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Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life.[1]

Duke Ellington
Promotional photo of Ellington (c. 1940s)
Background information
Birth nameEdward Kennedy Ellington
Born(1899-04-29)April 29, 1899
Washington, D.C., U.S.
DiedMay 24, 1974(1974-05-24) (aged 75)
New York City, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Pianist
  • composer
  • songwriter
  • bandleader
  • arranger
  • conductor
  • actor
Instrument(s)Piano
Years active1914–1974
Websitedukeellington.com

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington wrote or collaborated on more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, and many of his pieces have become standards. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan", which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz.

At the end of the 1930s, Ellington began a nearly thirty-year collaboration with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his writing and arranging companion.[2] With Strayhorn, he composed multiple extended compositions, or suites, as well as many short pieces. For a few years at the beginning of Strayhorn's involvement, Ellington's orchestra featured bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster and reached a creative peak.[3] Some years later following a low-profile period (Hodges temporarily left), an appearance by Ellington and his orchestra at the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1956 led to a major revival and regular world tours. Ellington recorded for most American record companies of his era, performed in and scored several films, and composed a handful of stage musicals.

Although a pivotal figure in the history of jazz, in the opinion of Gunther Schuller and Barry Kernfeld, "the most significant composer of the genre",[4] Ellington himself embraced the phrase "beyond category", considering it a liberating principle, and referring to his music as part of the more general category of American Music.[5] Ellington was known for his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, as well as for his eloquence and charisma. He was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize Special Award for music in 1999.[6]

Early life and education

Ellington was born on April 29, 1899, to James Edward Ellington and Daisy (née Kennedy) Ellington in Washington, D.C. Both his parents were pianists. Daisy primarily played parlor songs, and James preferred operatic arias.[7] They lived with Daisy's parents at 2129 Ida Place (now Ward Place) NW, in D.C.'s West End neighborhood.[8] Duke's father was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina, on April 15, 1879, and moved to D.C. in 1886 with his parents.[9] Daisy Kennedy was born in Washington, D.C., on January 4, 1879, the daughter of two former American slaves.[8][10] James Ellington made blueprints for the United States Navy.

When Ellington was a child, his family showed racial pride and support in their home, as did many other families. African Americans in D.C. worked to protect their children from the era's Jim Crow laws.[11]

At age seven, Ellington began taking piano lessons from Marietta Clinkscales.[7] Daisy surrounded her son with dignified women to reinforce his manners and teach him elegance. His childhood friends noticed that his casual, offhand manner and dapper dress gave him the bearing of a young nobleman,[12] so they began calling him "Duke". Ellington credited his friend Edgar McEntee for the nickname: "I think he felt that in order for me to be eligible for his constant companionship, I should have a title. So he called me Duke."[13]

Though Ellington took piano lessons, he was more interested in baseball. "President [Theodore] Roosevelt would come on his horse sometimes, and "stop and watch us play", he recalled.[14] Ellington went to Armstrong Technical High School in Washington, D.C. His first job was selling peanuts at Washington Senators baseball games.

Ellington started sneaking into Frank Holiday's Poolroom at age fourteen. Hearing the music of the poolroom pianists ignited Ellington's love for the instrument, and he began to take his piano studies seriously. Among the many piano players he listened to were Doc Perry, Lester Dishman, Louis Brown, Turner Layton, Gertie Wells, Clarence Bowser, Sticky Mack, Blind Johnny, Cliff Jackson, Claude Hopkins, Phil Wurd, Caroline Thornton, Luckey Roberts, Eubie Blake, Joe Rochester, and Harvey Brooks.[15]

In the summer of 1914, while working as a soda jerk at the Poodle Dog Café, Ellington wrote his first composition, "Soda Fountain Rag" (also known as the "Poodle Dog Rag"). He created the piece by ear, as he had not yet learned to read and write music. "I would play the 'Soda Fountain Rag' as a one-step, two-step, waltz, tango, and fox trot", Ellington recalled. "Listeners never knew it was the same piece. I was established as having my own repertoire."[16] In his autobiography, Music is my Mistress (1973), Ellington wrote that he missed more lessons than he attended, feeling at the time that piano was not his talent.

Ellington continued listening to, watching, and imitating ragtime pianists, not only in Washington, D.C. but also in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, where he vacationed with his mother during the summer.[16] He would sometimes hear strange music played by those who could not afford much sheet music, so for variations, they played the sheets upside down.[17] Henry Lee Grant, a Dunbar High School music teacher, gave him private lessons in harmony. With the additional guidance of Washington pianist and band leader Oliver "Doc" Perry, Ellington learned to read sheet music, project a professional style, and improve his technique. Ellington was also inspired by his first encounters with stride pianists James P. Johnson and Luckey Roberts. Later in New York, he took advice from Will Marion Cook, Fats Waller, and Sidney Bechet. He started to play gigs in cafés and clubs in and around Washington, D.C. His attachment to music was so strong that in 1916 he turned down an art scholarship to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Three months before graduating, he dropped out of Armstrong Manual Training School, where he was studying commercial art.[18]

Career

Early career

Working as a freelance sign painter from 1917, Ellington began assembling groups to play for dances. In 1919, he met drummer Sonny Greer from New Jersey, who encouraged Ellington's ambition to become a professional musician. Ellington built his music business through his day job. When a customer asked him to make a sign for a dance or party, he would ask if they had musical entertainment; if not, Ellington would offer to play for the occasion. He also had a messenger job with the U.S. Navy and State departments, where he made a wide range of contacts.

Ellington moved out of his parent's home and bought his own as he became a successful pianist. At first, he played in other ensembles, and in late 1917 formed his first group, "The Duke's Serenaders" ("Colored Syncopators", his telephone directory advertising proclaimed).[18] He was also the group's booking agent. His first play date was at the True Reformer's Hall, where he took home 75 cents.[19]

Ellington played throughout the D.C. area and into Virginia for private society balls and embassy parties. The band included childhood friend Otto Hardwick, who began playing the string bass, then moved to C-melody sax and finally settled on alto saxophone; Arthur Whetsel on trumpet; Elmer Snowden on banjo; and Sonny Greer on drums. The band thrived, performing for both African American and white audiences, rare in the segregated society of the day.[20]

 
British pressing of "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" (1927)

When his drummer Sonny Greer was invited to join the Wilber Sweatman Orchestra in New York City, Ellington left his successful career in D.C. and moved to Harlem, ultimately becoming part of the Harlem Renaissance.[21] New dance crazes such as the Charleston emerged in Harlem, as well as African American musical theater, including Eubie Blake's and Noble Sissle's (the latter of whom was his neighbor) Shuffle Along. After the young musicians left the Sweatman Orchestra to strike out on their own, they found an emerging jazz scene that was highly competitive with difficult inroad. They hustled pool by day and played whatever gigs they could find. The young band met stride pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith, who introduced them to the scene and gave them some money. They played at rent-house parties for income. After a few months, the young musicians returned to Washington, D.C., feeling discouraged.

In June 1923, they played a gig in Atlantic City, New Jersey and another at the prestigious Exclusive Club in Harlem. This was followed in September 1923 by a move to the Hollywood Club (at 49th and Broadway) and a four-year engagement, which gave Ellington a solid artistic base. He was known to play the bugle at the end of each performance. The group was initially called Elmer Snowden and his Black Sox Orchestra and had seven members, including trumpeter James "Bubber" Miley. They renamed themselves The Washingtonians. Snowden left the group in early 1924, and Ellington took over as bandleader. After a fire, the club was re-opened as the Club Kentucky (often referred to as the Kentucky Club).

Ellington then made eight records in 1924, receiving composing credit on three including "Choo Choo".[22] In 1925, Ellington contributed four songs to Chocolate Kiddies starring Lottie Gee and Adelaide Hall,[citation needed] an all-African American revue which introduced European audiences to African American styles and performers. Duke Ellington and his Kentucky Club Orchestra grew to a group of ten players; they developed their own sound via the non-traditional expression of Ellington's arrangements, the street rhythms of Harlem, and the exotic-sounding trombone growls and wah-wahs, high-squealing trumpets, and saxophone blues licks of the band members. For a short time, soprano saxophonist and clarinetist Sidney Bechet played with them, reportedly becoming the dominant personality in the group, with Sonny Greer saying Bechet "fitted out the band like a glove". His presence resulted in friction with Miley and trombonist Charlie Irvis, whose styles differed from Bechet's New Orleans-influenced playing. It was mainly Bechet's unreliability—he was absent for three days in succession—which made his association with Ellington short-lived.[23]

Cotton Club engagement

In October 1926, Ellington made an agreement with agent-publisher Irving Mills,[24] giving Mills a 45% interest in Ellington's future.[25] Mills had an eye for new talent and published compositions by Hoagy Carmichael, Dorothy Fields, and Harold Arlen early in their careers. After recording a handful of acoustic sides during 1924–26, Ellington's signing with Mills allowed him to record prolifically. However, sometimes he recorded different versions of the same tune. Mills regularly took a co-composer credit. From the beginning of their relationship, Mills arranged recording sessions on nearly every label including Brunswick, Victor, Columbia, OKeh, Pathé (and its subsidiary, Perfect), the ARC/Plaza group of labels (Oriole, Domino, Jewel, Banner) and their dime-store labels (Cameo, Lincoln, Romeo), Hit of the Week, and Columbia's cheaper labels (Harmony, Diva, Velvet Tone, Clarion) labels which gave Ellington popular recognition. On OKeh, his records were usually issued as The Harlem Footwarmers. In contrast, the Brunswicks were usually issued as The Jungle Band. Whoopee Makers and the Ten BlackBerries were other pseudonyms.

In September 1927, King Oliver turned down a regular booking for his group as the house band at Harlem's Cotton Club;[26] the offer passed to Ellington after Jimmy McHugh suggested him and Mills arranged an audition.[27] Ellington had to increase from a six to eleven-piece group to meet the requirements of the Cotton Club's management for the audition,[28] and the engagement finally began on December 4.[29] With a weekly radio broadcast, the Cotton Club's exclusively white and wealthy clientele poured in nightly to see them. At the Cotton Club, Ellington's group performed all the music for the revues, which mixed comedy, dance numbers, vaudeville, burlesque, music, and illicit alcohol. The musical numbers were composed by Jimmy McHugh and the lyrics by Dorothy Fields (later Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler), with some Ellington originals mixed in. (Here, he moved in with a dancer, his second wife Mildred Dixon). Weekly radio broadcasts from the club gave Ellington national exposure. At the same time, Ellington also recorded Fields-JMcHugh and Fats WallerAndy Razaf songs.

 
Adelaide Hall, recorded Creole Love Call with Ellington in 1927. The recording became a worldwide hit.

Although trumpeter Bubber Miley was a member of the orchestra for only a short period, he had a major influence on Ellington's sound.[30] As an early exponent of growl trumpet, Miley changed the sweet dance band sound of the group to one that was hotter, which contemporaries termed Jungle Style, which can be seen in his feature chorus in East St. Louis Toodle-Oo (1926).[31] In October 1927, Ellington and his Orchestra recorded several compositions with Adelaide Hall. One side in particular, "Creole Love Call", became a worldwide sensation and gave both Ellington and Hall their first hit record.[32][33] Miley had composed most of "Creole Love Call" and "Black and Tan Fantasy". An alcoholic, Miley had to leave the band before they gained wider fame. He died in 1932 at the age of 29, but he was an important influence on Cootie Williams, who replaced him.

In 1929, the Cotton Club Orchestra appeared on stage for several months in Florenz Ziegfeld's Show Girl, along with vaudeville stars Jimmy Durante, Eddie Foy, Jr., Ruby Keeler, and with music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Gus Kahn. Will Vodery, Ziegfeld's musical supervisor, recommended Ellington for the show.[34] According to John Edward Hasse's Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington, "Perhaps during the run of Show Girl, Ellington received what he later termed 'valuable lessons in orchestration from Will Vody." In his 1946 biography, Duke Ellington, Barry Ulanov wrote:

From Vodery, as he (Ellington) says himself, he drew his chromatic convictions, his uses of the tones ordinarily extraneous to the diatonic scale, with the consequent alteration of the harmonic character of his music, it's broadening, The deepening of his resources. It has become customary to ascribe the classical influences upon Duke—Delius, Debussy, and Ravel—to direct contact with their music. Actually, his serious appreciation of those and other modern composers, came after he met with Vody.[35]

Ellington's film work began with Black and Tan (1929), a 19-minute all-African American RKO short[36] in which he played the hero "Duke". He also appeared in the Amos 'n' Andy film Check and Double Check released in 1930, which features the orchestra playing "Old Man Blues" in an extended ballroom scene.[37] That year, Ellington and his Orchestra connected with a whole different audience in a concert with Maurice Chevalier and they also performed at the Roseland Ballroom, "America's foremost ballroom". Australian-born composer Percy Grainger was an early admirer and supporter. He wrote, "The three greatest composers who ever lived are Bach, Delius and Duke Ellington. Unfortunately, Bach is dead, Delius is very ill but we are happy to have with us today The Duke".[38] Ellington's first period at the Cotton Club concluded in 1931.

Early 1930s

Ellington led the orchestra by conducting from the keyboard using piano cues and visual gestures; very rarely did he conduct using a baton. By 1932 his orchestra consisted of six brass instruments, four reeds, and a rhythm section of four players.[39] As the leader, Ellington was not a strict disciplinarian; he maintained control of his orchestra with a combination of charm, humor, flattery, and astute psychology. A complex, private person, he revealed his feelings to only his closest intimates. He effectively used his public persona to deflect attention away from himself.

Ellington signed exclusively to Brunswick in 1932 and stayed with them through to late 1936 (albeit with a short-lived 1933–34 switch to Victor when Irving Mills temporarily moved his acts from Brunswick).

As the Depression worsened, the recording industry was in crisis, dropping over 90% of its artists by 1933.[40] Ivie Anderson was hired as the Ellington Orchestra's featured vocalist in 1931. She is the vocalist on "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" (1932) among other recordings. Sonny Greer had been providing occasional vocals and continued to do in a cross-talk feature with Anderson. Radio exposure helped maintain Ellington's public profile as his orchestra began to tour. The other 78s of this era include: "Mood Indigo" (1930), "Sophisticated Lady" (1933), "Solitude" (1934), and "In a Sentimental Mood" (1935).

While Ellington's United States audience remained mainly African American in this period, the orchestra had a significant following overseas. They traveled to England and Scotland in 1933, as well as France (three concerts at the Salle Pleyel in Paris)[41] and the Netherlands before returning to New York.[42][43] On June 12, 1933, the Duke Ellington Orchestra gave its British debut at the London Palladium;[44] Ellington received an ovation when he walked on stage.[45] They were one of 13 acts on the bill and were restricted to eight short numbers; the booking lasted until June 24.[43][46] The British visit saw Ellington win praise from members of the serious music community, including composer Constant Lambert, which gave a boost to Ellington's interest in composing longer works.

His longer pieces had already begun to appear. Ellington had composed and recorded "Creole Rhapsody" as early as 1931 (issued as both sides of a 12" record for Victor and both sides of a 10" record for Brunswick).[47] A tribute to his mother, "Reminiscing in Tempo", took four 10" 78rpm record sides to record in 1935 after her death in that year.[48] Symphony in Black (also 1935), a short film, featured his extended piece 'A Rhapsody of Negro Life'. It introduced Billie Holiday, and won the Academy Award for Best Musical Short Subject.[49] Ellington and his Orchestra also appeared in the features Murder at the Vanities and Belle of the Nineties (both 1934).

For agent Mills, the attention was a publicity triumph, as Ellington was now internationally known. On the band's tour through the segregated South in 1934, they avoided some of the traveling difficulties of African Americans by touring in private railcars. These provided accessible accommodations, dining, and storage for equipment while avoiding the indignities of segregated facilities.

However, the competition intensified as swing bands like Benny Goodman's began to receive widespread attention. Swing dancing became a youth phenomenon, particularly with white college audiences, and danceability drove record sales and bookings. Jukeboxes proliferated nationwide, spreading the gospel of swing. Ellington's band could certainly swing, but their strengths were mood, nuance, and richness of composition, hence his statement "jazz is music, the swing is business".[50]

Later 1930s

From 1936, Ellington began to make recordings with smaller groups (sextets, octets, and nonets) drawn from his then-15-man orchestra.[51] He composed pieces intended to feature a specific instrumentalist, such as "Jeep's Blues" for Johnny Hodges, "Yearning for Love" for Lawrence Brown, "Trumpet in Spades" for Rex Stewart, "Echoes of Harlem" for Cootie Williams and "Clarinet Lament" for Barney Bigard.[52] In 1937, Ellington returned to the Cotton Club, which had relocated to the mid-town Theater District. In the summer of that year, his father died, and due to many expenses, Ellington's finances were tight. However, his situation improved in the following years.

After leaving agent Irving Mills, he signed on with the William Morris Agency. Mills, though, continued to record Ellington. After only a year, his Master and Variety labels (the small groups had recorded for the latter) collapsed in late 1937. Mills placed Ellington back on Brunswick and those small group units on Vocalion through to 1940. Well-known sides continued to be recorded, "Caravan" in 1937, and "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" the following year.

Ellington in 1939

Billy Strayhorn, originally hired as a lyricist, began his association with Ellington in 1939.[53] Nicknamed "Swee' Pea" for his mild manner, Strayhorn soon became a vital member of the Ellington organization. Ellington showed great fondness for Strayhorn and never failed to speak glowingly of the man and their collaborative working relationship, "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine".[54] Strayhorn, with his training in classical music, not only contributed his original lyrics and music but also arranged and polished many of Ellington's works, becoming a second Ellington or "Duke's doppelgänger". It was not uncommon for Strayhorn to fill in for Duke, whether in conducting or rehearsing the band, playing the piano, on stage, and in the recording studio.[55] The decade ended with a very successful European tour in 1939 just as World War II loomed in Europe.

Ellington in the early to mid-1940s

 
Duke Ellington at the Hurricane Club, Broadway & W. 51St, New York City,[56] May 1943

Two musicians who joined Ellington at this time created a sensation in their own right, Jimmy Blanton and Ben Webster. Blanton was effectively hired on the spot in late October 1939, before Ellington was aware of his name, when he dropped in on a gig of Fate Marable in St Louis.[57] The short-lived Blanton transformed the use of double bass in jazz, allowing it to function as a solo/melodic instrument rather than a rhythm instrument alone.[58]Terminal illness forced him to leave by late 1941 after around two years. Ben Webster's principal tenure with Ellington spanned 1939 to 1943. An ambition of his, he told his previous employer, Teddy Wilson, then leading a big band, that Ellington was the only rival he would leave Wilson for.[59] He was the orchestra's first regular tenor saxophonist and increased the size of the sax section to five for the first time.[60][59] Much influenced by Johnny Hodges, he often credited Hodges with showing him "how to play my horn". The two men sat next to each other in the orchestra.[61]

Trumpeter Ray Nance joined, replacing Cootie Williams who had defected to Benny Goodman. Additionally, Nance added violin to the instrumental colors Ellington had at his disposal. Recordings exist of Nance's first concert date on November 7, 1940, at Fargo, North Dakota. Privately made by Jack Towers and Dick Burris, these recordings were first legitimately issued in 1978 as Duke Ellington at Fargo, 1940 Live; they are among the earliest of innumerable live performances which survive. Nance was an occasional vocalist as well, although Herb Jeffries was the main male vocalist in this era (until 1943) while Al Hibbler (who replaced Jeffries in 1943) continued until 1951. Ivie Anderson left in 1942 for health reasons after 11 years, the longest term of any of Ellington's vocalists.[62]

Once more recording for Victor (from 1940), with the small groups being issued on their Bluebird label, three-minute masterpieces on 78 rpm record sides continued to flow from Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Ellington's son Mercer Ellington, and members of the orchestra.[63] "Cotton Tail", "Main Stem", "Harlem Air Shaft", "Jack the Bear", and dozens of others date from this period. Strayhorn's "Take the "A" Train", a hit in 1941, became the band's theme, replacing "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo". Ellington and his associates wrote for an orchestra of distinctive voices displaying tremendous creativity.[64] The commercial recordings from this era were re-issued in the 3-CD collection, Never No Lament, in 2003.

Ellington's long-term aim, though, was to extend the jazz form from that three-minute limit, of which he was an acknowledged master.[65] While he had composed and recorded some extended pieces before, such works now became a regular feature of Ellington's output. In this, he was helped by Strayhorn, who had enjoyed a more thorough training in the forms associated with classical music than Ellington. The first of these, Black, Brown, and Beige (1943), was dedicated to telling the story of African Americans and the place of slavery and the church in their history.[66] Black, Brown and Beige debuted at Carnegie Hall on January 23, 1943, beginning an annual series of Ellington concerts at the venue over the next four years. While some jazz musicians had played at Carnegie Hall before, none had performed anything as elaborate as Ellington's work. Unfortunately, starting a regular pattern, Ellington's longer works were generally not well received.

A partial exception was Jump for Joy, a full-length musical based on themes of African American identity, which debuted on July 10, 1941, at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles. Hollywood actors John Garfield and Mickey Rooney invested in the production, and Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles offered to direct.[67] At one performance, Garfield insisted that Herb Jeffries, who was light-skinned, should wear makeup. Ellington objected in the interval and compared Jeffries to Al Jolson. The change was reverted. The singer later commented that the audience must have thought he was an entirely different character in the second half of the show.[68]

Although it had sold-out performances and received positive reviews,[69] it ran for only 122 performances until September 29, 1941, with a brief revival in November of that year. Its subject matter did not make it appealing to Broadway; Ellington had unfulfilled plans to take it there.[70] Despite this disappointment, a Broadway production of Ellington's Beggar's Holiday, his sole book musical, premiered on December 23, 1946,[71] under the direction of Nicholas Ray.

The settlement of the first recording ban of 1942–44, leading to an increase in royalties paid to musicians, had a severe effect on the financial viability of the big bands, including Ellington's Orchestra. His income as a songwriter ultimately subsidized it. Although he always spent lavishly and drew a respectable income from the orchestra's operations, the band's income often just covered expenses.[72] However, in 1943 Ellington asked Webster to leave; the saxophonist's personality made his colleagues anxious and the saxophonist was regularly in conflict with the leader.[73]

Early post-war years

Musicians enlisting in the military and travel restrictions made touring difficult for the big bands, and dancing became subject to a new tax, which continued for many years, affecting the choices of club owners. By the time World War II ended, the focus of popular music was shifting towards singing crooners such as Frank Sinatra and Jo Stafford. As the cost of hiring big bands had increased, club owners now found smaller jazz groups more cost-effective. Some of Ellington's new works, such as the wordless vocal feature "Transblucency" (1946) with Kay Davis, were not going to have a similar reach as the newly emerging stars.

 
Ellington poses with his piano at the KFG Radio Studio on November 3, 1954.

Ellington continued on his own course through these tectonic shifts. While Count Basie was forced to disband his whole ensemble and work as an octet for a time, Ellington was able to tour most of Western Europe between April 6 and June 30, 1950, with the orchestra playing 74 dates over 77 days.[74] During the tour, according to Sonny Greer, Ellington did not perform the newer works. However, Ellington's extended composition, Harlem (1950), was in the process of being completed at this time. Ellington later presented its score to music-loving President Harry Truman. Also during his time in Europe, Ellington would compose the music for a stage production by Orson Welles. Titled Time Runs in Paris[75] and An Evening With Orson Welles in Frankfurt, the variety show also featured a newly discovered Eartha Kitt, who performed Ellington's original song "Hungry Little Trouble" as Helen of Troy.[76]

In 1951, Ellington suffered a significant loss of personnel: Sonny Greer, Lawrence Brown, and, most importantly, Johnny Hodges left to pursue other ventures. However, only Greer was a permanent departee. Drummer Louie Bellson replaced Greer, and his "Skin Deep" was a hit for Ellington. Tenor player Paul Gonsalves had joined in December 1950[74] after periods with Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie and stayed for the rest of his life, while Clark Terry joined in November 1951.[77]

André Previn said in 1952: "You know, Stan Kenton can stand in front of a thousand fiddles and a thousand brass and make a dramatic gesture and every studio arranger can nod his head and say, Oh, yes, that's done like this. But Duke merely lifts his finger, three horns make a sound, and I don't know what it is!"[78] However, by 1955, after three years of recording for Capitol, Ellington lacked a regular recording affiliation.

Career revival

Ellington's appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 7, 1956, returned him to wider prominence. The feature "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" comprised two tunes that had been in the band's book since 1937. Ellington, who had abruptly ended the band's scheduled set because of the late arrival of four key players, called the two tunes as the time was approaching midnight. Announcing that the two pieces would be separated by an interlude played by tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves, Ellington proceeded to lead the band through the two pieces, with Gonsalves' 27-chorus marathon solo whipping the crowd into a frenzy, leading the Maestro to play way beyond the curfew time despite urgent pleas from festival organizer George Wein to bring the program to an end.

The concert made international headlines, and led to one of only five Time magazine cover stories dedicated to a jazz musician,[79] and resulted in an album produced by George Avakian that would become the best-selling LP of Ellington's career.[80] Much of the music on the LP was, in effect, simulated, with only about 40% actually from the concert itself. According to Avakian, Ellington was dissatisfied with aspects of the performance and felt the musicians had been under-rehearsed.[80] The band assembled the next day to re-record several numbers with the addition of the faked sound of a crowd, none of which was disclosed to purchasers of the album. Not until 1999 was the concert recording properly released for the first time. The revived attention brought about by the Newport appearance should not have surprised anyone, Johnny Hodges had returned the previous year,[81] and Ellington's collaboration with Strayhorn was renewed around the same time, under terms more amenable to the younger man.[82]

The original Ellington at Newport album was the first release in a new recording contract with Columbia Records which yielded several years of recording stability, mainly under producer Irving Townsend, who coaxed both commercial and artistic productions from Ellington.[83]

In 1957, CBS (Columbia Records' parent corporation) aired a live television production of A Drum Is a Woman, an allegorical suite which received mixed reviews. Festival appearances at the new Monterey Jazz Festival and elsewhere provided venues for live exposure, and a European tour in 1958 was well received. Such Sweet Thunder (1957), based on Shakespeare's plays and characters, and The Queen's Suite (1958), dedicated to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, were products of the renewed impetus which the Newport appearance helped to create. However, the latter work was not commercially issued at the time. The late 1950s also saw Ella Fitzgerald record her Duke Ellington Songbook (Verve) with Ellington and his orchestra—a recognition that Ellington's songs had now become part of the cultural canon known as the 'Great American Songbook'.

 
James Stewart and Ellington in Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Around this time Ellington and Strayhorn began to work on film scoring. The first of these was Anatomy of a Murder (1959),[39] a courtroom drama directed by Otto Preminger and featuring James Stewart, in which Ellington appeared fronting a roadhouse combo. Film historians have recognized the score "as a landmark—the first significant Hollywood film music by African Americans comprising non-diegetic music, that is, music whose source is not visible or implied by action in the film, like an on-screen band." The score avoided the cultural stereotypes which previously characterized jazz scores and rejected a strict adherence to visuals in ways that presaged the New Wave cinema of the '60s".[84] Ellington and Strayhorn, always looking for new musical territory, produced suites for John Steinbeck's novel Sweet Thursday, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt.

Anatomy of a Murder was followed by Paris Blues (1961), which featured Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as jazz musicians. For this work, Ellington was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Score.

In the early 1960s, Ellington embraced recording with artists who had been friendly rivals in the past or were younger musicians who focused on later styles. The Ellington and Count Basie orchestras recorded together with the album First Time! The Count Meets the Duke (1961). During a period when Ellington was between recording contracts, he made records with Louis Armstrong (Roulette), Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane (both for Impulse) and participated in a session with Charles Mingus and Max Roach which produced the Money Jungle (United Artists) album. He signed to Frank Sinatra's new Reprise label, but the association with the label was short-lived.

Musicians who had previously worked with Ellington returned to the Orchestra as members: Lawrence Brown in 1960 and Cootie Williams in 1962.

The writing and playing of music is a matter of intent... You can't just throw a paintbrush against the wall and call whatever happens art. My music fits the tonal personality of the player. I think too strongly in terms of altering my music to fit the performer to be impressed by accidental music. You can't take doodling seriously.[16]

He was now performing worldwide and spent a significant part of each year on overseas tours. As a consequence, he formed new working relationships with artists from around the world, including the Swedish vocalist Alice Babs, and the South African musicians Dollar Brand and Sathima Bea Benjamin (A Morning in Paris, 1963/1997).

Ellington wrote an original score for director Michael Langham's production of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada, which opened on July 29, 1963. Langham has used it for several subsequent productions, including a much later adaptation by Stanley Silverman which expands the score with some of Ellington's best-known works.

Last years

 
Ellington receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Nixon in 1969

Ellington was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1965. However, no prize was ultimately awarded that year.[85] Then 66 years old, he joked: "Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young."[86] In 1999, he was posthumously awarded a special Pulitzer Prize "commemorating the centennial year of his birth, in recognition of his musical genius, which evoked aesthetically the principles of democracy through the medium of jazz and thus made an indelible contribution to art and culture."[6][87]

In September 1965, he premiered the first of his Sacred Concerts. He created a jazz Christian liturgy. Although the work received mixed reviews, Ellington was proud of the composition and performed it dozens of times. This concert was followed by two others of the same type in 1968 and 1973, known as the Second and Third Sacred Concerts. Many saw the Sacred Music suites as an attempt to reinforce commercial support for organized religion. However, Ellington simply said it was "the most important thing I've done".[88] The Steinway piano upon which the Sacred Concerts were composed is part of the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Like Haydn and Mozart, Ellington conducted his orchestra from the piano—he always played the keyboard parts when the Sacred Concerts were performed.[89]

Duke turned 65 in the spring of 1964 but showed no signs of slowing down as he continued to make recordings of significant works such as The Far East Suite (1966), New Orleans Suite (1970), The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (1971) and the Latin American Suite (1972), much of it inspired by his world tours. It was during this time that he recorded his only album with Frank Sinatra, entitled Francis A. & Edward K. (1967).

In 1972-1974 Ellington worked on his only opera, Queenie Pie, together with Maurice Peress. Ellington got an idea to wrote an opera about a black beautician in 1930s, but did not finish it.[90][91]

Among the last shows Ellington and his orchestra performed were one on March 21, 1973, at Purdue University's Hall of Music, two on March 22, 1973, at the Sturges-Young Auditorium in Sturgis, Michigan[92] and the Eastbourne Performance on December 1, 1973, later issued on LP.[93] Ellington performed what is considered his final full concert in a ballroom at Northern Illinois University on March 20, 1974. Since 1980, that ballroom has been dedicated as the "Duke Ellington Ballroom".[94]

Personal life

 
Ellington in 1973

Ellington married his high school sweetheart, Edna Thompson (d. 1967), on July 2, 1918, when he was 19.[95] The next spring, on March 11, 1919, Edna gave birth to their only son, Mercer Kennedy Ellington.[95]

Ellington was joined in New York City by his wife and son in the late 1920s, but the couple soon permanently separated.[96] According to her obituary in Jet magazine, she was "homesick for Washington" and returned.[97] In 1929, Ellington became the companion of Mildred Dixon,[98] who traveled with him, managed Tempo Music, inspired songs, such as "Sophisticated Lady",[99] at the peak of his career, and raised his son.[100][101][102]

 
Mercer referred to Mildred Dixon as his mother.

In 1938, he left his family (his son was 19) and moved in with Beatrice "Evie" Ellis, a Cotton Club employee.[103] Their relationship, though stormy, continued after Ellington met and formed a relationship with Fernanda de Castro Monte in the early 1960s.[104] Ellington supported both women for the rest of his life.[105]

Ellington's sister Ruth (1915–2004) later ran Tempo Music, his music publishing company.[102] Ruth's second husband was the bass-baritone McHenry Boatwright, whom she met when he sang at her brother's funeral.[106] As an adult, son Mercer Ellington (d. 1996) played trumpet and piano, led his own band, and worked as his father's business manager.[107]

Ellington was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha[108] and was a Freemason associated with Prince Hall Freemasonry.[109]

Death

Ellington died on May 24, 1974, of complications from lung cancer and pneumonia,[110] a few weeks after his 75th birthday. At his funeral, attended by over 12,000 people at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Ella Fitzgerald summed up the occasion: "It's a very sad day. A genius has passed."[111]

He was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, the Bronx, New York City.[112]

Legacy

Memorialized

Numerous memorials have been dedicated to Duke Ellington in cities from New York and Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles.

In Ellington's birthplace, Washington, D.C., the Duke Ellington School of the Arts educates talented students who are considering careers in the arts by providing art instruction and academic programs to prepare students for post-secondary education and professional careers. In 1974, the District renamed the Calvert Street Bridge, originally built in 1935, as the Duke Ellington Bridge. Another school is P.S. 004 Duke Ellington in New York.

In 1989, a bronze plaque was attached to the newly named Duke Ellington Building at 2121 Ward Place NW.[113] In 2012, the new owner of the building commissioned a mural by Aniekan Udofia that appears above the lettering "Duke Ellington". In 2010 the triangular park, across the street from Duke Ellington's birth site, at the intersection of New Hampshire and M Streets NW, was named the Duke Ellington Park.

Ellington's residence at 2728 Sherman Avenue NW, during the years 1919–1922,[114] is marked by a bronze plaque.

On February 24, 2009, the United States Mint issued a coin with Duke Ellington on it, making him the first African American to appear by himself on a circulating U.S. coin.[115] Ellington appears on the reverse (tails) side of the District of Columbia quarter.[115] The coin is part of the U.S. Mint's program honoring the District and the U.S. territories[116] and celebrates Ellington's birthplace in the District of Columbia.[115] Ellington is depicted on the quarter seated at a piano, sheet music in hand, along with the inscription "Justice for All", which is the District's motto.[116]

In 1986, a United States commemorative stamp was issued featuring Ellington's likeness.[117]

 
Ellington on the Washington, D.C., quarter released in 2009

Ellington lived out his final years in Manhattan, in a townhouse at 333 Riverside Drive near West 106th Street. His sister Ruth, who managed his publishing company, also lived there, and his son Mercer lived next door. After his death, West 106th Street was officially renamed Duke Ellington Boulevard.

A large memorial to Ellington, created by sculptor Robert Graham, was dedicated in 1997 in New York's Central Park, near Fifth Avenue and 110th Street, an intersection named Duke Ellington Circle.

A statue of Ellington at a piano is featured at the entrance to UCLA's Schoenberg Hall. According to UCLA magazine:

When UCLA students were entranced by Duke Ellington's provocative tunes at a Culver City club in 1937, they asked the budding musical great to play a free concert in Royce Hall. 'I've been waiting for someone to ask us!' Ellington exclaimed. On the day of the concert, Ellington accidentally mixed up the venues and drove to USC instead. He eventually arrived at the UCLA campus and, to apologize for his tardiness, played to the packed crowd for more than four hours. And so, "Sir Duke" and his group played the first-ever jazz performance in a concert venue.[118]

The Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival is a nationally renowned annual competition for prestigious high school bands. Started in 1996 at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the festival is named after Ellington because of the significant focus that the festival places on his works.

Tributes

After Duke died, his son Mercer took over leadership of the orchestra, continuing until he died in 1996. Like the Count Basie Orchestra, this "ghost band" continued to release albums for many years. Digital Duke, credited to The Duke Ellington Orchestra, won the 1988 Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. Mercer Ellington had been handling all administrative aspects of his father's business for several decades. Mercer's children continue a connection with their grandfather's work.

Gunther Schuller wrote in 1989:

Ellington composed incessantly to the very last days of his life. Music was indeed his mistress; it was his total life and his commitment to it was incomparable and unalterable. In jazz he was a giant among giants. And in twentieth century music, he may yet one day be recognized as one of the half-dozen greatest masters of our time.[119]: 157 

Martin Williams said: "Duke Ellington lived long enough to hear himself named among our best composers. And since his death in 1974, it has become not at all uncommon to see him named, along with Charles Ives, as the greatest composer we have produced, regardless of category."[120]

In the opinion of Bob Blumenthal of The Boston Globe in 1999: "[i]n the century since his birth, there has been no greater composer, American or otherwise, than Edward Kennedy Ellington."[121]

In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Duke Ellington on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.[122]

 
Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6535 Hollywood Blvd.

His compositions have been revisited by artists and musicians worldwide as sources of inspiration and a bedrock of their performing careers:

There are hundreds of albums dedicated to the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn by artists famous and obscure. Sophisticated Ladies, an award-winning 1981 musical revue, incorporated many tunes from Ellington's repertoire. A second Broadway musical interpolating Ellington's music, Play On!, debuted in 1997.

Discography

Awards and honors

Grammy Awards

Ellington earned 14 Grammy awards from 1959 to 2000 (three of which were posthumous) and a total of 25 nominations

Duke Ellington Grammy Award History[124][117]
Year Category Title Genre Result
1999 Historical Album The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition
RCA Victor Recordings (1927–1973)
Jazz Won
1979 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band Duke Ellington At Fargo, 1940 Live Jazz Won
1976 Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band The Ellington Suites Jazz Won
1972 Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band Togo Brava Suite Jazz Won
1971 Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band New Orleans Suite Jazz Won
1971 Best Instrumental Composition New Orleans Suite Composing/Arranging Nominated
1970 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance – Large Group or Soloist with Large Group Duke Ellington – 70th Birthday Concert Jazz Nominated
1968 Trustees Award National Trustees Award – 1968 Special Awards Won
1968 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance – Large Group
Or Soloist With Large Group
...And His Mother Called Him Bill Jazz Won
1967 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Large Group
Or Soloist With Large Group
Far East Suite Jazz Won
1966 Bing Crosby Award – Name changed to GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award in 1982. Bing Crosby Award – Name changed to GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award in 1982. Special Awards Won
1966 Best Original Jazz Composition "In The Beginning God" Jazz Won
1966 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance – Group or Soloist with Group Concert Of Sacred Music (Album) Jazz Nominated
1965 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance –
Large Group Or Soloist With Large Group
Ellington '66 Jazz Won
1965 Best Original Jazz Composition Virgin Islands Suite Jazz Nominated
1964 Best Original Jazz Composition Night Creature Jazz Nominated
1964 Best Jazz Performance – Large Group (Instrumental) First Time! (Album) Jazz Nominated
1961 Best Instrumental Theme or Instrumental Version of Song "Paris Blues" Composing/Arranging Nominated
1961 Best Sound Track Album or Recording of Score from Motion Picture or Television Paris Blues (Motion Picture) (Album) Music for Visual Media Nominated
1960 Best Jazz Performance Solo or Small Group Back To Back – Duke Ellington And Johnny Hodges Play The Blues Jazz Nominated
1960 Best Jazz Composition of More Than Five Minutes Duration Idiom '59 Jazz Nominated
1959 Best Performance By A Dance Band Anatomy of a Murder Pop Won
1959 Best Musical Composition First Recorded
And Released In 1959
(More Than 5 Minutes Duration)
Anatomy of a Murder Composing Won
1959 Best Sound Track Album – Background Score
From A Motion Picture Or Television
Anatomy of a Murder Composing Won
1959 Best Jazz Performance – Group Ellington Jazz Party (Album) Jazz Nominated

Grammy Hall of Fame

Recordings of Duke Ellington were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings at least 25 years old that have qualitative or historical significance.

Duke Ellington: Grammy Hall of Fame Award[125]
Year Recorded Title Genre Label Year Inducted
1932 "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" Jazz (single) Brunswick 2008
1934 "Cocktails for Two" Jazz (single) Victor 2007
1957 Ellington at Newport Jazz (album) Columbia 2004
1956 "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" Jazz (single) Columbia 1999
1967 Far East Suite Jazz (album) RCA 1999
1944 Black, Brown and Beige Jazz (single) RCA Victor 1990
1928 "Black and Tan Fantasy" Jazz (single) Victor 1981
1941 "Take the "A" Train" Jazz (single) Victor 1976
1931 "Mood Indigo" Jazz (single) Brunswick 1975

Honors and inductions

Year Category Notes
2022 Foundational June 18, 2022[126]
2009 Commemorative U.S. quarter D.C. and U.S. Territories Quarters Program.[127][128]
2008 Gennett Records Walk of Fame
2004 Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame
at Jazz at Lincoln Center
1999 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation[6]
1992 Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame
1986 22¢ commemorative U.S. stamp Issued April 29, 1986[129]
1978 Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame
1973 French Legion of Honour[130] July 6, 1973
1973 Honorary Degree in Music from Columbia University May 16, 1973
1971 Honorary Doctorate Degree from Berklee College of Music
1971 Honorary Doctor of Music from Howard University[131]
1971 Songwriters Hall of Fame
1969 Presidential Medal of Freedom
1968 Grammy Trustees Award Special Merit Award
1967 Honorary Doctor of Music Degree from Yale University[132][133]
1966 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
1964 Honorary degree, Milton College, Wisconsin
1959 NAACP Spingarn Medal
1957 Deutscher Filmpreis: Best Music Award won for the movie Jonah with fellow composer Winfried Zillig
1956 DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame inductee

See also

References

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  2. ^ Hajdu, David (1996), Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, ISBN 978-0865475120, p. 170.
  3. ^ O'Dell, Cary. "Blanton-Webster Era Recordings – Duke Ellington Orchestra (1940–1942) Added to the National Registry: 2002" (PDF). Library of Congress. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  4. ^ Schuller, Gunther; Kernfeld, Barry (2002). "Ellington, Duke (jazz) [Edward Kennedy]". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.J137500. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.
  5. ^ Tucker 1993, p. 6 writes: "He tried to avoid the word 'jazz' preferring 'Negro' or 'American' music. He claimed there were only two types of music, 'good' and 'bad' ... And he embraced a phrase coined by his colleague Billy Strayhorn—'beyond category'—as a liberating principle."
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "The 1999 Pulitzer Prize Winners: Special Awards and Citations". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved December 3, 2013. With reprint of short biography and list of works (selected).
  7. ^ a b Brothers 2018, p. 10.
  8. ^ a b Lawrence 2001, p. 1.
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  10. ^ Hasse 1995, p. 21.
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  13. ^ Ellington 1976, p. 20.
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Bibliography

  • Africville Genealogy Society, ed. (2010). The Spirit of Africville. Halifax: Formac Publishing. ISBN 978-0887809255.
  • Büchmann-Møller, Frank (2006). Someone to Watch Over Me: The Life and Music of Ben Webster. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0472114702.
  • Cohen, Harvey G. (2010). Duke Ellington's America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226112633.
    • —— (2010). "An excerpt from Duke Ellington's America". University of Chicago Press.
  • Ellington, Duke (1976). Music Is My Mistress. New York: Da Capo. ISBN 0704330903.
  • Green, Edward (2015). The Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1316194133.
  • Hajdu, David (1996). Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN 978-0865475120.
  • Hasse, John Edward (1993), Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington, New York: Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-671-70387-0.
  • Hasse, John Edward (1995). Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington. New York: Da Capo. ISBN 0306806142.
  • Lawrence, A. H. (2001). Duke Ellington and His World: A Biography. New York: Routledge. ISBN 041593012X.
  • Stratemann, Klaus (1992). Duke Ellington: Day by Day and Film by Film. Copenhagen: JazzMedia. ISBN 8788043347. Covers all of Duke's travels and films from the 1929 short film Black and Tan onwards.
  • Teachout, Terry (2015). Duke. New York: Gotham Books. ISBN 978-1592407491.
  • Terkel, Studs (2002). Giants of Jazz (2nd ed.). New York: The New Press. ISBN 978-1565847699.
  • Tucker, Mark, ed. (1993). The Duke Ellington Reader. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195093919.
  • Weisbard, Eric, ed. (2004). This Is Pop: In Search of the Elusive at Experience Music Project. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674013441.

Further reading

  • Brothers, Thomas (2018). Help!: The Beatles, Duke Ellington, and the Magic of Collaboration. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0393246230.
  • Crouch, Stanley (June 2009). "The Electric Company: how technology revived Ellington's career". Harper's Magazine. 318 (1909): 73–77.
  • Ellington, Mercer (1978). Duke Ellington in Person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0395257115.
  • Morton, John Fass. Backstory in Blue: Ellington at Newport '56. Rutgers University Press.
  • Schuller, Gunther (1986). Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195040432.. Especially pp. 318–357.
  • Schuller, Gunther (2005). The Swing Era: The Development Of Jazz, 1930–1945. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195071405.. Esp. pp. 46–157.
  • Tucker, Mark (1991). Ellington, The Early Years. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252014251.
  • Ulanov, Barry (1946). Duke Ellington. Creative Age Press.
  • Williams, Iain Cameron (2003). Underneath a Harlem Moon: The Harlem to Paris Years of Adelaide Hall. Bloomsbury Publishers. ISBN 0826458939. OCLC 51780394.

External links

  • Official website
  • Duke Ellington in Grove Music Online (by subscription)
  • Duke Ellington Oral History collection at Oral History of American Music
  • – official website of the family organization Duke Ellington Legacy
  • Duke Ellington at IMDb
  • Duke Ellington at the Internet Broadway Database  
  • Art Pilkington collection relating to Duke Ellington, 1919–1974 at the Library of Congress
  • Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn: Jazz Composers – April–June 2009 exhibition at NMAH
  • , London, May 2008
  • Duke Ellington at Library of Congress, with 1653 library catalog records
  • FBI file on Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington
  • Duke Ellington recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.
  • His life is retold in the radio drama "Echos of Harlem ", a presentation from Destination Freedom

duke, ellington, edward, kennedy, duke, ellington, april, 1899, 1974, american, jazz, pianist, composer, leader, eponymous, jazz, orchestra, from, 1923, through, rest, life, promotional, photo, ellington, 1940s, background, informationbirth, nameedward, kenned. Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington April 29 1899 May 24 1974 was an American jazz pianist composer and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life 1 Duke EllingtonPromotional photo of Ellington c 1940s Background informationBirth nameEdward Kennedy EllingtonBorn 1899 04 29 April 29 1899Washington D C U S DiedMay 24 1974 1974 05 24 aged 75 New York City U S GenresJazz swingOccupation s PianistcomposersongwriterbandleaderarrangerconductoractorInstrument s PianoYears active1914 1974Websitedukeellington wbr com Born and raised in Washington D C Ellington was based in New York City from the mid 1920s and gained a national profile through his orchestra s appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem A master at writing miniatures for the three minute 78 rpm recording format Ellington wrote or collaborated on more than one thousand compositions his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy and many of his pieces have become standards He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen such as Juan Tizol s Caravan which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz At the end of the 1930s Ellington began a nearly thirty year collaboration with composer arranger pianist Billy Strayhorn whom he called his writing and arranging companion 2 With Strayhorn he composed multiple extended compositions or suites as well as many short pieces For a few years at the beginning of Strayhorn s involvement Ellington s orchestra featured bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster and reached a creative peak 3 Some years later following a low profile period Hodges temporarily left an appearance by Ellington and his orchestra at the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1956 led to a major revival and regular world tours Ellington recorded for most American record companies of his era performed in and scored several films and composed a handful of stage musicals Although a pivotal figure in the history of jazz in the opinion of Gunther Schuller and Barry Kernfeld the most significant composer of the genre 4 Ellington himself embraced the phrase beyond category considering it a liberating principle and referring to his music as part of the more general category of American Music 5 Ellington was known for his inventive use of the orchestra or big band as well as for his eloquence and charisma He was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize Special Award for music in 1999 6 Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 2 1 Early career 2 2 Cotton Club engagement 2 3 Early 1930s 2 4 Later 1930s 2 5 Ellington in the early to mid 1940s 2 6 Early post war years 2 7 Career revival 2 8 Last years 3 Personal life 4 Death 5 Legacy 5 1 Memorialized 5 2 Tributes 6 Discography 7 Awards and honors 7 1 Grammy Awards 7 2 Grammy Hall of Fame 7 3 Honors and inductions 8 See also 9 References 10 Bibliography 11 Further reading 12 External linksEarly life and education EditEllington was born on April 29 1899 to James Edward Ellington and Daisy nee Kennedy Ellington in Washington D C Both his parents were pianists Daisy primarily played parlor songs and James preferred operatic arias 7 They lived with Daisy s parents at 2129 Ida Place now Ward Place NW in D C s West End neighborhood 8 Duke s father was born in Lincolnton North Carolina on April 15 1879 and moved to D C in 1886 with his parents 9 Daisy Kennedy was born in Washington D C on January 4 1879 the daughter of two former American slaves 8 10 James Ellington made blueprints for the United States Navy When Ellington was a child his family showed racial pride and support in their home as did many other families African Americans in D C worked to protect their children from the era s Jim Crow laws 11 At age seven Ellington began taking piano lessons from Marietta Clinkscales 7 Daisy surrounded her son with dignified women to reinforce his manners and teach him elegance His childhood friends noticed that his casual offhand manner and dapper dress gave him the bearing of a young nobleman 12 so they began calling him Duke Ellington credited his friend Edgar McEntee for the nickname I think he felt that in order for me to be eligible for his constant companionship I should have a title So he called me Duke 13 Though Ellington took piano lessons he was more interested in baseball President Theodore Roosevelt would come on his horse sometimes and stop and watch us play he recalled 14 Ellington went to Armstrong Technical High School in Washington D C His first job was selling peanuts at Washington Senators baseball games Ellington started sneaking into Frank Holiday s Poolroom at age fourteen Hearing the music of the poolroom pianists ignited Ellington s love for the instrument and he began to take his piano studies seriously Among the many piano players he listened to were Doc Perry Lester Dishman Louis Brown Turner Layton Gertie Wells Clarence Bowser Sticky Mack Blind Johnny Cliff Jackson Claude Hopkins Phil Wurd Caroline Thornton Luckey Roberts Eubie Blake Joe Rochester and Harvey Brooks 15 In the summer of 1914 while working as a soda jerk at the Poodle Dog Cafe Ellington wrote his first composition Soda Fountain Rag also known as the Poodle Dog Rag He created the piece by ear as he had not yet learned to read and write music I would play the Soda Fountain Rag as a one step two step waltz tango and fox trot Ellington recalled Listeners never knew it was the same piece I was established as having my own repertoire 16 In his autobiography Music is my Mistress 1973 Ellington wrote that he missed more lessons than he attended feeling at the time that piano was not his talent Ellington continued listening to watching and imitating ragtime pianists not only in Washington D C but also in Philadelphia and Atlantic City where he vacationed with his mother during the summer 16 He would sometimes hear strange music played by those who could not afford much sheet music so for variations they played the sheets upside down 17 Henry Lee Grant a Dunbar High School music teacher gave him private lessons in harmony With the additional guidance of Washington pianist and band leader Oliver Doc Perry Ellington learned to read sheet music project a professional style and improve his technique Ellington was also inspired by his first encounters with stride pianists James P Johnson and Luckey Roberts Later in New York he took advice from Will Marion Cook Fats Waller and Sidney Bechet He started to play gigs in cafes and clubs in and around Washington D C His attachment to music was so strong that in 1916 he turned down an art scholarship to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn Three months before graduating he dropped out of Armstrong Manual Training School where he was studying commercial art 18 Career EditEarly career Edit Working as a freelance sign painter from 1917 Ellington began assembling groups to play for dances In 1919 he met drummer Sonny Greer from New Jersey who encouraged Ellington s ambition to become a professional musician Ellington built his music business through his day job When a customer asked him to make a sign for a dance or party he would ask if they had musical entertainment if not Ellington would offer to play for the occasion He also had a messenger job with the U S Navy and State departments where he made a wide range of contacts Ellington moved out of his parent s home and bought his own as he became a successful pianist At first he played in other ensembles and in late 1917 formed his first group The Duke s Serenaders Colored Syncopators his telephone directory advertising proclaimed 18 He was also the group s booking agent His first play date was at the True Reformer s Hall where he took home 75 cents 19 Ellington played throughout the D C area and into Virginia for private society balls and embassy parties The band included childhood friend Otto Hardwick who began playing the string bass then moved to C melody sax and finally settled on alto saxophone Arthur Whetsel on trumpet Elmer Snowden on banjo and Sonny Greer on drums The band thrived performing for both African American and white audiences rare in the segregated society of the day 20 British pressing of East St Louis Toodle Oo 1927 When his drummer Sonny Greer was invited to join the Wilber Sweatman Orchestra in New York City Ellington left his successful career in D C and moved to Harlem ultimately becoming part of the Harlem Renaissance 21 New dance crazes such as the Charleston emerged in Harlem as well as African American musical theater including Eubie Blake s and Noble Sissle s the latter of whom was his neighbor Shuffle Along After the young musicians left the Sweatman Orchestra to strike out on their own they found an emerging jazz scene that was highly competitive with difficult inroad They hustled pool by day and played whatever gigs they could find The young band met stride pianist Willie The Lion Smith who introduced them to the scene and gave them some money They played at rent house parties for income After a few months the young musicians returned to Washington D C feeling discouraged In June 1923 they played a gig in Atlantic City New Jersey and another at the prestigious Exclusive Club in Harlem This was followed in September 1923 by a move to the Hollywood Club at 49th and Broadway and a four year engagement which gave Ellington a solid artistic base He was known to play the bugle at the end of each performance The group was initially called Elmer Snowden and his Black Sox Orchestra and had seven members including trumpeter James Bubber Miley They renamed themselves The Washingtonians Snowden left the group in early 1924 and Ellington took over as bandleader After a fire the club was re opened as the Club Kentucky often referred to as the Kentucky Club Ellington then made eight records in 1924 receiving composing credit on three including Choo Choo 22 In 1925 Ellington contributed four songs to Chocolate Kiddies starring Lottie Gee and Adelaide Hall citation needed an all African American revue which introduced European audiences to African American styles and performers Duke Ellington and his Kentucky Club Orchestra grew to a group of ten players they developed their own sound via the non traditional expression of Ellington s arrangements the street rhythms of Harlem and the exotic sounding trombone growls and wah wahs high squealing trumpets and saxophone blues licks of the band members For a short time soprano saxophonist and clarinetist Sidney Bechet played with them reportedly becoming the dominant personality in the group with Sonny Greer saying Bechet fitted out the band like a glove His presence resulted in friction with Miley and trombonist Charlie Irvis whose styles differed from Bechet s New Orleans influenced playing It was mainly Bechet s unreliability he was absent for three days in succession which made his association with Ellington short lived 23 Cotton Club engagement Edit In October 1926 Ellington made an agreement with agent publisher Irving Mills 24 giving Mills a 45 interest in Ellington s future 25 Mills had an eye for new talent and published compositions by Hoagy Carmichael Dorothy Fields and Harold Arlen early in their careers After recording a handful of acoustic sides during 1924 26 Ellington s signing with Mills allowed him to record prolifically However sometimes he recorded different versions of the same tune Mills regularly took a co composer credit From the beginning of their relationship Mills arranged recording sessions on nearly every label including Brunswick Victor Columbia OKeh Pathe and its subsidiary Perfect the ARC Plaza group of labels Oriole Domino Jewel Banner and their dime store labels Cameo Lincoln Romeo Hit of the Week and Columbia s cheaper labels Harmony Diva Velvet Tone Clarion labels which gave Ellington popular recognition On OKeh his records were usually issued as The Harlem Footwarmers In contrast the Brunswicks were usually issued as The Jungle Band Whoopee Makers and the Ten BlackBerries were other pseudonyms In September 1927 King Oliver turned down a regular booking for his group as the house band at Harlem s Cotton Club 26 the offer passed to Ellington after Jimmy McHugh suggested him and Mills arranged an audition 27 Ellington had to increase from a six to eleven piece group to meet the requirements of the Cotton Club s management for the audition 28 and the engagement finally began on December 4 29 With a weekly radio broadcast the Cotton Club s exclusively white and wealthy clientele poured in nightly to see them At the Cotton Club Ellington s group performed all the music for the revues which mixed comedy dance numbers vaudeville burlesque music and illicit alcohol The musical numbers were composed by Jimmy McHugh and the lyrics by Dorothy Fields later Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler with some Ellington originals mixed in Here he moved in with a dancer his second wife Mildred Dixon Weekly radio broadcasts from the club gave Ellington national exposure At the same time Ellington also recorded Fields JMcHugh and Fats Waller Andy Razaf songs Adelaide Hall recorded Creole Love Call with Ellington in 1927 The recording became a worldwide hit Although trumpeter Bubber Miley was a member of the orchestra for only a short period he had a major influence on Ellington s sound 30 As an early exponent of growl trumpet Miley changed the sweet dance band sound of the group to one that was hotter which contemporaries termed Jungle Style which can be seen in his feature chorus in East St Louis Toodle Oo 1926 31 In October 1927 Ellington and his Orchestra recorded several compositions with Adelaide Hall One side in particular Creole Love Call became a worldwide sensation and gave both Ellington and Hall their first hit record 32 33 Miley had composed most of Creole Love Call and Black and Tan Fantasy An alcoholic Miley had to leave the band before they gained wider fame He died in 1932 at the age of 29 but he was an important influence on Cootie Williams who replaced him In 1929 the Cotton Club Orchestra appeared on stage for several months in Florenz Ziegfeld s Show Girl along with vaudeville stars Jimmy Durante Eddie Foy Jr Ruby Keeler and with music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Gus Kahn Will Vodery Ziegfeld s musical supervisor recommended Ellington for the show 34 According to John Edward Hasse s Beyond Category The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington Perhaps during the run of Show Girl Ellington received what he later termed valuable lessons in orchestration from Will Vody In his 1946 biography Duke Ellington Barry Ulanov wrote From Vodery as he Ellington says himself he drew his chromatic convictions his uses of the tones ordinarily extraneous to the diatonic scale with the consequent alteration of the harmonic character of his music it s broadening The deepening of his resources It has become customary to ascribe the classical influences upon Duke Delius Debussy and Ravel to direct contact with their music Actually his serious appreciation of those and other modern composers came after he met with Vody 35 Ellington s film work began with Black and Tan 1929 a 19 minute all African American RKO short 36 in which he played the hero Duke He also appeared in the Amos n Andy film Check and Double Check released in 1930 which features the orchestra playing Old Man Blues in an extended ballroom scene 37 That year Ellington and his Orchestra connected with a whole different audience in a concert with Maurice Chevalier and they also performed at the Roseland Ballroom America s foremost ballroom Australian born composer Percy Grainger was an early admirer and supporter He wrote The three greatest composers who ever lived are Bach Delius and Duke Ellington Unfortunately Bach is dead Delius is very ill but we are happy to have with us today The Duke 38 Ellington s first period at the Cotton Club concluded in 1931 Early 1930s Edit Ellington led the orchestra by conducting from the keyboard using piano cues and visual gestures very rarely did he conduct using a baton By 1932 his orchestra consisted of six brass instruments four reeds and a rhythm section of four players 39 As the leader Ellington was not a strict disciplinarian he maintained control of his orchestra with a combination of charm humor flattery and astute psychology A complex private person he revealed his feelings to only his closest intimates He effectively used his public persona to deflect attention away from himself Ellington signed exclusively to Brunswick in 1932 and stayed with them through to late 1936 albeit with a short lived 1933 34 switch to Victor when Irving Mills temporarily moved his acts from Brunswick As the Depression worsened the recording industry was in crisis dropping over 90 of its artists by 1933 40 Ivie Anderson was hired as the Ellington Orchestra s featured vocalist in 1931 She is the vocalist on It Don t Mean a Thing If It Ain t Got That Swing 1932 among other recordings Sonny Greer had been providing occasional vocals and continued to do in a cross talk feature with Anderson Radio exposure helped maintain Ellington s public profile as his orchestra began to tour The other 78s of this era include Mood Indigo 1930 Sophisticated Lady 1933 Solitude 1934 and In a Sentimental Mood 1935 While Ellington s United States audience remained mainly African American in this period the orchestra had a significant following overseas They traveled to England and Scotland in 1933 as well as France three concerts at the Salle Pleyel in Paris 41 and the Netherlands before returning to New York 42 43 On June 12 1933 the Duke Ellington Orchestra gave its British debut at the London Palladium 44 Ellington received an ovation when he walked on stage 45 They were one of 13 acts on the bill and were restricted to eight short numbers the booking lasted until June 24 43 46 The British visit saw Ellington win praise from members of the serious music community including composer Constant Lambert which gave a boost to Ellington s interest in composing longer works His longer pieces had already begun to appear Ellington had composed and recorded Creole Rhapsody as early as 1931 issued as both sides of a 12 record for Victor and both sides of a 10 record for Brunswick 47 A tribute to his mother Reminiscing in Tempo took four 10 78rpm record sides to record in 1935 after her death in that year 48 Symphony in Black also 1935 a short film featured his extended piece A Rhapsody of Negro Life It introduced Billie Holiday and won the Academy Award for Best Musical Short Subject 49 Ellington and his Orchestra also appeared in the features Murder at the Vanities and Belle of the Nineties both 1934 For agent Mills the attention was a publicity triumph as Ellington was now internationally known On the band s tour through the segregated South in 1934 they avoided some of the traveling difficulties of African Americans by touring in private railcars These provided accessible accommodations dining and storage for equipment while avoiding the indignities of segregated facilities However the competition intensified as swing bands like Benny Goodman s began to receive widespread attention Swing dancing became a youth phenomenon particularly with white college audiences and danceability drove record sales and bookings Jukeboxes proliferated nationwide spreading the gospel of swing Ellington s band could certainly swing but their strengths were mood nuance and richness of composition hence his statement jazz is music the swing is business 50 Later 1930s Edit From 1936 Ellington began to make recordings with smaller groups sextets octets and nonets drawn from his then 15 man orchestra 51 He composed pieces intended to feature a specific instrumentalist such as Jeep s Blues for Johnny Hodges Yearning for Love for Lawrence Brown Trumpet in Spades for Rex Stewart Echoes of Harlem for Cootie Williams and Clarinet Lament for Barney Bigard 52 In 1937 Ellington returned to the Cotton Club which had relocated to the mid town Theater District In the summer of that year his father died and due to many expenses Ellington s finances were tight However his situation improved in the following years After leaving agent Irving Mills he signed on with the William Morris Agency Mills though continued to record Ellington After only a year his Master and Variety labels the small groups had recorded for the latter collapsed in late 1937 Mills placed Ellington back on Brunswick and those small group units on Vocalion through to 1940 Well known sides continued to be recorded Caravan in 1937 and I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart the following year source source source source source source Ellington in 1939 Billy Strayhorn originally hired as a lyricist began his association with Ellington in 1939 53 Nicknamed Swee Pea for his mild manner Strayhorn soon became a vital member of the Ellington organization Ellington showed great fondness for Strayhorn and never failed to speak glowingly of the man and their collaborative working relationship my right arm my left arm all the eyes in the back of my head my brain waves in his head and his in mine 54 Strayhorn with his training in classical music not only contributed his original lyrics and music but also arranged and polished many of Ellington s works becoming a second Ellington or Duke s doppelganger It was not uncommon for Strayhorn to fill in for Duke whether in conducting or rehearsing the band playing the piano on stage and in the recording studio 55 The decade ended with a very successful European tour in 1939 just as World War II loomed in Europe Ellington in the early to mid 1940s Edit Duke Ellington at the Hurricane Club Broadway amp W 51St New York City 56 May 1943 Two musicians who joined Ellington at this time created a sensation in their own right Jimmy Blanton and Ben Webster Blanton was effectively hired on the spot in late October 1939 before Ellington was aware of his name when he dropped in on a gig of Fate Marable in St Louis 57 The short lived Blanton transformed the use of double bass in jazz allowing it to function as a solo melodic instrument rather than a rhythm instrument alone 58 Terminal illness forced him to leave by late 1941 after around two years Ben Webster s principal tenure with Ellington spanned 1939 to 1943 An ambition of his he told his previous employer Teddy Wilson then leading a big band that Ellington was the only rival he would leave Wilson for 59 He was the orchestra s first regular tenor saxophonist and increased the size of the sax section to five for the first time 60 59 Much influenced by Johnny Hodges he often credited Hodges with showing him how to play my horn The two men sat next to each other in the orchestra 61 Trumpeter Ray Nance joined replacing Cootie Williams who had defected to Benny Goodman Additionally Nance added violin to the instrumental colors Ellington had at his disposal Recordings exist of Nance s first concert date on November 7 1940 at Fargo North Dakota Privately made by Jack Towers and Dick Burris these recordings were first legitimately issued in 1978 as Duke Ellington at Fargo 1940 Live they are among the earliest of innumerable live performances which survive Nance was an occasional vocalist as well although Herb Jeffries was the main male vocalist in this era until 1943 while Al Hibbler who replaced Jeffries in 1943 continued until 1951 Ivie Anderson left in 1942 for health reasons after 11 years the longest term of any of Ellington s vocalists 62 Once more recording for Victor from 1940 with the small groups being issued on their Bluebird label three minute masterpieces on 78 rpm record sides continued to flow from Ellington Billy Strayhorn Ellington s son Mercer Ellington and members of the orchestra 63 Cotton Tail Main Stem Harlem Air Shaft Jack the Bear and dozens of others date from this period Strayhorn s Take the A Train a hit in 1941 became the band s theme replacing East St Louis Toodle Oo Ellington and his associates wrote for an orchestra of distinctive voices displaying tremendous creativity 64 The commercial recordings from this era were re issued in the 3 CD collection Never No Lament in 2003 Ellington s long term aim though was to extend the jazz form from that three minute limit of which he was an acknowledged master 65 While he had composed and recorded some extended pieces before such works now became a regular feature of Ellington s output In this he was helped by Strayhorn who had enjoyed a more thorough training in the forms associated with classical music than Ellington The first of these Black Brown and Beige 1943 was dedicated to telling the story of African Americans and the place of slavery and the church in their history 66 Black Brown and Beige debuted at Carnegie Hall on January 23 1943 beginning an annual series of Ellington concerts at the venue over the next four years While some jazz musicians had played at Carnegie Hall before none had performed anything as elaborate as Ellington s work Unfortunately starting a regular pattern Ellington s longer works were generally not well received A partial exception was Jump for Joy a full length musical based on themes of African American identity which debuted on July 10 1941 at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles Hollywood actors John Garfield and Mickey Rooney invested in the production and Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles offered to direct 67 At one performance Garfield insisted that Herb Jeffries who was light skinned should wear makeup Ellington objected in the interval and compared Jeffries to Al Jolson The change was reverted The singer later commented that the audience must have thought he was an entirely different character in the second half of the show 68 Although it had sold out performances and received positive reviews 69 it ran for only 122 performances until September 29 1941 with a brief revival in November of that year Its subject matter did not make it appealing to Broadway Ellington had unfulfilled plans to take it there 70 Despite this disappointment a Broadway production of Ellington s Beggar s Holiday his sole book musical premiered on December 23 1946 71 under the direction of Nicholas Ray The settlement of the first recording ban of 1942 44 leading to an increase in royalties paid to musicians had a severe effect on the financial viability of the big bands including Ellington s Orchestra His income as a songwriter ultimately subsidized it Although he always spent lavishly and drew a respectable income from the orchestra s operations the band s income often just covered expenses 72 However in 1943 Ellington asked Webster to leave the saxophonist s personality made his colleagues anxious and the saxophonist was regularly in conflict with the leader 73 Early post war years Edit Musicians enlisting in the military and travel restrictions made touring difficult for the big bands and dancing became subject to a new tax which continued for many years affecting the choices of club owners By the time World War II ended the focus of popular music was shifting towards singing crooners such as Frank Sinatra and Jo Stafford As the cost of hiring big bands had increased club owners now found smaller jazz groups more cost effective Some of Ellington s new works such as the wordless vocal feature Transblucency 1946 with Kay Davis were not going to have a similar reach as the newly emerging stars Ellington poses with his piano at the KFG Radio Studio on November 3 1954 Ellington continued on his own course through these tectonic shifts While Count Basie was forced to disband his whole ensemble and work as an octet for a time Ellington was able to tour most of Western Europe between April 6 and June 30 1950 with the orchestra playing 74 dates over 77 days 74 During the tour according to Sonny Greer Ellington did not perform the newer works However Ellington s extended composition Harlem 1950 was in the process of being completed at this time Ellington later presented its score to music loving President Harry Truman Also during his time in Europe Ellington would compose the music for a stage production by Orson Welles Titled Time Runs in Paris 75 and An Evening With Orson Welles in Frankfurt the variety show also featured a newly discovered Eartha Kitt who performed Ellington s original song Hungry Little Trouble as Helen of Troy 76 In 1951 Ellington suffered a significant loss of personnel Sonny Greer Lawrence Brown and most importantly Johnny Hodges left to pursue other ventures However only Greer was a permanent departee Drummer Louie Bellson replaced Greer and his Skin Deep was a hit for Ellington Tenor player Paul Gonsalves had joined in December 1950 74 after periods with Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie and stayed for the rest of his life while Clark Terry joined in November 1951 77 Andre Previn said in 1952 You know Stan Kenton can stand in front of a thousand fiddles and a thousand brass and make a dramatic gesture and every studio arranger can nod his head and say Oh yes that s done like this But Duke merely lifts his finger three horns make a sound and I don t know what it is 78 However by 1955 after three years of recording for Capitol Ellington lacked a regular recording affiliation Career revival Edit Ellington s appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 7 1956 returned him to wider prominence The feature Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue comprised two tunes that had been in the band s book since 1937 Ellington who had abruptly ended the band s scheduled set because of the late arrival of four key players called the two tunes as the time was approaching midnight Announcing that the two pieces would be separated by an interlude played by tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves Ellington proceeded to lead the band through the two pieces with Gonsalves 27 chorus marathon solo whipping the crowd into a frenzy leading the Maestro to play way beyond the curfew time despite urgent pleas from festival organizer George Wein to bring the program to an end The concert made international headlines and led to one of only five Time magazine cover stories dedicated to a jazz musician 79 and resulted in an album produced by George Avakian that would become the best selling LP of Ellington s career 80 Much of the music on the LP was in effect simulated with only about 40 actually from the concert itself According to Avakian Ellington was dissatisfied with aspects of the performance and felt the musicians had been under rehearsed 80 The band assembled the next day to re record several numbers with the addition of the faked sound of a crowd none of which was disclosed to purchasers of the album Not until 1999 was the concert recording properly released for the first time The revived attention brought about by the Newport appearance should not have surprised anyone Johnny Hodges had returned the previous year 81 and Ellington s collaboration with Strayhorn was renewed around the same time under terms more amenable to the younger man 82 The original Ellington at Newport album was the first release in a new recording contract with Columbia Records which yielded several years of recording stability mainly under producer Irving Townsend who coaxed both commercial and artistic productions from Ellington 83 In 1957 CBS Columbia Records parent corporation aired a live television production of A Drum Is a Woman an allegorical suite which received mixed reviews Festival appearances at the new Monterey Jazz Festival and elsewhere provided venues for live exposure and a European tour in 1958 was well received Such Sweet Thunder 1957 based on Shakespeare s plays and characters and The Queen s Suite 1958 dedicated to Britain s Queen Elizabeth II were products of the renewed impetus which the Newport appearance helped to create However the latter work was not commercially issued at the time The late 1950s also saw Ella Fitzgerald record her Duke Ellington Songbook Verve with Ellington and his orchestra a recognition that Ellington s songs had now become part of the cultural canon known as the Great American Songbook James Stewart and Ellington in Anatomy of a Murder 1959 Around this time Ellington and Strayhorn began to work on film scoring The first of these was Anatomy of a Murder 1959 39 a courtroom drama directed by Otto Preminger and featuring James Stewart in which Ellington appeared fronting a roadhouse combo Film historians have recognized the score as a landmark the first significant Hollywood film music by African Americans comprising non diegetic music that is music whose source is not visible or implied by action in the film like an on screen band The score avoided the cultural stereotypes which previously characterized jazz scores and rejected a strict adherence to visuals in ways that presaged the New Wave cinema of the 60s 84 Ellington and Strayhorn always looking for new musical territory produced suites for John Steinbeck s novel Sweet Thursday Tchaikovsky s Nutcracker Suite and Edvard Grieg s Peer Gynt Anatomy of a Murder was followed by Paris Blues 1961 which featured Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as jazz musicians For this work Ellington was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Score In the early 1960s Ellington embraced recording with artists who had been friendly rivals in the past or were younger musicians who focused on later styles The Ellington and Count Basie orchestras recorded together with the album First Time The Count Meets the Duke 1961 During a period when Ellington was between recording contracts he made records with Louis Armstrong Roulette Coleman Hawkins John Coltrane both for Impulse and participated in a session with Charles Mingus and Max Roach which produced the Money Jungle United Artists album He signed to Frank Sinatra s new Reprise label but the association with the label was short lived Musicians who had previously worked with Ellington returned to the Orchestra as members Lawrence Brown in 1960 and Cootie Williams in 1962 The writing and playing of music is a matter of intent You can t just throw a paintbrush against the wall and call whatever happens art My music fits the tonal personality of the player I think too strongly in terms of altering my music to fit the performer to be impressed by accidental music You can t take doodling seriously 16 He was now performing worldwide and spent a significant part of each year on overseas tours As a consequence he formed new working relationships with artists from around the world including the Swedish vocalist Alice Babs and the South African musicians Dollar Brand and Sathima Bea Benjamin A Morning in Paris 1963 1997 Ellington wrote an original score for director Michael Langham s production of Shakespeare s Timon of Athens at the Stratford Festival in Ontario Canada which opened on July 29 1963 Langham has used it for several subsequent productions including a much later adaptation by Stanley Silverman which expands the score with some of Ellington s best known works Last years Edit Ellington receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Nixon in 1969 Ellington was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1965 However no prize was ultimately awarded that year 85 Then 66 years old he joked Fate is being kind to me Fate doesn t want me to be famous too young 86 In 1999 he was posthumously awarded a special Pulitzer Prize commemorating the centennial year of his birth in recognition of his musical genius which evoked aesthetically the principles of democracy through the medium of jazz and thus made an indelible contribution to art and culture 6 87 In September 1965 he premiered the first of his Sacred Concerts He created a jazz Christian liturgy Although the work received mixed reviews Ellington was proud of the composition and performed it dozens of times This concert was followed by two others of the same type in 1968 and 1973 known as the Second and Third Sacred Concerts Many saw the Sacred Music suites as an attempt to reinforce commercial support for organized religion However Ellington simply said it was the most important thing I ve done 88 The Steinway piano upon which the Sacred Concerts were composed is part of the collection of the Smithsonian s National Museum of American History Like Haydn and Mozart Ellington conducted his orchestra from the piano he always played the keyboard parts when the Sacred Concerts were performed 89 Duke turned 65 in the spring of 1964 but showed no signs of slowing down as he continued to make recordings of significant works such as The Far East Suite 1966 New Orleans Suite 1970 The Afro Eurasian Eclipse 1971 and the Latin American Suite 1972 much of it inspired by his world tours It was during this time that he recorded his only album with Frank Sinatra entitled Francis A amp Edward K 1967 In 1972 1974 Ellington worked on his only opera Queenie Pie together with Maurice Peress Ellington got an idea to wrote an opera about a black beautician in 1930s but did not finish it 90 91 Among the last shows Ellington and his orchestra performed were one on March 21 1973 at Purdue University s Hall of Music two on March 22 1973 at the Sturges Young Auditorium in Sturgis Michigan 92 and the Eastbourne Performance on December 1 1973 later issued on LP 93 Ellington performed what is considered his final full concert in a ballroom at Northern Illinois University on March 20 1974 Since 1980 that ballroom has been dedicated as the Duke Ellington Ballroom 94 Personal life Edit Ellington in 1973 Ellington married his high school sweetheart Edna Thompson d 1967 on July 2 1918 when he was 19 95 The next spring on March 11 1919 Edna gave birth to their only son Mercer Kennedy Ellington 95 Ellington was joined in New York City by his wife and son in the late 1920s but the couple soon permanently separated 96 According to her obituary in Jet magazine she was homesick for Washington and returned 97 In 1929 Ellington became the companion of Mildred Dixon 98 who traveled with him managed Tempo Music inspired songs such as Sophisticated Lady 99 at the peak of his career and raised his son 100 101 102 Mercer referred to Mildred Dixon as his mother In 1938 he left his family his son was 19 and moved in with Beatrice Evie Ellis a Cotton Club employee 103 Their relationship though stormy continued after Ellington met and formed a relationship with Fernanda de Castro Monte in the early 1960s 104 Ellington supported both women for the rest of his life 105 Ellington s sister Ruth 1915 2004 later ran Tempo Music his music publishing company 102 Ruth s second husband was the bass baritone McHenry Boatwright whom she met when he sang at her brother s funeral 106 As an adult son Mercer Ellington d 1996 played trumpet and piano led his own band and worked as his father s business manager 107 Ellington was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha 108 and was a Freemason associated with Prince Hall Freemasonry 109 Death EditEllington died on May 24 1974 of complications from lung cancer and pneumonia 110 a few weeks after his 75th birthday At his funeral attended by over 12 000 people at the Cathedral of St John the Divine Ella Fitzgerald summed up the occasion It s a very sad day A genius has passed 111 He was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery the Bronx New York City 112 Legacy EditMemorialized Edit Numerous memorials have been dedicated to Duke Ellington in cities from New York and Washington D C to Los Angeles In Ellington s birthplace Washington D C the Duke Ellington School of the Arts educates talented students who are considering careers in the arts by providing art instruction and academic programs to prepare students for post secondary education and professional careers In 1974 the District renamed the Calvert Street Bridge originally built in 1935 as the Duke Ellington Bridge Another school is P S 004 Duke Ellington in New York In 1989 a bronze plaque was attached to the newly named Duke Ellington Building at 2121 Ward Place NW 113 In 2012 the new owner of the building commissioned a mural by Aniekan Udofia that appears above the lettering Duke Ellington In 2010 the triangular park across the street from Duke Ellington s birth site at the intersection of New Hampshire and M Streets NW was named the Duke Ellington Park Ellington s residence at 2728 Sherman Avenue NW during the years 1919 1922 114 is marked by a bronze plaque On February 24 2009 the United States Mint issued a coin with Duke Ellington on it making him the first African American to appear by himself on a circulating U S coin 115 Ellington appears on the reverse tails side of the District of Columbia quarter 115 The coin is part of the U S Mint s program honoring the District and the U S territories 116 and celebrates Ellington s birthplace in the District of Columbia 115 Ellington is depicted on the quarter seated at a piano sheet music in hand along with the inscription Justice for All which is the District s motto 116 In 1986 a United States commemorative stamp was issued featuring Ellington s likeness 117 Ellington on the Washington D C quarter released in 2009 Ellington lived out his final years in Manhattan in a townhouse at 333 Riverside Drive near West 106th Street His sister Ruth who managed his publishing company also lived there and his son Mercer lived next door After his death West 106th Street was officially renamed Duke Ellington Boulevard A large memorial to Ellington created by sculptor Robert Graham was dedicated in 1997 in New York s Central Park near Fifth Avenue and 110th Street an intersection named Duke Ellington Circle A statue of Ellington at a piano is featured at the entrance to UCLA s Schoenberg Hall According to UCLA magazine When UCLA students were entranced by Duke Ellington s provocative tunes at a Culver City club in 1937 they asked the budding musical great to play a free concert in Royce Hall I ve been waiting for someone to ask us Ellington exclaimed On the day of the concert Ellington accidentally mixed up the venues and drove to USC instead He eventually arrived at the UCLA campus and to apologize for his tardiness played to the packed crowd for more than four hours And so Sir Duke and his group played the first ever jazz performance in a concert venue 118 The Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival is a nationally renowned annual competition for prestigious high school bands Started in 1996 at Jazz at Lincoln Center the festival is named after Ellington because of the significant focus that the festival places on his works Tributes Edit After Duke died his son Mercer took over leadership of the orchestra continuing until he died in 1996 Like the Count Basie Orchestra this ghost band continued to release albums for many years Digital Duke credited to The Duke Ellington Orchestra won the 1988 Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album Mercer Ellington had been handling all administrative aspects of his father s business for several decades Mercer s children continue a connection with their grandfather s work Gunther Schuller wrote in 1989 Ellington composed incessantly to the very last days of his life Music was indeed his mistress it was his total life and his commitment to it was incomparable and unalterable In jazz he was a giant among giants And in twentieth century music he may yet one day be recognized as one of the half dozen greatest masters of our time 119 157 Martin Williams said Duke Ellington lived long enough to hear himself named among our best composers And since his death in 1974 it has become not at all uncommon to see him named along with Charles Ives as the greatest composer we have produced regardless of category 120 In the opinion of Bob Blumenthal of The Boston Globe in 1999 i n the century since his birth there has been no greater composer American or otherwise than Edward Kennedy Ellington 121 In 2002 scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Duke Ellington on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans 122 Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6535 Hollywood Blvd His compositions have been revisited by artists and musicians worldwide as sources of inspiration and a bedrock of their performing careers Dave Brubeck dedicated The Duke 1954 to Ellington and it became a standard covered by others 123 including Miles Davis on his Miles Ahead 1957 The album The Real Ambassadors has a vocal version of this piece You Swing Baby The Duke with lyrics by Iola Brubeck Dave Brubeck s wife It is performed as a duet between Louis Armstrong and Carmen McRae It is also dedicated to Duke Ellington Miles Davis created his half hour dirge He Loved Him Madly on Get Up with It as a tribute to Ellington one month after his death Charles Mingus who had been fired by Ellington decades earlier wrote the elegy Duke Ellington s Sound Of Love in 1974 a few months after Ellington s death Stevie Wonder wrote the song Sir Duke as a tribute to Ellington which appeared on his album Songs in the Key of Life released in 1976 There are hundreds of albums dedicated to the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn by artists famous and obscure Sophisticated Ladies an award winning 1981 musical revue incorporated many tunes from Ellington s repertoire A second Broadway musical interpolating Ellington s music Play On debuted in 1997 Discography EditMain article Duke Ellington discographyAwards and honors Edit1960 Hollywood Walk of Fame contribution to recording industry 1964 Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Milton College 1966 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award 6 1969 the Presidential Medal of Freedom the highest civilian award in the US 6 1971 an Honorary PhD from the Berklee College of Music 6 1973 the Legion of Honour by France its highest civilian honor 6 1999 posthumous Special Pulitzer Prize for his lifetime contributions to music and cultureGrammy Awards Edit Ellington earned 14 Grammy awards from 1959 to 2000 three of which were posthumous and a total of 25 nominations Duke Ellington Grammy Award History 124 117 Year Category Title Genre Result1999 Historical Album The Duke Ellington Centennial EditionRCA Victor Recordings 1927 1973 Jazz Won1979 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance Big Band Duke Ellington At Fargo 1940 Live Jazz Won1976 Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band The Ellington Suites Jazz Won1972 Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band Togo Brava Suite Jazz Won1971 Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band New Orleans Suite Jazz Won1971 Best Instrumental Composition New Orleans Suite Composing Arranging Nominated1970 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance Large Group or Soloist with Large Group Duke Ellington 70th Birthday Concert Jazz Nominated1968 Trustees Award National Trustees Award 1968 Special Awards Won1968 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance Large GroupOr Soloist With Large Group And His Mother Called Him Bill Jazz Won1967 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance Large GroupOr Soloist With Large Group Far East Suite Jazz Won1966 Bing Crosby Award Name changed to GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award in 1982 Bing Crosby Award Name changed to GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award in 1982 Special Awards Won1966 Best Original Jazz Composition In The Beginning God Jazz Won1966 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance Group or Soloist with Group Concert Of Sacred Music Album Jazz Nominated1965 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance Large Group Or Soloist With Large Group Ellington 66 Jazz Won1965 Best Original Jazz Composition Virgin Islands Suite Jazz Nominated1964 Best Original Jazz Composition Night Creature Jazz Nominated1964 Best Jazz Performance Large Group Instrumental First Time Album Jazz Nominated1961 Best Instrumental Theme or Instrumental Version of Song Paris Blues Composing Arranging Nominated1961 Best Sound Track Album or Recording of Score from Motion Picture or Television Paris Blues Motion Picture Album Music for Visual Media Nominated1960 Best Jazz Performance Solo or Small Group Back To Back Duke Ellington And Johnny Hodges Play The Blues Jazz Nominated1960 Best Jazz Composition of More Than Five Minutes Duration Idiom 59 Jazz Nominated1959 Best Performance By A Dance Band Anatomy of a Murder Pop Won1959 Best Musical Composition First RecordedAnd Released In 1959 More Than 5 Minutes Duration Anatomy of a Murder Composing Won1959 Best Sound Track Album Background ScoreFrom A Motion Picture Or Television Anatomy of a Murder Composing Won1959 Best Jazz Performance Group Ellington Jazz Party Album Jazz NominatedGrammy Hall of Fame Edit Recordings of Duke Ellington were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings at least 25 years old that have qualitative or historical significance Duke Ellington Grammy Hall of Fame Award 125 Year Recorded Title Genre Label Year Inducted1932 It Don t Mean a Thing If It Ain t Got That Swing Jazz single Brunswick 20081934 Cocktails for Two Jazz single Victor 20071957 Ellington at Newport Jazz album Columbia 20041956 Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue Jazz single Columbia 19991967 Far East Suite Jazz album RCA 19991944 Black Brown and Beige Jazz single RCA Victor 19901928 Black and Tan Fantasy Jazz single Victor 19811941 Take the A Train Jazz single Victor 19761931 Mood Indigo Jazz single Brunswick 1975Honors and inductions Edit Year Category Notes2022 Foundational June 18 2022 126 2009 Commemorative U S quarter D C and U S Territories Quarters Program 127 128 2008 Gennett Records Walk of Fame2004 Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fameat Jazz at Lincoln Center1999 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation 6 1992 Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame1986 22 commemorative U S stamp Issued April 29 1986 129 1978 Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame1973 French Legion of Honour 130 July 6 19731973 Honorary Degree in Music from Columbia University May 16 19731971 Honorary Doctorate Degree from Berklee College of Music1971 Honorary Doctor of Music from Howard University 131 1971 Songwriters Hall of Fame1969 Presidential Medal of Freedom1968 Grammy Trustees Award Special Merit Award1967 Honorary Doctor of Music Degree from Yale University 132 133 1966 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award1964 Honorary degree Milton College Wisconsin1959 NAACP Spingarn Medal1957 Deutscher Filmpreis Best Music Award won for the movie Jonah with fellow composer Winfried Zillig1956 DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame inducteeSee also EditList of people with synesthesiaReferences Edit Biography DukeEllington com Official site 2008 Retrieved January 26 2012 Hajdu David 1996 Lush Life A Biography of Billy Strayhorn New York Farrar Straus amp Giroux ISBN 978 0865475120 p 170 O Dell Cary Blanton Webster Era Recordings Duke Ellington Orchestra 1940 1942 Added to the National Registry 2002 PDF Library of Congress Archived PDF from the original on October 9 2022 Retrieved July 28 2022 Schuller Gunther Kernfeld Barry 2002 Ellington Duke jazz Edward Kennedy Grove Music Online 8th ed Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 gmo 9781561592630 article J137500 ISBN 978 1 56159 263 0 Tucker 1993 p 6 writes He tried to avoid the word jazz preferring Negro or American music He claimed there were only two types of music good and bad And he embraced a phrase coined by his colleague Billy Strayhorn beyond category as a liberating principle a b c d e f g The 1999 Pulitzer Prize Winners Special Awards and Citations The Pulitzer Prizes Retrieved December 3 2013 With reprint of short biography and list of works selected a b Brothers 2018 p 10 a b Lawrence 2001 p 1 Lawrence 2001 p 2 Hasse 1995 p 21 Cohen 2010 Terkel 2002 Ellington 1976 p 20 Ellington 1976 p 10 Smith Willie the Lion 1964 Music on My Mind The Memoirs of an American Pianist Foreword by Duke Ellington New York City Doubleday amp Company Inc p ix a b c Ellington Duke 1970 Current Biography H W Wilson Company Mercer Ellington to Marian McPartland on Piano Jazz rebroadcast on Hot Jazz Saturday Night WAMU 2018 April 28 a b Simmonds Yussuf September 11 2008 Duke Ellington Los Angeles Sentinel Retrieved July 14 2009 Hasse 1993 p 45 Cohen Harvey G Autumn 2004 The Marketing of Duke Ellington Setting the Strategy for an African American Maestro The Journal of African American History 89 4 291 315 doi 10 2307 4134056 JSTOR 4134056 S2CID 145278913 Brothers 2018 p 13 Hasse 1993 p 79 Lawrence 2001 pp 46 47 Gary Giddins Visions of Jazz The First Century New York amp Oxford 1998 pp 112 113 Hasse 1993 p 90 Lawrence 2001 p 77 Gutman Bill Duke The Musical Life of Duke Ellington New York E Rights E Reads 1977 2001 p 35 Duke Ellington Music is my Mistress New York Da Capo 1973 1976 pp 75 76 John Franceschina Duke Ellington s Music for the Theatre Jefferson North Carolina McFarland 2001 p 16 Schuller Gunther October 1992 Jazz and Composition The Many Sides of Duke Ellington the Music s Greatest Composer Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 46 1 36 51 doi 10 2307 3824163 JSTOR 3824163 Brothers 2018 p 33 Adelaide Hall talks about 1920s Harlem and Creole Love Call jazzgirl1920s Archived from the original on December 11 2021 Retrieved February 2 2013 via YouTube unreliable source Williams Iain Cameron Underneath a Harlem Moon The Harlem to Paris Years of Adelaide Hall Archived February 26 2021 at the Wayback Machine Continuum Publishing Int 2002 on pp 112 117 Williams talks about Creole Love Call in depth Brothers 2018 pp 53 54 Ulanov Barry Duke Ellington Creative Age Press 1946 Stratemann Klaus Duke Ellington Day by Day and Film by Film 1992 ISBN 8788043347 Brothers 2018 p 65 John Bird Percy Grainger a b Hodeir Andre Ellington Duke Oxford Music Online Oxford University Press Retrieved September 15 2016 Hasse 1993 p 166 Hasse 1993 p 173 Green 2015 p 221 a b Williams Richard June 17 2011 Duke Ellington s mother dies The Guardian Retrieved December 5 2020 Hasse 1993 p 385 Tucker 1993 p 243 Stratemann 1992 p 65 Brothers 2018 p 73 Brothers 2018 p 75 Schuller 1989 p 94 Hasse 1993 p 203 Brothers 2018 p 91 Brothers 2018 p 88 Stone Sonjia ed 1983 William Thomas Strayhorn Billy Strayhorn Songs University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Archived from the original on June 22 2009 Retrieved July 14 2009 Ellington 1976 p 156 d Gama Rose Raul Duke Ellington Symphony of the Body and Soul Allaboutjazz com Archived from the original on July 7 2012 Retrieved December 31 2011 Jackson Kenneth T Keller Lisa Flood Nancy 2010 The Encyclopedia of New York New Haven Yale University Press p 1951 ISBN 978 0300182576 Whitehead Kevin Bianculli David October 5 2018 A Look Back At How Virtuoso Jimmy Blanton Changed The Bass Forever NPR Retrieved June 17 2021 Brothers 2018 p 99 100 a b Buchmann Moller 2006 p 57 Schuller 1989 p 789 Schuller 1989 p 795 Musician Ivie Anderson Vocal All About Jazz Musicians allaboutjazz com Retrieved February 2 2013 Brothers 2018 p 121 Jazz Musicians Duke Ellington Theory Jazz Archived from the original on September 3 2015 Retrieved July 14 2009 Crawford Richard 1993 The American Musical Landscape Berkeley University of California Press ISBN 978 0520077645 Brothers 2018 p 131 Harvey G Cohen Duke Ellington s America Chicago and London University of Chicago Press 2010 p 189 Cohen 2010 pp 190 191 Cohen 2010 pp 191 92 Brent David February 6 2008 Jump For Joy Duke Ellington s Celebratory Musical Night Lights Classic Jazz WFIU Public Radio Indianapublicmedia org Retrieved December 31 2011 Lawrence 2001 p 287 Hasse 1993 p 274 Lawrence 2001 pp 321 322 a b Lawrence 2001 p 291 Eartha Kitt Singer who rose from poverty to captivate audiences around the world with her purring voice The Daily Telegraph December 26 2008 Archived from the original on January 11 2022 Retrieved December 14 2014 Win Fanning August 13 1950 Eartha Kitt wins raves in Welles show at Frankfurt Stars and Stripes Retrieved December 14 2014 Ken Vail Duke s Diary The Life of Duke Ellington Lanham Maryland amp Oxford UK Scarecrow Press 2002 p 28 Ralph J Gleason Duke Excites Mystifies Without Any Pretension DownBeat November 5 1952 reprinted in Jazz Perspectives Vol 2 No 2 July 2008 pp 215 249 Jazzman Duke Ellington Time August 20 1956 Archived from the original on December 7 2006 Retrieved February 2 2013 a b Jack Sohmer Duke Ellington Ellington at Newport 1956 Complete JazzTimes October 1999 Hasse 1995 pp 317 318 Hajdu 1996 pp 153 154 Wein George 2003 Myself Among Others A Life in Music Da Capo Press Mark Stryker Ellington s score still celebrated Detroit Free Press January 20 2009 Mervyn Cooke History of Film Music 2008 Cambridge University Press Gary Giddins How Come Jazz Isn t Dead pp 39 55 in Weisbard 2004 pp 41 42 Giddins says that Ellington was denied the 1965 Music Pulitzer because the jury commended him for his body of work rather than for a particular composition Still his posthumous Pulitzer was granted precisely for that life long body of work Tucker 1993 p 362 Duke Ellington Biography The Duke Ellington Society May 24 1974 Archived from the original on November 12 2012 Retrieved February 2 2013 Ellington 1976 p 269 Ellington s Steinway Grand National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institution Archived from the original on August 10 2008 Retrieved August 26 2008 Peress Maurice 2004 Ellington s Queenie Pie Dvorak to Duke Ellington Oxford University Press US pp 161 171 ISBN 978 0 19 509822 8 Duke Ellington s Lost Opera Forever A Work In Progress npr org Retrieved March 8 2023 Vail Ken 2002 Duke s Diary The Life of Duke Ellington Scarecrow Press pp 449 452 ISBN 978 0810841192 Green 2015 pp 47 48 McGowan Mark November 3 2003 NIU to rededicate Duke Ellington Ballroom during Nov 6 NIU Jazz Ensemble concert Northern Illinois University Archived from the original on June 25 2009 Retrieved July 14 2009 a b Hasse 1995 p 49 Susan Robinson Duke Ellington Gibbs magazine n d Duke Ellington s Duchess Jet February 2 1967 pp 46 Retrieved October 13 2018 Hasse 1995 pp 129 131 Africville Genealogy Society 2010 p 34 Africville Genealogy Society 2010 pp 33 34 Lawrence 2001 p 130 a b Cohen 2010 p 297 Hasse 1995 pp 218 219 Teachout 2015 pp 310 312 Lawrence 2001 p 356 Norment Lynn January 1983 McHenry Boatwright Ebony pp 30 Retrieved October 13 2018 Yanow Scott Mercer Ellington Biography AllMusic Retrieved November 10 2020 Famous Alphas Alpha Phi Alpha Retrieved November 10 2020 Lewis John July 2 2014 The secret history of the jazz greats who were freemasons The Guardian Jones Jack May 25 1974 From the Archives Jazz Great Duke Ellington Dies in New York Hospital at 75 Los Angeles Times Retrieved January 31 2017 Hasse 1993 p 385 Bradbury David 2005 Duke Ellington Haus Publishing p 129 ISBN 978 1904341666 via Google Books Program and Invitation entitled the Dedication of the Birth Site of Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington at 2129 Ward Place N W Washington D C April 29 1989 Felix E Grant Digital Collection Archived from the original on January 15 2016 Retrieved December 5 2012 Letter from Curator of the Peabody Library Association of Georgetown D C Mathilde D Williams to Felix Grant September 21 1972 Felix E Grant Digital Collection Archived from the original on January 15 2016 Retrieved December 5 2012 a b c Jazz man is first African American to solo on U S circulating coin CNN February 24 2009 Archived from the original on August 21 2009 Retrieved October 3 2009 The United States Mint launched a new coin Tuesday featuring jazz legend Duke Ellington making him the first African American to appear by himself on a circulating U S coin The coin was issued to celebrate Ellington s birthplace the District of Columbia a b United States Mint Coins and Medals District of Columbia a b Duke Ellington Artist www grammy com Recording Academy May 22 2018 Retrieved April 12 2018 Maya Parmer Curtain Up Two Days of the Duke UCLA Magazine April 1 2009 Schuller Gunther 1989 The Swing Era New York Oxford University Press ISBN 019504312X Martin Williams liner notes Duke Ellington s Symphony in Black The Smithsonian Jazz Repertory Ensemble conducted by Gunther Schuller The Smithsonian Collections recording 1980 Boston Globe April 25 1999 Asante Molefi Kete 2002 100 Greatest African Americans A Biographical Encyclopedia Amherst New York Prometheus Books ISBN 1573929638 The Duke by Dave Brubeck song review recordings covers AllMusic Retrieved March 21 2007 Entertainment Awards Database Los Angeles Times Retrieved February 2 2013 Grammy Hall Of Fame Grammy org Archived from the original on January 22 2011 Retrieved February 2 2013 Aderoju Darlene June 13 2022 Black Music Month amp Juneteenth 2022 Industry Celebrations Updating Billboard Retrieved June 14 2022 The United States Mint About The Mint Usmint gov Retrieved February 2 2013 Sheridan Mary Beth June 20 2008 Ellington Comes Out Ahead in Coin Tossup The Washington Post Retrieved October 3 2009 Featured Exhibition Center for Jazz Arts Archived from the original on May 18 2013 Retrieved February 2 2013 NMAH Archives Center Americanhistory si edu Archived from the original on January 30 2012 Retrieved February 2 2013 Recipients of Honorary Degrees By Year Howard University Galston Arthur October 2002 The Duke amp I A professor explains how jazz legend Duke Ellington became a doctor in 1967 Yale Alumni Magazine Yale Honorary Degree Recipients Yale University Archived from the original on May 21 2015 Bibliography EditAfricville Genealogy Society ed 2010 The Spirit of Africville Halifax Formac Publishing ISBN 978 0887809255 Buchmann Moller Frank 2006 Someone to Watch Over Me The Life and Music of Ben Webster Ann Arbor MI The University of Michigan Press ISBN 978 0472114702 Cohen Harvey G 2010 Duke Ellington s America Chicago University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0226112633 2010 An excerpt from Duke Ellington s America University of Chicago Press Ellington Duke 1976 Music Is My Mistress New York Da Capo ISBN 0704330903 Green Edward 2015 The Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington Cambridge UK Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 1316194133 Hajdu David 1996 Lush Life A Biography of Billy Strayhorn New York Farrar Straus amp Giroux ISBN 978 0865475120 Hasse John Edward 1993 Beyond Category The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington New York Simon amp Schuster ISBN 0 671 70387 0 Hasse John Edward 1995 Beyond Category The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington New York Da Capo ISBN 0306806142 Lawrence A H 2001 Duke Ellington and His World A Biography New York Routledge ISBN 041593012X Stratemann Klaus 1992 Duke Ellington Day by Day and Film by Film Copenhagen JazzMedia ISBN 8788043347 Covers all of Duke s travels and films from the 1929 short film Black and Tan onwards Teachout Terry 2015 Duke New York Gotham Books ISBN 978 1592407491 Terkel Studs 2002 Giants of Jazz 2nd ed New York The New Press ISBN 978 1565847699 Tucker Mark ed 1993 The Duke Ellington Reader New York Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0195093919 Weisbard Eric ed 2004 This Is Pop In Search of the Elusive at Experience Music Project Cambridge Harvard University Press ISBN 0674013441 Further reading EditBrothers Thomas 2018 Help The Beatles Duke Ellington and the Magic of Collaboration New York NY W W Norton amp Company ISBN 978 0393246230 Crouch Stanley June 2009 The Electric Company how technology revived Ellington s career Harper s Magazine 318 1909 73 77 Ellington Mercer 1978 Duke Ellington in Person Boston Houghton Mifflin ISBN 0395257115 Morton John Fass Backstory in Blue Ellington at Newport 56 Rutgers University Press Schuller Gunther 1986 Early Jazz Its Roots and Musical Development New York Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0195040432 Especially pp 318 357 Schuller Gunther 2005 The Swing Era The Development Of Jazz 1930 1945 New York Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0195071405 Esp pp 46 157 Tucker Mark 1991 Ellington The Early Years University of Illinois Press ISBN 0252014251 Ulanov Barry 1946 Duke Ellington Creative Age Press Williams Iain Cameron 2003 Underneath a Harlem Moon The Harlem to Paris Years of Adelaide Hall Bloomsbury Publishers ISBN 0826458939 OCLC 51780394 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Duke Ellington Wikiquote has quotations related to Duke Ellington Official website Duke Ellington in Grove Music Online by subscription Duke Ellington Oral History collection at Oral History of American Music Duke Ellington Legacy Big Band amp Duke Ellington Legacy Band official website of the family organization Duke Ellington Legacy Duke Ellington at IMDb Duke Ellington at the Internet Broadway Database Art Pilkington collection relating to Duke Ellington 1919 1974 at the Library of Congress Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn Jazz Composers April June 2009 exhibition at NMAH Duke Ellington 20th International Conference London May 2008 Duke Ellington at Library of Congress with 1653 library catalog records FBI file on Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington Duke Ellington recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings His life is retold in the radio drama Echos of Harlem a presentation from Destination Freedom Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Duke Ellington amp oldid 1150885423, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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