Shiny Stockings is a 1955 jazz big band tune written by Frank Foster for the Count Basie Orchestra. It is a medium swing chart known for its tight ensemble writing and a featured trumpet solo, with an optional fourth trombone part Foster added. The piece later gained two lyric editions, by Ella Fitzgerald and Jon Hendricks, and Fitzgerald recorded it in July 1963 on Ella and Basie: On the Sunny Side of the Street, while Hendricks recorded his lyric version on Recorded in Person at the Trident; Sarah Vaughan later sang Fitzgerald’s lyrics on Viva Vaughan in 1964. The instrumental has been released in a newly prepared edition by Jazz Lines Publications, and is a staple in big band repertoires. An oft-told anecdote from Foster recalls Basie’s praise after a Pep’s Bar rehearsal in Philadelphia, and Foster’s royalties history was later resolved under copyright law.
