be covered by Woody Herman and His Orchestra, The Delta Rhythm Boys, Billie Holiday, and Stan Kenton and His Orchestra. It successfully crossed over as a pop song, appearing on the pop charts by:

• Woody Herman and His Orchestra (1944, Woody Herman, vocal, #7)
• Duke Ellington and His Orchestra (1944, Al Hibbler, vocal, #10)
• Stan Kenton and His Orchestra (1944, Red Dorris, vocal, #10)

“Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me” is considered by many as one of the high points, perhaps even a masterpiece, of Duke Ellington’s body of work. The song was created when Bob Russell fitted lyrics to the predominant theme of the 1940 Duke Ellington composition “Concerto for Cootie.” (It is important to note that “Concerto for Cootie” is a different composition from Ellington’s 1935 “Cootie’s Concerto,” which was later known as “Echoes of Harlem”).

In The Poets of Tin Pan Alley: A History of America’s Great Lyricists, Philip Furia praises Russell’s ability to coax genuine sentiment out of an Ellington melody and calls “Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me” “probably the slangiest pledge of romantic fidelity ever written.”

As the song’s original title claims, “Concerto for Cootie” is indeed a concerto, possessing both similarities and differences with other concertos. A concerto often highlights a soloist or group of soloists and is usually in symphonic form with three movements. Ellington’s concerto differs in that it has only one movement, but like other concertos it specifically showcases a soloist, in this case trumpeter Cootie Williams. Williams was at the pinnacle of his career and had developed his technique and style to the point that he was able to express an unprecedented range of emotional moods.

Strangely enough, the transition from the instrumental “Concerto for Cootie” to the vocalized “Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me” was precipitated by the president of the American Federation of Musicians. In August, 1942, he called for a recording ban, demanding that studios pay royalties instead of flat fees for nearly all recordings by AFM member musicians and orchestras. While the ban only lasted a little over a year, it contributed greatly to the demise of the Big Band Era. While the large orchestras suffered, vocalists (who were less likely to be AFM members) flourished. Since less music was being written, the studios were forced to become more creative with their existing resources. Old recordings were re-released, and studios mined their catalogs for instrumentals they could transform into vocal hits, using salaried studio musicians rather than big name bands. This led Bob Russell to write the lyrics for Ellington’s 1940 “Never No Lament” and “Concerto for Cootie,” resulting in “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” and “Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me,” respectively.