In 1970, Ellington was commissioned by the American Ballet Theater to write a new stage work for dance, with choreography by Alvin Ailey. In all, nine scènes de ballet were initially sketched for piano and big-band, and then recorded by Ellington for reference. The tableaux were adapted for full orchestra by Ron Collier. The River is as much tone poem as ballet, and offers contrasting scenes along the great Mississippi River. In Ellington's autobiography, Music is my Mistress, he describes the various imagery which inspired the music:

The River Suite begins with The Spring, which is like a newborn baby. He's in his cradle—spouting, spinning, wiggling, gurgling, squirming, squeaking, making faces, reaching for his nipple or bottle, turning, tossing and tinkling all over the place.

In The Meander, he is undecided whether to go back into the cradle or pursue his quest in the wake of the big bubble. There he is, rolling around from one side to the other on the floor, up and down, back and forth, until he sees the door, the kitchen door, and looks out into that big backyard. "This must be the biggest world in the world, " he says. "Look at all that space out there!" So he dashes out of the door and now he is into...

The Giggling Rapids, and he races and runs and dances and skips and trips all over the backyard until, exhausted, he relaxes and rolls down to...

The Lake, which is beautiful and serene. It is all horizontal lines that offer unrippled reflections. There it is, in all its beauty, God-made and untouched, until people come—people who are God-made and terribly touched by the beauty of the lake. They, in their admiration for it, begin to discover new facets of compatibility in each other, and as a romantic viewpoint develops, they indulge themselves. The whole situation compounds itself into an emotional violence of the vortex to come. The lake supports them until, suddenly, they are over the top and down...

The River, which gallops sprightly and, as it passes several inlets, broadens and loses some of its adolescence. Becoming ever more mature, even noble, it establishes a majestic wave of monumental cool as it moves on with rhythmic authority. At the delta, there are two cities, one on each side, and there is always something on one side of the river that you cannot get on the other. Sometimes it's bootleg booze, or hot automobiles, or many other things.

Writer: Edward Yadzinski