Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Edward Kennedy Ellington |
Born | Washington, D.C., U.S. | April 29, 1899
Died | May 24, 1974 New York City, U.S. | (aged 75)
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
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Instrument(s) | Piano |
Discography | Duke Ellington discography |
Years active | 1914–1974 |
Website | dukeellington |
Signature | |
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]
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
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, 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
.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
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. "
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
Ellington continued listening to, watching, and imitating
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 parents' 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]
When his drummer Sonny Greer was invited to join the
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".
Cotton Club engagement
In October 1926, Ellington made an agreement with agent-publisher
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.
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
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).
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
Billy Strayhorn, originally hired as a lyricist, began his association with Ellington in 1939.[53] Nicknamed "Sweet 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
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
Ellington's long-term aim, though, was to extend the jazz form from that three-minute limit, of which he was an acknowledged master.
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 continued on his own course through these tectonic shifts. While
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,
Around this time Ellington and Strayhorn began to work on film
Anatomy of a Murder was followed by
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
Last years
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
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
In 1972–1974 Ellington worked on his only opera, Queenie Pie, together with Maurice Peress. Ellington got an idea to write an opera about a black beautician in the 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 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]
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 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
A statue of Ellington at a piano is featured at the entrance to
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]
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.
Discography
Awards and honors
- 1960, 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 culture
Grammy Awards
Ellington earned 14 Grammy awards from 1959 to 2000 (three of which were posthumous) and a total of 25 nominations
Duke Ellington | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
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
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
- ^ "Biography". DukeEllington.com (Official site). 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
- 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.
- 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 & 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.
- 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 & 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.
- JSTOR 3824163.
- ^ Brothers 2018, p. 33.
- ^ Adelaide Hall talks about 1920s Harlem and Creole Love Call. jazzgirl1920s. Archived from the original on January 5, 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2013 – via YouTube.
{{cite AV media}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)[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.
- ISBN 8788043347
- ^ Brothers 2018, p. 65.
- ^ John Bird, Percy Grainger.
- ^ a b Hodeir, André. "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.
- 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 Büchmann-Møller 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.
- 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 & 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.
- ISBN 978-0-19-509822-8.
- ^ "Duke Ellington's Lost Opera, Forever A Work In Progress". npr.org. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
- 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). "First Marriage After 40: McHenry Boatwright". Ebony. p. 30 – via Google Books.
- ^ 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.
- 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. Archived April 14, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ 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" Archived April 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, UCLA Magazine, April 1, 2009.
- ISBN 019504312X.
- SmithsonianCollections recording, 1980.
- ^ Boston Globe, April 25, 1999.
- 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 & Juneteenth 2022: Industry Celebrations (Updating)". Billboard. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
- ^ "The United States Mint · About The Mint". Usmint.gov. Archived from the original on February 25, 2011. 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 & 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
- Africville Genealogy Society, ed. (2010) [1992]. 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. Vol. 318, no. 1909. pp. 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. ISBN 0252014251.
- Ulanov, Barry (1946). Duke Ellington. Creative Age Press.
External links
Archives at | ||||
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How to use archival material |
Archives at | ||||
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How to use archival material |
- 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 & 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 1948 radio drama "Echos of Harlem ", a presentation from Destination Freedom, written by Richard Durham