Background

April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington is widely recognized, both in his life and posthumously, as one of the most influential figures in jazz music. Born in Washington, D.C. to James Edward Ellington (a blueprint maker for the U.S. Navy) and Daisy Kennedy Ellington, Ellington acquired the nickname “Duke” from childhood friends who were impressed with his elegant dress and graceful manner. Ellington began studying piano at age 7. In the summer of 1914, Ellington wrote his first composition Poodle Dog Rag while working as a soda jerk at the Poodle Dog Café. Over the following nine years, Ellington worked to establish himself as a successful ragtime, jazz, and society pianist and band leader in Washington, D.C.

Ellington moved to New York in 1923 with fellow musicians Sonny Greer and Otto Hardwick and began playing as the Washingtonians at the Hollywood Club in Manhattan. Developing his signature style at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, Ellington released seven albums in 1923. He received composing credit for three of these albums including Choo Choo.

Ellington launched the Duke Ellington Orchestra as the house band for the Cotton Club (the preeminent Harlem speakeasy) in 1927. The Cotton Club and its weekly radio broadcasts gave Ellington massive exposure for the next ten years. During this time, Ellington composed some of his most recognizable works Concerto for Cootie, Koko, Cotton Tail, In a Sentimental Mood and Jump for Joy. In 1932, Ellington scored a Top Ten hit with one of his best-known songs, It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing), a song that helped give the period of Swing music (which began three years later) its name. In 1933 he traveled with his 14-piece band on their first tour of England and Europe. Ellington maintained a near-constant touring schedule for the next 40 years, broken only by temporary residencies at clubs in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, and Paris. Working sometimes twenty hours a day he was referred to as “the busiest man in show business.”

It is difficult to capture the scope of Ellington’s contribution to music, both because of his exhaustive body of work and because of the essentially collaborative nature of his musical gift. Ellington’s true instrument was his orchestra, and Ellington was able to absorb and reinvent different musical styles through his genius for arrangement. Although he was an extremely talented pianist he rarely featured himself as a soloist. He produced pieces that were both sophisticated and broadly accessible. Ellington balanced his mastery of the three-minute song (the limits or 78 recordings) with his ambition to compose larger set pieces and multi-piece suites that were often built around a specific theme in African-American life. In so doing, he forced the critical world to deal with jazz music as a serious art form.

Ellington recorded and performed extensively till the end of life and is remembered for his ceaseless innovation in jazz music composition. He composed over 3,000 original and orchestral compositions. Ellington received many accolades throughout his career including honorary doctorates from Howard and Yale Universities, membership in the American Institute of Arts and Letters, election as the first jazz musician member of the Royal Music Academy in Stockholm, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.