| Duke Ellington brought a level of style and sophistication to Jazz that it hadn't seen before.Although he was a gifted piano player, his orchestra was his principal instrument.His piano technique was influenced by stride piano players like James P.He returned to New York again in 1923, but this time with a group of friends from Washington D.They worked for a while with banjoist Elmer Snowden until there was a disagreement over missing money.This band worked at The Hollywood Club in Manhattan (which was later dubbed the Kentucky Club).The group recorded their first record in 1924 ("Choo Choo (Gotta Hurry Home)" and "Rainy Nights (Rainy Days)", but the band didn't hit the big time until after Irving Mills became their manager and publisher in 1926.In 1928 clarinetist Barney Bigard left King Oliver and joined the band.The Duke Ellington Orchestra left the Cotton Club in 1931 (although he would return on an occasional basis throughout the rest of the Thirties) and toured the U.The song "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" even came to define the era.Throughout the Forties and Fifties Ellington's fame and influence continued to grow.In the 1960s Duke wrote several religious pieces, and composed "The Far East Suite".Check And Double Check
Melville W.This article needs additional citations for verification.Ellington called his style and sound "American music" rather than jazz, and liked to describe those who impressed him as "beyond category", including many of the musicians who served with his orchestra, some of whom were themselves considered among the giants of jazz and remained with Ellington's orchestra for decades.Today the band performs under the direction of Barry Lee Hall.Work in films and the theatre
3 Legacy
4 Awards and recognitions
4.Daisy Kennedy Ellington who lived in the home of his maternal grandparents at 2129 Ward Place, NW in Washington, D.Cuthbert, a prominent white physician, and he also worked occasionally as a White House caterer.Marietta Clinkscales who lived at 1212 Street NW.The Clinkscales address is often, but erroneously, given as Ellington's childhood home.Daisy surrounded her son with dignified women who reinforced his manners and taught him to live elegantly."Soda Fountain Rag" (also known as the "Poodle Dog Rag").In his autobiography, Music is my Mistress, (1973) Ellington comments he missed more lessons than he attended, feeling at the time that playing the piano was not his talent.Over time, this would change.Ellington started sneaking into Frank Holiday's Poolroom at age fourteen.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.Serenaders ("Colored Syncopators", his telephone directory advertising proclaimed) to which he was not only a member, but also the booking agent.The boys thrived, performing for both black and white audiences, a rarity during the racially divided times.With his career taking off he felt secure enough to marry his high school sweetheart, Edna Thompson, on July 2, 1918 when he was 19.Ellington a solid artistic base.In 1927, King Oliver turned down a regular booking for his group as the house band at Harlem's Cotton Club; the offer passed to Ellington.An early experimenter in jazz trumpet growling, Miley is credited with morphing the band's style from rigid dance instrumentation to a more "New Orleans", or "jungle" style.Mills arranged recording sessions on the Brunswick, Victor, and Columbia labels which gave Ellington popular recognition.In the same year, The Cotton Club Orchestra appeared on stage for several months in Ziegfeld's Show Girl, along with vaudeville stars Jimmy Durante, Eddie Foy, Jr.In 1930, Ellington and his Orchestra connected with a whole different audience in a concert with Maurice Chevalier and they also performed at the Roseland, "America's foremost ballroom".Noted composer Percy Grainger was also an early admirer and supporter.Normally, Ellington led the orchestra by conducting from the keyboard using piano cues and visual gestures; very rarely did he conduct using a baton.The English visit saw Ellington win praise from members of the "serious" music community, including composer Constant Lambert, which gave a boost to his aspirations to compose longer "serious" pieces.And for agent Mills, it was a publicity triumph, as Ellington was now "internationally famous".The death of Ellington's mother in 1935 led to a temporary slump in his career.Competition was also intensifying, as Black and White "Swing Bands" began to rocket to popular attention, including those of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Carter, Earl Hines, Chick Webb, and Count Basie.Jukeboxes proliferated nationwide spreading the gospel of "swing".After splitting with agent Irving Mills, he signed on with William Morris.Following shortly were Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me in 1940 and Take the "A" Train (written by Billy Strayhorn) in 1941.Strayhorn, with his Classical music training, applied that knowledge to arrange and polish future Ellington works.The band reached a creative peak in the early 1940s, when Ellington wrote for an orchestra of distinctive voices and displayed tremendous creativity.In November of 1943 Ellington debuted Black, Brown and Beige in Carnegie Hall which told the struggle of blacks in America and began a series of concerts ideally suited to displaying Ellington's longer works.Jimmy Blanton transformed the use of double bass in jazz, allowing it to function as a solo rather than a rhythm instrument alone.He had composed and recorded Creole Rhapsody as early as 1931, but it was not until the 1940s that this became a regular feature of Ellington's work.Jump for Joy, an earlier musical, closed after only six performances in 1941.In the face of these major social shifts, Ellington continued on his own course, but major defections soon roiled his Orchestra and he started to retire earlier works composed for now departed members.Even though he made many television appearances, Ellington's hope that television would provide a significant new venue for his type of jazz did not pan out.Career revival
Ellington's appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 7, 1956 returned him to wider prominence and exposed him to new audiences.LP Ellington at Newport and six years of recording stability under producer Irving Townsend, who coaxed both commercial and artistic productions from Ellington.In the early 1960s, Ellington was between recording contracts, which allowed him to record with a variety of artists mostly not previously associated with him.The Ellington and Count Basie orchestras recorded together and he made a record with Coleman Hawkins, plus some work for Frank Sinatra's new Reprise label.His earlier hits were now established standards, earning Ellington impressive royalties.Eurasian Eclipse" (1971), much of it inspired by his world tours.It was during this time that Ellington recorded his only album with Frank Sinatra, entitled Francis A.He was later awarded several other prizes, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, and the Legion of Honor by France in 1973, the highest civilian honors in each country.At his funeral attended by over 12,000 people at the Cathedral of St.Work in films and the theatre
Ellington's film work began in 1929 with the short film Black and Tan Fantasy.He also appeared in the 1930 Amos 'n' Andy film Check and Double Check.In the late 1950s, his work in films took the shape of scoring for soundtracks, notably Anatomy of a Murder (1959), with James Stewart, in which he appeared fronting a roadhouse combo, and Paris Blues, (1961), which featured Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as jazz musicians.Legacy
In December of 1936 he was given the keys to the city of Los Angeles.In addition to a variety of awards, numerous memorials have been dedicated to Duke Ellington.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.The massive Duke Ellington Bridge, built in 1935, carries Calvert Street over the ravine of Rock Creek Park, connecting Woodley Park to Adams Morgan.The hall was renamed the Duke Ellington Ballroom in 1980."He Loved Him Madly" (1974) collected on Get Up with It.Further reading
Collier, James Lincoln.Duke Ellington In Person, Houghton Mifflin, 1978.February 2007
Hasse, John Edward.Duke Ellington, Creative Age Press, 1946.Terkel, Studs (2002), Giants of Jazz (2nd ed.Duke Ellington Biography, in Down Beat Magazine.Duke Ellington: Interview in 1981 on Real Audio with Don George by Don Swaim at Wired for Books.See Copyrights for details.Duke Ellington and his Orchestra is perhaps the greatest of all Jazz bands.The band started in New York City under name of the Washingtonians in 1923, they then briefly became known as Duke Ellington and his Kentucky Club Orchestra, then as Duke Ellington and his Cotton Club Orchestra from 1927 to 1930.After 1931 the band was billed as Duke Ellington and his Orchestra.What Can A Poor Fellow Do?US Music Experts and Writers: Want to write for AMG?BornApr 29, 1899 in Washington, D.DiedMay 24, 1974 in New York, NYYears Active191020304050607080902000GenreStylesJazzClassic JazzBig BandProgressive Big BandSwingStandardsFilm MusicOrchestral JazzMoodsInstrumentsAtmosphericSentimentalPoignantSweetLushLivelyStatelySophisticatedIntimateSoothingRomanticSwaggeringLightPlayfulPassionateTheatricalDramaticHumorousRollickingFunFreewheelingPianoArrangerComposerLeaderOther EntriesMovie EntryClassical Music EntryAMG Artist IDP 72532Corrections to this Entry?Ellington also wrote film scores and stage musicals, and several of his instrumental works were adapted into songs that became standards.In addition to touring year in and year out, he recorded extensively, resulting in a gigantic body of work that was still being assessed a quarter century after his death.Ellington was the son of a White House butler, James Edward Ellington, and thus grew up in comfortable surroundings.He began piano lessons at age seven and was writing music by his teens.He dropped out of high school in his junior year in 1917 to pursue a career in music.New York, where they gained a residency in the Times Square venue The Hollywood Club (later The Kentucky Club).Their residency at the famed club, which lasted more than three years, made Ellington a nationally known musician due to radio broadcasts that emanated from the bandstand."Diga Diga Doo" on OKeh (now Sony), released as by the Harlem Footwarmers.From the score, "Three Little Words," with vocals by the Rhythm Boys featuring Bing Crosby, became a number one hit on Victor in November 1930; its flip side, "Ring Dem Bells," also reached the charts.His instrumental version became a Top Five hit in the spring of 1933, with its flip side, a treatment of "Stormy Weather," also making the Top Five.The Ellington Orchestra made another feature film, Murder at the Vanities, in the spring of 1934.The band also appeared in the Mae West film Belle of the Nineties and played on the soundtrack of Many Happy Returns."If You Were in My Place (What Would You Do?In early 1939 Billy Strayhorn, a young composer, arranger, and pianist, joined the organization.He did not usually perform with the orchestra, but he became Ellington's composition partner to the extent that soon it was impossible to tell where Ellington's writing left off and Strayhorn's began.That same summer, Ellington was in Los Angeles, where his stage musical, Jump for Joy, opened on July 10 and ran for 101 performances.World War II in December 1941 and the onset of the recording ban called by the American Federation of Musicians in August 1942 slowed the Ellington band's momentum.Meanwhile, the record labels, stymied for hits, began looking into their artists' back catalogs.Russell repeated his magic with another 1940 Ellington instrumental, "Concerto for Cootie" (a showcase for trumpeter Cootie Williams), creating "Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me."Freed of the necessity of writing hits and spurred by the increased time available on the LP record, Ellington concentrated more on extended compositions for the rest of his career.Meanwhile, of course, he continued to lead his band in recordings and live performances.He switched from Columbia to Frank Sinatra's Reprise label (purchased by Warner Bros.March 18, 1966, but closed within days.His final film score, for Change of Mind, appeared in 1969.He won a 1966 Grammy for best original jazz composition for "In the Beginning, God," part of his sacred concerts.US Music Experts and Writers: Want to write for AMG?His Orchestra, Jazz, allmusic';CM8ShowAd("Middle");Group MembersAnita MooreSimilar Artists1964 Glenn Miller OrchestraEva CassidyCount Basie OrchestraBill Evans TrioKeith Jarrett QuartetNat King Cole KeynotersThe McCoy Tyner TrioSee AlsoBritt WoodmanDuke EllingtonFollowersRussell GunnCarol KiddBig Time OperatorDanish Radio Jazz OrchestraBallin' the JackPerformed Songs ByDuke EllingtonBilly StrayhornIrving MillsBubber MileyJuan TizolBarney BigardJohnny HodgesMercer EllingtonMitchell ParishJimmy McHughDorothy FieldsDon GeorgeRex StewartErvin DrakeH.His parents insisted that Duke practice piano basics everyday.Duke didn't become interested in learning piano again until he was a teenager.Duke discovered that he wanted to make his own music too and taught himself how to play piano like Brooks.Duke began his career performing at his high school dances.Soon Duke began playing for his high school dances.He even composed his own songs like "Soda Fountain Rag."Soon he was leading his own band, the Washingtonians at The Kentucky Club, located in Times Square.Duke's music impressed audiences all over the world.Duke Ellington and His Orchestra played at the Cotton Club for eleven years, though the band took off frequently to tour around the country, and to make movies in Hollywood.His years at the club led to a long, successful career.Duke toured the world with his orchestra and composed thousands of songs.Duke had his own series of Carnegie Hall concerts starting in 1943 and wrote some his best music for them.Some people have said that his orchestra was his instrument because of the original and beautiful music he composed for it, but he always remained a great jazz piano player.In addition to writing jazz songs, he also composed ballets, musicals, film scores, and more.In 1969, President Nixon gave Ellington a 70th birthday party at The White House, and honored Duke by giving him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. |
