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Duke Ellington

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This article is about the American Jazz composer and performer. For Ellington, see Duke Ellington (disambiguation).
Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899–May 24, 1974) was an African American jazz composer, pianist, and band leader who was one of the most influential figures in jazz, if not in all American music. As a composer and a band leader, Ellington's reputation has increased since his death, with thematic repackagings of his signature music often becoming best-sellers. Posthumous recognition of his work include a special award citation from the Pulitzer Prize Board.

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 considered among the giants of jazz in their own right and remained with Ellington's orchestra for decades. While many were noteworthy in their own right, it was Ellington that melded them into one of the most well-known orchestral units in the history of jazz. He often composed specifically for the style and skills of these individuals, such as "Jeep's Blues" for Johnny Hodges, "Concerto for Cootie" ("Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me") for Cootie Williams and "The Mooche" for Tricky Sam Nanton. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan" and "Perdido" which brought the "Spanish Tinge" to big-band jazz.

One of the twentieth century's best-known African American celebrities, Ellington recorded for many American record companies, and appeared in several films. Ellington and his orchestra toured the United States and Europe regularly before and after World War II.

Early life

Ellington's father, James Edward Ellington, born in Lincolnton, North Carolina, USA on April 15 1879, was the son of a former slave. He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1886 with his small family. Ellington was born to J.E. and Daisy Kennedy Ellington who lived in the home of his maternal grandparents at 2129 Ward Place, NW in Washington, D.C. J.E. made blueprints for the United States Navy; he was a butler for Dr. Middleton F. Cuthbert, a prominent white physician, and he also worked occasionally as a White House caterer. [1] Daisy and J.E. were both piano players, she playing parlor songs and he operatic airs, and at the age of seven Ellington began taking piano lessons from Mrs. 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. From his father, he absorbed self-confidence. Ellington’s childhood friends noticed that "his casual, offhand manner, his easy grace, and his dapper dress gave him the bearing of a young nobleman"[2], and began calling him Duke. It was the nickname that would forever be associated with the jazz legend.

Though Ellington had been taking piano lessons from the age of seven, he failed to show much interest in them. At that time he was more concerned with baseball. He got his first job selling peanuts at Washington Senator’s baseball games where he conquered his stage fright. Then, in the summer of 1913, while working as a soda jerk at the Poodle Dog Café he wrote his first composition, "Soda Fountain Rag" (also known as the "Poodle Dog Rag"). He got his nickname "Duke" from childhood chum Edgar McEntree, a sharp dresser himself. 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 sneaked into Frank Holiday's Poolroom at age fourteen and began to gain a greater respect for music and an understanding of human personalities. Hearing a mentor play the piano ignited Ellington's love for the instrument and he began to take his piano studies seriously.

Ellington began listening, watching, and imitating ragtime pianists, not only in Washington, but also in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, where he vacationed with his mother during the summer months. At the end of a summer he got together with Harvey Brooks, a hot pianist of the time. Harvey showed Ellington the tricks of the piano trade which spurred his interest in the piano. With the additional guidance of Oliver "Doc" Perry (a popular Washington bandleader) and Louis Brown, Ellington learned to read sheet music, project a professional style, and improve his technique. Ellington was also inspired by his first encounters with James P. Johnson and Luckey Roberts, early jazz piano giants. In 1921, Johnson performed in Washington, and egged on by his friends, Ellington got up on the bandstand to "cut" the master, playing the difficult Carolina Shout which he had been practicing for a year.

Ellington started to play gigs in cafes and clubs in and around Washington and began to realize his deep love for music. His attachment grew to be so strong that he turned down an art scholarship to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 1916 and dropped out of Armstrong Manual Training School where he was studying commercial art just three months shy of graduation. In his decision to leave the academic world behind, he took the first steps in what would be an amazing life of professional musicianship that would forever change the world of jazz.

From 1917 through 1919, Ellington launched his musical career, painting commercial signs by day and playing jazz by night. He also had a messenger job with the Navy and State Departments. Ellington moved out of his parents' home and into one that he had bought for himself as he quickly became a successful ragtime, jazz, and society pianist. At first, he played in other ensembles, then dove into the music business in late 1917 with the formation of his first group, The Duke’s Serenaders ("Colored Syncopators", his telephone directory advertising proclaimed) to which he was not only a member, but also the booking agent. His first play date was at the True Reformer's Hall where he took home 75 cents.[3]

Ellington played throughout the Washington area and into Virginia for private society balls and embassy parties. The band included: Otto Hardwick, who switched from bass to saxophone; Arthur Whetsel at the trumpet; Elmer Snowden at the banjo; and Sonny Greer at the drums. The boys thrived, performing for both black and white audiences, a rarity during the racially divided times. This will to succeed would eventually take his career to unforeseen heights and set him apart from all previous jazz composers. 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. Shortly after their marriage, on March 11 1919 Edna gave birth to their only son, Mercer Kennedy Ellington.

Early career

When their FGHRTYERYRTUIGYR78DTGHRTGHSRT HYIURTHIURTHYUIRYUIHYRTHYUdrummer Sonny GrYRURYHHHRUYTYUeer was invited to join the Wilber Sweatman Orchestra in NeJYTYJKTRJTYw York, EllingtYUTYURTYUTYTTUUTon made the fateful decision to leave behind his successful career in Washington and aspire to the challenge of Harlem. The 'Harlem Renaissance' was in progress. New dance craIUTKTzes, like tUYUJYhe Charleston, were bred there as well as JKthe TIJSweatman Orchestra to strike out onYJTY their own, they found an emerging jazz scene that waRJTYJTYTFKT highly competitive and hard to crack. They hustled pool by day and played JYfind. The youJJKTYJFTng band met [[Willie "UK partieTYIJTJYJYs to get by. After a few months, the young musicians rRUIKYRGFJRTeturned to Washington feeling discouraged. But in June of 1923, a gig in Atlantic City, New Jersey led to a play date at the prestigious Exclusive Club in Harlem, followed by a move to the Hollywood Club and a four-year engagement which gave Ellington a solid artistic base. The group was then called Elmer Snowden and his Black Sox Orchestra. and had seven members, including James "Bubber" Miuyhuidfuigbdfuidfuigduifguiley, a truUYJKTUIRTUYJTYYTJUYJTY6TYmpeter whose growling style changed the "sweet" dance band sound of the group to one that was TUKJTedgier and hipper. They renamed themselves "The Washingtonians". When Snowden left the group in early 1924, Ellington took over as bandleader. After a fire, the club was re-opened as the Club Kentucky (often referred to as tjcfl;hkp[fgmkofjhiopfgjhopfgmjpifhdmiopfgmhiofghnmiofgnhiofnh he "Kentucky Club"), an engagement which set the stage for the biggest opportunities in Ellington's life. TYJKTYTYUJTYJTYJETYUYT

In 1924, Ellington made seven records, receiving composing credit on three including Choo Choo.[4] Then in 1925, Ellington contributed two songs to Chocolate Kiddies, an all-black revue which introdlnmfgonmfiohjdfioUJHIUFGUIRGHUIFGHBUIFGTuced European audiences to black-American styles and JYTJRTperformers. While the orchestra had grown in size to a ten-piece conglomeratBGSERUIRHSEUIGHUIRSUIOSEIOERGTion, their distinct sound had begun to develop as well, displaying the non-traditional expression of Ellington’s arrangements, the street rhythms of Harlem, and the exotic-sounding trombone growls andHIODTHJIOFTHUIFTGHUIRTGRTHJIORTHJIORTH wah-wahs, high-squealing trumpets, and sultry saxophone blues licks of the band members. For a short time, the great tenor saxophonist Sidney Bechet played with the group, imparting his propulsive swing and superior musicianship on the young band members. This helped attract to the Washingtonians the attention of some of the biggest names of jazz including Paul Whiteman and Tommy Dorsey.

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. With a weekly radio broadcast and famous clientèle nightly pouring in to see them, the period from 1932 to 1942 gave rise to what many call the "golden age" for the poor boy from Washington D.C.. During these ten years, Ellington added three new members to his orchestra and composed some of his most well-known short works, including "Concerto for Cootie", "Ko-Ko", "Cotton Tail", "In a Sentimental Mood", and "Jump for Joy", his first full-length musical stage revue.

Trumpeter Bubber Miley was present for only a short period but had a major influence on Ellington's sound. 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. He also composed most of Black and Tan Fantasy and Creole Love Call. An alcoholic, Miley had to leave the band before they gained wider notoriety, and died in 1930 at the age of twenty-eight. He was an important influence on Cootie Williams, another member of the orchestra (basically his replacement) in the early years and later.

In 1927 Ellington made a career-advancing agreement with agent-publisher Irving Mills giving Mills a 45% interest in Ellington's future.[5] The brash, shrewd Mills had an eye for new talent and early on published compositions by Hoagy Carmichael, Dorothy Fields, and Harold Arlen. During the 1930s, Ellington's popularity continued to increase, largely as a result of the promotional skills of Mills, who got more than his fair share of co-composer credits. Mills arranged recording sessions on the Brunswick, Victor, and Columbia labels which gave Ellington popular recognition. Mills took the management burden off of Ellington's shoulders, allowing him to focus on his band's sound and his compositions. Ellington ended his association with Mills in 1937, although he continued to record under Mills' banner through 1940.

At the Cotton Club, they were no longer strictly a dance band. Ellington's group performed all the music for the revues which mixed comedy, dance numbers, vaudeville, burlesque, hot music, and illegal 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. Weekly radio broadcasts from the club gave Ellington national exposure. In 1929, Ellington appeared in his first movie, a nineteen-minute all-Black RKO short, Black and Tan, in which he played the hero "Duke". 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., Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, and with music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Gus Kahn. That feverish period also included numerous recordings, under the pseudonyms "Whoopee Makers", "The Jungle Band", "Harlem Footwarmers", and the "Ten Black Berries". 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.

As the Depression deepened, the recording industry took a dive, dropping over 90% by 1933.[6] Ellington and his orchestra survived the hard times by taking to the road in a series of tours. Radio exposure also helped maintain his popularity. Ivie Anderson was hired as their vocalist (Sonny Greer had been providing occasional vocals). Normally, Ellington led the orchestra by conducting from the keyboard using piano cues and visual gestures; very rarely did he conduct using a baton. As a bandleader, Ellington was not a strict disciplinarian but he maintained control of his orchestra for decades to come with a crafty combination of charm, humor, flattery, and astute psychology. A complex, private person he revealed his feelings to only his closest intimates and effectively used his public persona to deflect attention away from himself.

While their United States audience remained mainly African-American in this period, the Cotton Club had a near exclusive white clientele and the band had a huge following overseas, demonstrated both in a trip to England in 1933 and a 1934 visit to the European mainland. 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". On their tour through the segregated South in 1934, they avoided some of the traveling difficulties of Black musicians by touring in private railcars, which provided easy accommodations, dining, and storage for equipment, while avoiding the indignities of segregated facilities.

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. Swing dancing became a youth phenomenon, particularly with White college audiences, and "dancability" drove record sales and bookings. Jukeboxes proliferated nationwide spreading the gospel of "swing". Ellington band could certainly "swing" with the best of them, but Ellington's strength was mood and nuance, and richness of composition, hence his statement "jazz is music; swing is business".[7] The challenge for Ellington at that time was to create a workable balance between his ceaseless artistic exploration and the popular requirements of that era. Ellington countered with two innovations. He made recordings for smaller groups (sextets, octets, and nonets) drawn from his then 15-man orchestra and he composed pieces that were concerto-like and focused on a specific instrumentalist, as with Jeep's Blues for Johnny Hodges and Yearning for Love with Lawrence Brown.

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 financial condition was tight. Things improved in 1938 and he met and moved in with Cotton Club employee Beatrice "Evie" Ellis. After splitting with agent Irving Mills, he signed on with William Morris. The 1930's ended with a very successful European tour just as World War II loomed.

Ellington delivered some huge hits during the 1930s, which greatly helped to build his overall reputation (Mood Indigo in 1930, It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) in 1932, Sophisticated Lady in 1933, In A Sentimental Mood in 1935, Caravan in 1937, I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart in 1938. Following shortly were Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me in 1940 and Take The "A" Train (written by Billy Strayhorn) in 1941.

The most important event of Ellington’s “golden age” was the arrival of Billy Strayhorn. Hired as a lyricist, Strayhorn , nicknamed "Swee' Pea" for his mild manner, eventually became a vital member of the Ellington Organization and as Ellington described him, "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back if my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine". [8] Strayhorn, with his Classical music training, applied that knowledge to arrange and polish future Ellington works. Ellington came to rely on Strayhorn's harmonic judgment, discipline, and taste.

Ellington in the 1940s

Duke Ellington at the Hurricane CYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYTTTTTTYYYYYYYYYYYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURUUUUUUUUURUUUUUUUUUUUUUURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURURUlub in New York, May 1943.

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 iPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPBYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYBYYYYYYYYYYYYYYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYBYdeally suited to displaying Ellington's longer works. While some jazz musicians had played at Carnegie Hall before, few had performed anything as elaborate as Ellington’s work. Some of the musicians created a sensation in their own right. The short-lived Jimmy Blanton transformed the use of double bass in jazz, allowing it to function as a solo rather than a rhythm instrument alone. Ben Webster too, the Orchestra's first regular tenor saxophonist, started a rivalry with Johnny Hodges as the Orchestra's foremost voice in the sax section. Ray Nance joined in, replacing Cootie Williams who had "defected", contemporary wags claimed, to Benny Goodman. Nance, however, added violin to the instrumental colors Ellington had at his disposal. A privately made recording of Nance's first concert date, at Fargo, North Dakota, in November 1940, is probably the most effective display of the band at the peak of its powers during this period. This recording is one of the first of innumerable live performances which survive, made by enthusiasts or broadcasters, significantly expanding the Ducal discography as a result.

Three-minute masterpieces flowed from the minds of Ellington, Billy Strayhorn (from 1939), Ellington's son Mercer Ellington, and members of the Orchestra. "Cotton Tail", "Mainstem", "Harlem Airshaft", "Streets of New York" and dozens of others date from this period.

Ellington's long-term aim became to extend the jazz form from the three-minute limit of the 78 rpm record side, of which he was an acknowledged master. 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. 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, the place of slavery, and the church in their history. Unfortunately, starting a regular pattern, Ellington's longer works were generally not well-received; Jump for Joy, an earlier musical, closed after only six performances in 1941.

The first recording ban of 1942-3 had a serious effect on all the big bands because of the increase in royalty payments to musicians its resolution necessitated; the financial viability of Ellington's operation was under threat, though Ellington's income as a songwriter ultimately subsidized the Orchestra. Ellington always spent lavishly and although he drew a respectable income from the Orchestra's operations, the band's income often just covered expenses.[9]

Meanwhile, the development of modern jazz, or bebop, the music industry's shift to solo vocalists such as the young Frank Sinatra as the Big Band age died out, and the diminishing popularity of ballroom and nightclub entertainment in the early television era all undermined Ellington's popularity and status as a trendsetter. Bebop rebelled against commercial jazz, dance jazz, and strict forms to became the music of jazz aficionados. Furthermore, by 1950 the emerging Black popular music style known as Rhythm and Blues drew away the young black audience and soon Rock & Roll followed. 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. For a time though Ellington continued to turn out major works, such as the Kay Davis vocal feature Transblucency and major extended compositions such as Harlem (1950), whose score he presented to music-loving President Harry Truman.

In 1951, Ellington suffered a major loss of personnel, with Sonny Greer, Lawrence Brown, and most significantly, Johnny Hodges leaving to pursue other ventures. Lacking overseas opportunities and motion picture appearances, Ellington Orchestra survived on "one-nighters" and whatever else came their way, even six weeks in the summer of 1955 as the band for the Aquacade in Flushing, New York. 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. The introduction of the 33 1/3 rpm LP record and hi-fi phonograph did give new life to older compositions. However by 1955, after several years of recording for Capitol, Ellington no longer had a regular recording affiliation.

Revival of his career

Ellington's appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 7 1956 returned him to wider prominence and exposed him to new audiences. The feature "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue", with saxophonist Paul Gonsalves's six-minute saxophone solo, had been in the band's book since 1937, but on this occasion it nearly created a riot. The revived attention should not have surprised anyone — Hodges had returned to the fold the previous year, and Ellington's collaboration with Strayhorn had been renewed around the same time, under terms amenable to the younger man. Such Sweet Thunder (1957), based on Shakespeare's plays and characters, and The Queen's Suite the following year (dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II), were products of the renewed impetus which the Newport appearance had helped to create.

A new record contract with Columbia produced Ellington's best-selling LP Ellington at Newport and six years of recording stability under producer Irving Townsend, who coaxed both commercial and artistic productions from Ellington. In 1957, CBS (Columbia's parent corporation) aired a live television production of A Drum Is a Woman, an allegorical suite which received mix reviews. Other festivals at Monterey and elsewhere provided new venues for live exposure, and a European tour in 1958 was wildly received. After a 25-year gap, Ellington and Strayhorn again wrote film scores, this time for Anatomy of a Murder and Paris Blues. Despite some personnel turnover, in 1960 Ellington still possessed a seasoned corp with Carney, Hodges, Williams, Brown, Nance, Hamilton, Procope, Anderson, and Gonsalves. Ellington and Strayhorn, always looking for new musical territory, produced adaptations of John Steinbeck's novel Sweet Thursday, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt. The late 1950s also saw Ella Fitzgerald record her Duke Ellington Songbook 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".

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. In 1962, he participated in a session which produced the "Money Jungle" ([[United Artists ReTL;YHKDTOJHDIHJRTIOHJROIHNFTHNJGNGJMNDFGNDRJKGNUKDRGDRUIBGERUGBERJKEUKGERIOGNERKGEGUKERGUKBGKDGUKERGNERUGNERUKNGEUKNNGNNFNFGJERGNERBGU NNGBJRBGEBGDRUKGBERUGUGBURGERUIGRJGERUBGUERIBGURBGDRBGKJZFBUIDRZHGUERBYFGFGHRFFFIHFTCJCVTDJXSFDJFGFJHFGJFBHFGHEYRSHRHDVVMSJDNCJSKSNMJXNZMZJKDKDEBGEKFURFCJDUDMXDKDORKDODEODDDRFKKOFISFDYSDFQJWIW,LDDFcords|United Artists]]) album with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, and also recorded with John Coltrane for Impulse. Musicians who had previously worked with Ellington returned to the Orchestra as members: Lawrence Brown in 1960 and Cootie Williams two years later. Ellington was by now performing all over the world, a significant portion of each year was now spent making overseas tours, and he formed notable new working relationships, among which included the Swedish vocalist Alice Babs, and South African musicians Dollar Brand and Sathima Bea Benjamin (A Morning in Paris, 1963/2007). His earlier hits were now established standards, earning Ellington impressive royalties.

Last years

Ellington receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Nixon, 1969.

Ellington was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1965, but was turned down.[10] His reaction at 67 years old: "Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young." He performed his first Concert of Sacred Music, an attempt at fusing Christian liturgy with jazz, in September of the same year, and even though it received so-so reviews, Ellington was enormously 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, called the Second and Third Sacred Concerts, respectively. This caused enormous controversy in what was already a tumultuous time in the United States. Many saw the Sacred Music suites as an attempt to reinforce commercial support for organized religion, though Ellington simply said it was, "the most important thing I've done," perhaps with a touch of hyperbole. [11]

Though his later work is overshadowed by his music of the early 1940s, Ellington continued to make vital and innovative recordings, including The Far East Suite (1966), "The New Orleans Suite" (1970), and "The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse" (1971), much of it inspired by his world tours. Increasingly, this period of music is being reassessed as people realize how creative Ellington was right up to the end of his life. However, some critics, such as James Lincoln Collier, continue to dismiss Ellington's later work.

Ellington was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1966. 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. He died of lung cancer and pneumonia on May 24, 1974, a month after his 75th birthday, and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York City. 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." [12] Mercer Ellington picked up the reins of the orchestra immediately after Duke's death. Today, the Ellington Orchestra continues with new personnel under the leadership of Duke's grandson Paul Mercer Ellington.

Work in films and the theatre

POOP Ellington's film work began in 1929 with the short film Black and Tan Fantasy. He also appeared in the Amos 'n' Andy film Check and Double Check. Ellington's performance was a hit and helped introduce him to a wider audience. He and his Orchestra continued to appear in films throughout the 1930s and 1940s, both in short films and in features such as Murder at the Vanities (1934). 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 also appeared fronting a roadhouse combo, and Paris Blues (1961), which featured Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as jazz musicians.

A long-time fan of William Shakespeare, he wrote an original score for Timon of Athens that was first used in the Stratford Festival production that opened July 29, 1963 for director Michael Langham, who has used it for several subsequent productions, most recently in an adaptation by Stanley Silverman that expands on the score with some of Ellington's best-known works.

Ellington's sole book musical, Beggar's Holiday, was staged on Broadway in 1946. Sophisticated Ladies, an award-winning 1981 musical revue, incorporated many of the tunes he made famous.

Awards

In December of 1936 he was given the keys to the city of Los Angeles. Then, in 1966 Lyndon B. Johnson presented Ellington with the Presidents Gold Medal. Just three years later he was recognized by Richard M. Nixon with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Along with politically natured awards, he received high honors from the music community. Ellington has been honored with thirteen Grammy awards which span from 1959 to 2000, nine of which he lived to receive. In addition to a variety of awards, numerous memorials have been dedicated to Duke Ellington.

Legacy

Places

In Ellington's birthplace of Washington, D.C., there stands a school dedicated to his honor and memory as well as a majestic bridge. The Duke Ellington School of the Arts educates talented students, who are considering careers in the arts, by providing intensive arts instruction and strong academic programs that prepare students for post-secondary education and professional careers. The massive Duke Ellington Bridge, built in 1935, carries Calvert Street over the ravine of Rock Creek Park, connecting Woodley Park to Adams Morgan. Ellington lived for years in a townhouse on the corner of Manhattan's Riverside Drive and West 106th Street. 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. Although he made two more stage appearances before his death, Ellington performed what is considered his final "full" concert in a ballroom at Northern Illinois University on March 20, 1974. The hall was renamed the Duke Ellington Ballroom in 1980.

Music

Other

  • In 1999, in commemoration of the centennial of his birth, the Pulitzer Board honoured Ellington with a posthumous special award citation for his life-long body of work.[14][10]
  • In 1986 the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in honor of Ellington.

Bibliography

Major compositions

Minor composition

Compositions associated with Duke Ellington

A partial discography

Trivia

  • Ellington played several Communist Party dances in the early 1930s and numerous benefit concerts for the Scottsboro Boys.
  • Malcolm X wrote in his autobiography that he polished Ellington's shoes when he worked at a nightclub.

References

  1. ^ John Edward Hasse, The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington, Simon & Schuster, 1993, ISBN 0-671-70387-0. p. 23.
  2. ^ Terkel, Studs (2002). Giants of Jazz (2nd ed. ed.). New York: The New Press. ISBN 978-1-56584-769-9. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
  3. ^ Hasse, p. 45.
  4. ^ Hasse, p. 79.
  5. ^ Hasse, p. 90.
  6. ^ Hasse, p. 166.
  7. ^ Hasse, p. 203.
  8. ^ Duke Ellington, Music Is My Mistress, Da Capo, 1973, ISBN 0-306-80033-0. p. 156.
  9. ^ Hasse, p. 274.
  10. ^ a b Gary Giddins, "How Come Jazz Isn't Dead", p. 39–55 in Eric Weisbard, ed., This is Pop, Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-674-01321-2 (cloth), ISBN 0-674-01344-1 (paper). p. 41–42. Gary Giddins remarks that in 1965, Ellington was denied the Pulitzer because the Pulitzer jury commended him for his body of work rather than for a particular composition, but his posthumous Pulitzer was granted precisely POOP that life-long body of work.
  11. ^ Duke Ellington, Music Is My Mistress, Da Capo, 1973, ISBN 0-306-80033-0. p. 269.
  12. ^ Hasse, p. 385.
  13. ^ ""The Duke" by Dave Brubeck: song review, recordings, covers". All Music Guide. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
  14. ^ "Pulitzer Prize Special Award, Citation". Pulitzer Prize. 1999. Retrieved 2007-03-20.

15. "Duke Ellington Biography." Duke Ellington Centennial Celebration. National Museum of American History. 04 Dec. 2004.

16. "Duke Ellington." CMG Worldwide. 16 Nov 2004.

17. “Duke Ellington: Celebrating 100 Years of the Man and His Music” ARTSEDGE. The Music Educator's National Conference and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. 16 Nov 2004 <http://www.dellington.org/>.

18. Terkel, Studs. Giants of Jazz. 2nd ed. New York: The New Press, 2002.

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