SOUND PROJECTIONS
AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE
EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU
SPRING/SUMMER, 2015
VOLUME ONE NUMBER THREE
AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE
EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU
SPRING/SUMMER, 2015
VOLUME ONE NUMBER THREE
CHARLIE PARKER
Featuring the Musics and Aesthetic Visions of:
DUKE ELLINGTON
April 25-May 1
ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO
May 2-May 8
ELLA FITZGERALD
May 9-15
DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER
May 16-May 22
MILES DAVIS
May 23-29
JILL SCOTT
May 30-June 5
REGINA CARTER
June 6-June 12
BETTY DAVIS
June 13-19
ERYKAH BADU
June 20-June 26
AL GREEN
June 27-July 3
CHUCK BERRY
July 4-July 10
SLY STONE
July 11-July 17
“Jazz is the freest musical expression we have yet seen. To me, then, jazz means simply freedom of musical speech! And it is precisely because of this freedom that so many varied forms of jazz exist. The important thing to remember, however, is that not one of these forms represents jazz by itself. Jazz simply means the freedom to have many forms.”
—Duke Ellington, 1947
"I am not playing Jazz. I am trying to play the natural feelings of a people.
--Duke Ellington, 1930
"There are only two kinds of music. Good music and that other kind."
--Duke Ellington. 1956
http://www.redhotjazz.com/duke.html
EDWARD "DUKE" ELLINGTON (1899-1974)
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. Like Jelly Roll Morton before him, he considered himself to be a composer and arranger, rather than just a musician. Duke began playing music professionally in Washington, D.C. in 1917. His piano technique was influenced by stride piano players like James P. Johnson and Willie "The Lion" Smith. He first visited New York in 1922 playing with Wilbur Sweatman, but the trip was unsuccessful. He returned to New York again in 1923, but this time with a group of friends from Washington D.C. They worked for a while with banjoist Elmer Snowden until there was a disagreement over missing money. Ellington then became the leader. This group was called The Washingtonians. This band worked at The Hollywood Club in Manhattan (which was later dubbed the Kentucky Club). During this time Sidney Bechet played briefly with the band (unfortunately he never recorded with them), but more significantly the trumpet player Bubber Miley joined the band, bringing with him his unique plunger mute style of playing. This sound came to be called the "Jungle Sound", and it was largely responsible for Ellington's early success. The song "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" is a good example of this style of playing. 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 1927 the band re-recorded versions of "East St.Louis Toodle-Oo," debuted "Black and Tan Fantasy" and "Creole Love Call", songs that would be associated with him the for rest of his career, but what really put Ellington's Orchestra over the top was becoming the house band at the Cotton Club after King Oliver unwisely turned down the job. Radio broadcasts from the club made Ellington famous across America and also gave him the financial security to assemble a top notch band that he could write music specifically for. Musicians tended to stay with the band for long periods of time. For example, saxophone player Harry Carney would remain with Duke nonstop from 1927 to Ellington's death in 1974. In 1928 clarinetist Barney Bigard left King Oliver and joined the band. Ellington and Bigard would later co-write one of the orchestra's signature pieces "Mood Indigo" in 1930. In 1929 Bubber Miley, was fired from the band because of his alcoholism and replaced with Cootie Williams. Ellington also appeared in his first film "Black and Tan" later that year. 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.S. and Europe.
Unlike many of their contemporaries, the Ellington Orchestra was able to make the change from the Hot Jazz of the 1920s to the Swing music of the 1930s. The song "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" even came to define the era. This ability to adapt and grow with the times kept the Ellington Orchestra a major force in Jazz up until Duke's death in the 1970s. Only Louis Armstrong managed to sustain such a career, but Armstrong failed to be in the artistic vanguard after the 1930s . Throughout the Forties and Fifties Ellington's fame and influence continued to grow. The band continued to produce Jazz standards like "Take the 'A' Train", "Perdido", "The 'C' Jam Blues" and "Satin Doll". In the 1960s Duke wrote several religious pieces, and composed "The Far East Suite". He also collaborated with a very diverse group of musicians whose styles spanned the history of Jazz. He played in a trio with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, sat in with both the Louis Armstrong All-Stars and the John Coltrane Quartet, and he had a double big-band date with Count Basie. In the 1970s many of Ellington's long time band members had died, but the band continued to attract outstanding musicians even after Ellington's death from cancer in May, 1974, when his son Mercer took over the reins of the band.
Monday, April 29, 2013
The Legacy of Elegance Or How Duke Ellington (and His Music) Changed the World: A Tribute To A Master On His Birthday
All,
I submit the following question and perhaps even a wiseguy challenge to any and all possible doubters out there who should know better by now but perhaps don't (or sadly and to their own considerable loss maybe won't make the necessary effort to find out) and that is: Just how great was (and is) Duke Ellington...really? Well let's closely examine what the man and the visceral power, beauty, elegance, and sheer majesty of his artistry as conveyed through music actually accomplished in the world during the 20th century and what it just as clearly and forcefully continues to teach and inspire us in the 21st.
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was born on April 29, 1899 in Washington D.C. After an extensive apprenticeship with a number of outstanding local teachers and musical mentors like the legendary African American classical composer and multi-instrumentalist Will Marion Cook, Ellington began his professional career as a pianist and orchestra leader in 1924 and kept his extraordinary orchestra playing and recording for an astonishing 50 years(!) until his death in 1974 at the age of 75. During his prolific career Ellington wrote over 2,000 compositions and performed in all fifty states and throughout the world many times in such major international capitols as London, Paris, Berlin, Lisbon, Rio De Janeiro, Mexico City, Toronto, Montreal, Dakar, New Delhi, and Istanbul.
Recognized by many critics throughout the world as one of the major and most important composers and musicians of the 20th century, Ellington's deep impact on other musicians and composers in many different genres of music has been immense and continues to this day. Happy Birthday Duke!
I submit the following question and perhaps even a wiseguy challenge to any and all possible doubters out there who should know better by now but perhaps don't (or sadly and to their own considerable loss maybe won't make the necessary effort to find out) and that is: Just how great was (and is) Duke Ellington...really? Well let's closely examine what the man and the visceral power, beauty, elegance, and sheer majesty of his artistry as conveyed through music actually accomplished in the world during the 20th century and what it just as clearly and forcefully continues to teach and inspire us in the 21st.
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was born on April 29, 1899 in Washington D.C. After an extensive apprenticeship with a number of outstanding local teachers and musical mentors like the legendary African American classical composer and multi-instrumentalist Will Marion Cook, Ellington began his professional career as a pianist and orchestra leader in 1924 and kept his extraordinary orchestra playing and recording for an astonishing 50 years(!) until his death in 1974 at the age of 75. During his prolific career Ellington wrote over 2,000 compositions and performed in all fifty states and throughout the world many times in such major international capitols as London, Paris, Berlin, Lisbon, Rio De Janeiro, Mexico City, Toronto, Montreal, Dakar, New Delhi, and Istanbul.
Recognized by many critics throughout the world as one of the major and most important composers and musicians of the 20th century, Ellington's deep impact on other musicians and composers in many different genres of music has been immense and continues to this day. Happy Birthday Duke!
http://digital.vpr.net/post/reuben-jackson-duke-ellington
Friday Night Jazz
MONDAY
Friday Night Jazz
MONDAY
APRIL 29, 2013
Reuben Jackson On Duke Ellington
By REUBEN JACKSON
Reuben Jackson On Duke Ellington
By REUBEN JACKSON
Credit AP
Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington was the composer of American jazz standards such as Mood Indigo, sumptuous extended works like The Afro Eurasian Eclipse, The Far East Suite and three Sacred Concerts. He was also the consummate multitasker.
If I learned anything during my 20 year stint as archivist and curator with the Smithsonian's Duke Ellington Collection, it was this: It was not uncommon for the Washington, D.C. native to juggle studio sessions, new compositions, interviews, meetings, concert dates, friends, fans and, yes, romantic interests. He was not the central casting isolated artist seeking the muse in, say, some remote corner of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Humanity was his Walden Pond.
Still, it's one thing to be a multitasker. It's another to multitask with the deceptively casual attention and intense focus Ellington gave to each part of his life. Ellington loved people; he said the key to accomplishing as much as he did was "mental isolation."
When cataloging the sound recordings in the Smithsonian's collection, I still wondered how he managed to gracefully handle dozens of inane press conference questions about "jazz," a word he abhorred, then lead his Orchestra through an accessible yet musically radical reworking of an Ellington standard like "Mood Indigo" a few hours later. I have no idea how he did this with such unfailing grace—and I probably never will.
As some of you in the VPR listening audience know, I am also currently employed as an English teacher at Burlington High School. On average, I see an average of 35 students with very different personalities, interests and needs every day. By contrast, Ellington worked with groups of varying sizes, skills, and issues (curmudgeons, kleptomaniacs, some addicts) for nearly 50 years. More importantly, he consistently got the best out of these ensembles. Even "students" who disliked him intensely reveled in the time spent with the man they called The Maestro. (And I have the nerve to pant like an exhausted marathon runner on Friday afternoon!)
If Duke Ellington were reading this, he might utter one of his frequently-used axioms: "Don't let your intelligence get in the way of your learning." With that in mind, I'll cease with the first person reflections (I've commented at length about Ellington and some of his contemporaries in this VPR Presents lecture), and share that which mattered most to Duke Ellington: The music.
Below you'll find video of a couple of my favorites and a bibliography of reading and listening. You'll also hear something composed, performed or inspired by Ellington every week on my show.
-- Reuben Jackson, Host of Friday Night Jazz
Here's a solo piano rendition of "Le Sucrier Velour"—a movement from 1959's "The Queen's Suite.":
The
second Ellington composition is entitled "Chinoserie" It is the opening
movement from 1971's "Afro Eurasian Eclipse"—complete with Ellington's
silver, no, platinum-tongued introduction.
All are but a taste of the mad skills (as the rappers say) Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington possessed—and continues to share with the world.
Recommended Reading
Cohen, Harvey G. Duke Ellington's America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Ellington, Duke. Music Is My Mistress. New York: Da Capo, 1976,
Ellington, Mercer. Duke Ellington In Person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978.
Recordings
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. The Ellington Suites.
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. And His Mother Called Him Bill.
Duke Ellington-The Far East Suite-Special Mix
TAGS: Duke Ellington Public Radio Music Month VPR Blog Featured Program
THE MUSIC OF DUKE ELLINGTON: AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO OVERVIEW, A CROSS SECTION OF RECORDINGS, MUSICAL ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY, PLUS VARIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH MR. ELLINGTON:
THE GENIUS OF DUKE ELLINGTON ON FILM AND VIDEO:
Duke Ellington Solo Piano Concert, 1970
This was recorded off ABC-TV in Australia in the eighties - they had a "jazz weekend" with various ABC celebrities of the time introducing different shows. This concert has no live audience, although Duke presents the pieces as if there is.
(Originally composed and recorded by Ellington in 1931; this recorded film segment is from 1943)
"The Mooche"
(Originally composed and recorded by Ellington in 1928; this recorded video version is from 1955):
"Take the A Train"
(Originally
composed by Billy Strayhorn for ellington's orchestra in 1941; this
classic ensemble theme song version appeared on film in 1943):
"Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" (Parts 1 and 2)
(Originally composed in by Ellington in 1937; this recorded video version is from the mid 1950s):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wt6ZXjZgwE
"In a Sentimental Mood"
(Originally
composed and recorded by Ellington in 1931; this classic version of the
tune was recorded in 1962 and featured John Coltrane on tenor saxophone
with Ellington on piano--it appeared on the 1963 ABC-Impulse recording "Duke Ellington and John Coltrane"
"Mount Harissa" from The Far East Suite composed by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn was recorded in 1966: DUKE ELLINGTON — piano
JOHNNY HODGES — alto sax
RUSSELL PROCOPE — alto sax, clarinet
PAUL GONSALVES — tenor sax
JIMMY HAMILTON — tenor sax, clarinet
HARRY CARNEY — baritone sax, clarinet, bass clarinet
CAT ANDERSON, HAROLD "SHORTY"BAKER, CLARK TERRY — trumpets
RAY NANCE — trumpet, violin, vocal
QUENTIN JACKSON, BRITT WOODMAN — trombones
JOHN SANDERS — valve trombone
JIMMY WOODE — bass
SAM WOODYARD — drums
OZZY BAILEY — vocal
01. Black And Tan Fantasy / Creole Love Call / The Mooch
02. Harlem Air Shaft
03. Sophisticated Lady
04. My Funny Valentine
05. Kinda Dukish / Rockin 'In Rhythm
06. Mr. Gentle And Mr. Cool
07. Jack The Bear
08. You Better Know It
09. All Of Me
10. Things Is not What They Used To Be
11. Hi-Fi-Fo-Fum
12. Ellington Medley (10 songs)
13. Diminuendo In Blue And Crescendo In Blue
Clarinet solo at the end was by Jimmy Hamilton.
Duke Ellington: Live in Holland, 1958. With Johnny Hodges (Alto Sax), Russell Procope (Alto Sax, Clarinet), Paul Gonsalves (Tenor Sax), Jimmy Hamilton (Tenor Sax, Clarinet), Harry Carney (Baritone Sax, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet), Cat Anderson, Harold "Shorty" Baker, Clark Terry (Trumpets), Ray Nance (Trumpet, Violin, Vocal) Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman (Trombones) John Sanders (Valve Trombone), Jimmy Woode (Bass), Sam Woodyard (Drums) and Ozzie Bailey (Vocal).
Duke Ellington: Live in Holland, 1958. With Johnny Hodges (Alto Sax), Russell Procope (Alto Sax, Clarinet), Paul Gonsalves (Tenor Sax), Jimmy Hamilton (Tenor Sax, Clarinet), Harry Carney (Baritone Sax, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet), Cat Anderson, Harold "Shorty" Baker, Clark Terry (Trumpets), Ray Nance (Trumpet, Violin, Vocal) Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman (Trombones) John Sanders (Valve Trombone), Jimmy Woode (Bass), Sam Woodyard (Drums) and Ozzie Bailey (Vocal).
Duke Ellington Video and Multimedia Site:
http://dukeellington.com/videomultimedia.html
http://www.ellafitzgerald.com/
http://www.dukeellington.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Ellington
Duke Ellington Masters (1965) A:
Duke Ellington Orchestra Live--1952
Fantastic performance footage of one of Jazz's greatest stars - Duke Ellington. With performances of song of his most famous songs including "Mood Indigo", "Caravan" & "Sophisticated Lady"
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big-band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions. A major figure in the history of jazz, Ellington's music stretched into various other genres. His career spanned more than 50 years and included leading his orchestra, composing an inexhaustible songbook, scoring for movies, composing stage musicals, and world tours. Several of his instrumental works were adapted into songs that became standards. Due to his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, and thanks to his eloquence and extraordinary charisma, he is generally considered to have elevated the perception of jazz to an art form on a par with other traditional genres of music. His reputation increased after his death and the Pulitzer Prize Board bestowed on him a special posthumous honor in 1999.
1. Sophisticated Lady
2. Caravan
3. The Mooch
4. V.I.P's Boogie
5. Solitude (With Jimmie Grissom)
6. Mood Indigo
7. The Hawk Talks (Feat. Louie Bellson)
8. I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good
9. Bli-Blip
10. Flamingo
11. Hot Chocolate ("Cottontail")
12. C Jam Blues
Duke Ellington - 'Money Jungle' full jazz album 1962
Duke Ellington: Piano and Composer
Charles Mingus: Bass
Max Roach: Drums
Duke Ellington Orchestra-'The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse'--Full Album, 1971--(All compositions by Duke Ellington)
The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (A Suite in Eight Parts) (1971)
1. Chinoiserie
2. Didjeridoo
3. Afrique
4. Acht O'Clock Rock
6. Tang
7. True
8. Hard Way
Duke Ellington: Discography
1927 Flaming Youth RCA
1928 Jubilee Stomp Bluebird
1932 Duke Ellington Presents Ivie Anderson Columbia
1938 Blue Light Columbia
1940 Sophisticated Lady [RCA] RCA
1940 In a Mellotone RCA
1944 Black, Brown and Beige (1944-1946 Band... Columbia)
1947 Daybreak Express RCA
1950 Masterpieces by Ellington Columbia
1951 Ellington Uptown Columbia
1951 Hi-Fi Ellington Uptown CBS
1952 Seattle Concert [live] RCA
1953 The Pasadena Concert (1953) [live] GNP
1953 Premiered by Ellington Capitol
1953 The Duke Plays Ellington Capitol
1953 Piano Reflections Capitol
1953 Ellington '55 Capitol
1953 Ellington Showcase Capitol
1953 Duke Ellington Plays the Blues RCA
1954 Dance to the Duke! Capitol
1954 Duke Ellington Plays Allegro
1955 Duke's Mixture Columbia
1955 The Duke and His Men RCA
1956 Duke Ellington and the Buck Clayton... [live] Columbia
1956 Duke Ellington and the Buck Clayton... [live] Columbia
1956 Ellington at Newport [live] Columbia
1956 A Drum Is a Woman Columbia
1956 Al Hibbler with the Duke Columbia
1957 Such Sweet Thunder Sony Special
1957 Ella Fitzgerald/The Duke Ellington Songbook Verve
1957 Indigos Columbia
1958 Black, Brown & Beige [1999] [live] Columbia/Legac
1958 Brown, Black and Beige Columbia
1958 Blues in Orbit Columbia
1958 Black, Brown & Beige [Tristar] Tristar
1958 Duke Ellington at the Bal Masque Columbia
1958 Cosmic Scene: Duke Ellington's Spacemen Sony France
1958 Newport Jazz Festival (1958) [live] Columbia
1958 Blues Summit Verve 1958 Side by Side Verve
1958 Jazz at the Plaza, Vol. 2 Columbia
1958 Duke Ellington at His Very Best RCA Victor
1959 Jazz Party Mobile 1959 The Ellington Suites Original Jazz
1959 Anatomy of a Murder Rykodisc
1959 Festival Session [live] Columbia
1960 The Nutcracker Suite Columbia
1960 Three Suites Columbia
1960 Piano in the Background Columbia
1960 Swinging Suites by Edward E. & Edward G. Columbia
1960 Peer Gynt Suite / Suite Thursday Columbia
1960 Paris Blues United Artists
1961 Piano in the Foreground Columbia
1961 First Time! the Count Meets The Duke Columbia
1962 All American Columbia 1962 Midnight in Paris Columbia
1962 Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins MCA
1962 Money Jungle Blue Note
1962 Duke Ellington and John Coltrane MCA
1962 Will Big Bands Ever Come Back? Reprise
1962 Afro-Bossa Musicraft
1962 Featuring Paul Gonsalves Original Jazz
1963 The Great Paris Concert [live] Atlantic
1963 The Symphonic Ellington Musicraft
1963 The Duke Ellington Jazz Violin Session Atlantic
1964 Hits of the Sixties: This Time by Ellington Reprise
1964 Ellington '65 Reprise
1964 The Original Score from Walt Disney's Mary... Reprise
1965 Concert in the Virgin Islands [live] Discovery
1965 The Duke at Tanglewood [live] RCA
1965 Jumpin' Punkins RCA
1965 Concert of Sacred Music [live] RCA
1966 Duke Ellington (1966) Reprise
1966 Orchestral Works MCA
1966 The Pianist Original Jazz
1966 Ella & Duke at the Cote D'azur Verve
1966 Soul Call Verve
1967 The Popular Duke Ellington RCA
1967 Intimacy of the Blues Original Jazz
1967 Johnny Come Lately RCA
1967 North of the Border in Canada Decca
1967 And His Mother Called Him Bill RCA
1968 Yale Concert [live] Original Jazz
1968 Latin American Suite Original Jazz
1968 Second Sacred Concert [live] Prestige
1969 Up in Duke's Workshop Original Jazz
1969 The Intimate Ellington Original Jazz
1969 Pretty Woman RCA
1969 Standards: Live at the Salle Pleyel JMY
1970 New Orleans Suite Atlantic
1971 The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse Original Jazz
1971 Toga Brava Suite Blue Note
1973 Eastbourne Performance [live] RCA
1973 Collages MPS
1976 Duke Ellington's Third Sacred Concert [live] RCA
1991 Carnegie Hall 11/13/48 [live] Vintage Jazz
1994 Live at the Greek 9/23/66 Status
1995 70th Birthday Concert [live] Blue Note
2000 Live at Carnegie Hall Ember
2000 Live at the Zanibar Club Magnum
2000 Live in 1947 at the Hollywood Bowl Unique Jazz
2000 Live in the Big Apple Magnum
2000 Duke Ellington [Riverside] Riverside
2000 Concert of Sacred Music [Germany] BMG
DUKE ELLINGTON SPEAKING:
-
Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.
Gray skies are just clouds passing over.
The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen.
What is music to you? What would you be without music? Music is everything. Nature is music (cicadas in the tropical night). The sea is music, the wind is music. The rain drumming on the roof and the storm raging in the sky are music. Music is the oldest entity. The scope of music is immense and infinite. It is the ‘esperanto’ of the world.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to decide where jazz starts or where it stops, where Tin Pan Alley begins and jazz ends, or even where the borderline lies between between classical music and jazz. I feel there is no boundary line.
I never had much interest in the piano until I realized that every time I played, a girl would appear on the piano bench to my left and another to my right.
There is nothing to keeping a band together. You simply have to have a gimmick, and the gimmick I use is to pay them money!
There is no art without intention.
It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
Duke Ellington
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Duke Ellington | ||
|---|---|---|
Ellington c. 1940s
|
||
| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Edward Kennedy Ellington | |
| Born | April 29, 1899 Washington, D.C., US | |
| Died | May 24, 1974 (aged 75) New York City, New York, US | |
| Genres | Orchestral jazz, swing, big band | |
| Occupation(s) | Bandleader, pianist, composer | |
| Instruments | Piano | |
| Years active | 1914–1974 | |
| Website | www | |
Born in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s onward, and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. In the 1930s, his orchestra toured in Europe. Though widely considered to have been a pivotal figure in the history of jazz, Ellington embraced the phrase "beyond category" as a "liberating principle", and referred to his music as part of the more general category of "American Music", rather than to a musical genre such as "jazz".[2]
Some of the musicians who were members of Ellington's orchestra, such as saxophonist Johnny Hodges, are considered to be among the best players in jazz. Ellington melded them into the best-known orchestral unit in the history of jazz. Some members stayed with the orchestra for several decades. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington often composed specifically to feature the style and skills of his individual musicians, such as "Jeep's Blues" for Hodges, and "Concerto for Cootie" for trumpeter Cootie Williams, which later became "Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me" with Bob Russell's lyrics.
Often collaborating with others, Ellington wrote more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, with many of his extant works having become standards. Ellington also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, for example Juan Tizol's "Caravan", and "Perdido", which brought a Spanish tinge to big-band jazz.
After 1941, Ellington collaborated with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his "writing and arranging companion".[3] With Strayhorn, he composed many extended compositions, or "suites", as well as additional short pieces. Following an appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival, Rhode Island, in July 1956, Ellington and his orchestra enjoyed a major career revival and embarked on world tours. Ellington recorded for most American record companies of his era; performed in several films, scoring several; and composed stage musicals.
Due to his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, and thanks to his eloquence and charisma, Ellington is generally considered to have elevated the perception of jazz to an art form on a par with other traditional musical genres. His reputation continued to rise after his death, and he was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize for music in 1999.[4]
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.[5]
Contents
Early life
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was born on April 29, 1899, to James
Edward Ellington and Daisy (Kennedy) Ellington in Washington, DC. Both
his parents were pianists. Daisy primarily played parlor songs and J.E. preferred operatic arias. They lived with his maternal grandparents at 2129 Ida Place (now Ward Place), NW in the West End neighborhood of Washington, D.C.[6] Duke's father was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina, on April 15, 1879, and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1886 with his parents.[7] Daisy Kennedy was born in Washington, D.C. on January 4, 1879, the daughter of a former American slave .[6][8] James Ellington made blueprints for the United States Navy.
When Ellington was a child, his family showed racial pride and support
in their home, as did many other families. African Americans in D.C.
worked to protect their children from the era's Jim Crow laws.[9]
At the age of seven, Ellington began taking piano lessons from
Marietta Clinkscales. Daisy surrounded her son with dignified women to
reinforce his manners and teach him to live elegantly. 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",[10]
and began calling him "Duke." Ellington credited his "chum" Edgar
McEntree 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."[11]
Though Ellington took piano lessons, he was more interested in baseball. "President Roosevelt (Teddy) would come by on his horse sometimes, and stop and watch us play", he recalled.[12] Ellington went to Armstrong Technical High School in Washington, D.C. He got his first job selling peanuts at Washington Senators baseball games.
In the summer of 1914, while working as a soda jerk at the Poodle Dog Café,
Ellington wrote his first composition, "Soda Fountain Rag" (also known
as the "Poodle Dog Rag"). He created the piece by ear, as he had not yet
learned to read and write music. "I would play the 'Soda Fountain Rag'
as a one-step, two-step, waltz, tango, and fox trot", Ellington
recalled. "Listeners never knew it was the same piece. I was established
as having my own repertoire."[13] In his autobiography, Music is my Mistress
(1973), Ellington wrote that he missed more lessons than he attended,
feeling at the time that playing the piano was not his talent.
Ellington started sneaking into Frank Holiday's Poolroom at the age
of fourteen. Hearing the poolroom pianists play 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.[14]
Ellington began listening to, watching, and imitating ragtime pianists, not only in Washington, D.C., but in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, where he vacationed with his mother during the summer months.[13] Dunbar High School
music teacher Henry Lee Grant gave him private lessons in harmony. With
the additional guidance of Washington pianist and band leader Oliver
"Doc" Perry, Ellington learned to read sheet music, project a professional style, and improve his technique. Ellington was also inspired by his first encounters with stride pianists James P. Johnson and Luckey Roberts. Later in New York he took advice from Will Marion Cook, Fats Waller, and Sidney Bechet.
Ellington started to play gigs in cafés and clubs in and around
Washington, D.C. His attachment to music was so strong that in 1916 he
turned down an art scholarship to the Pratt Institute
in Brooklyn. Three months before graduating he dropped out of Armstrong
Manual Training School, where he was studying commercial art.[15]
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).[15] 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.[16]
Ellington played throughout the Washington, D.C. area and into
Virginia for private society balls and embassy parties. The band
included childhood friend Otto Hardwick, who started on string bass, then moved to C-melody sax and finally settled on alto saxophone; Arthur Whetsol on trumpet; Elmer Snowden
on banjo; and Sonny Greer on drums. The band thrived, performing for
both African-American and white audiences, a rarity in the segregated
society of the time.[17]
Music career
"East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" (1927)
Early career
When his drummer Sonny Greer was invited to join the Wilber Sweatman
Orchestra in New York City, Ellington made the fateful decision to
leave behind his successful career in Washington, D.C., and move to Harlem, ultimately becoming part of the Harlem Renaissance. New dance crazes such as the Charleston emerged in Harlem, as well as African-American musical theater, including Eubie Blake's Shuffle Along.
After the young musicians left the Sweatman Orchestra to strike out on
their own, they found an emerging jazz scene that was highly competitive
and hard to crack. They hustled pool by day and played whatever gigs
they could find. The young band met stride pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith, who introduced them to the scene and gave them some money. They played at rent-house parties for income. After a few months, the young musicians returned to Washington, D.C., feeling discouraged.
In June 1923, a gig in Atlantic City, New Jersey,
led to a play date at the prestigious Exclusive Club in Harlem. This
was followed in September 1923 by a move to the Hollywood Club – 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 made eight records in 1924, receiving composing credit on three including "Choo Choo".[18] In 1925, Ellington contributed four songs to Chocolate Kiddies starring Lottie Gee and Adelaide Hall,[19]
an all-African-American revue which introduced European audiences to
African-American styles and performers. Duke Ellington and his Kentucky
Club Orchestra grew to a group of ten players; they developed their own
sound by displaying the non-traditional expression of Ellington’s
arrangements, the street rhythms of Harlem, and the exotic-sounding
trombone growls and wah-wahs, high-squealing trumpets, and sultry
saxophone blues licks of the band members. For a short time soprano
saxophonist Sidney Bechet played with them, imparting his propulsive swing and superior musicianship to the young band members.
Cotton Club engagement
In October 1926, Ellington made a career-advancing agreement with agent-publisher Irving Mills,[20] giving Mills a 45% interest in Ellington's future.[21] Mills had an eye for new talent and early on published compositions by Hoagy Carmichael, Dorothy Fields, and Harold Arlen.
After recording a handful of acoustic titles during 1924-1926,
Ellington's signing with Mills allowed him to record prolifically,
although sometimes he recorded different versions of the same tune.
Mills often took a co-composer credit. From the beginning of their
relationship, Mills arranged recording sessions on nearly every label
including Brunswick,
Victor, Columbia, OKeh, Pathê (and its Perfect label), the ARC/Plaza
group of labels (Oriole, Domino, Jewel, Banner) and their dime-store
labels (Cameo, Lincoln, Romeo), Hit of the Week, and Columbia's cheaper
labels (Harmony, Diva, Velvet Tone, Clarion) labels which gave Ellington
popular recognition. On OKeh, his records were usually issued as "The
Harlem Footwarmers", while the Brunswick's were usually issued as The Jungle Band. "Whoopee Makers" and the "Ten Black Berries" were other pseudonyms.
In September 1927, King Oliver turned down a regular booking for his group as the house band at Harlem's Cotton Club;[22] the offer passed to Ellington after Jimmy McHugh suggested him and Mills arranged an audition.[23]
Ellington had to increase from a six to eleven-piece group to meet the
requirements of the Cotton Club's management for the audition,[24] and the engagement finally began on December 4.[25]
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 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. (Here he moved in with a dancer, his second wife Mildred Dixon.) Weekly radio broadcasts from the club gave Ellington national exposure, while 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.[26]
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. 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.[27] Miley had composed most of "Creole Love Call" and "Black and Tan Fantasy".
An alcoholic, Miley had to leave the band before they gained wider
fame. He died in 1932 at the age of 29, but he was an important
influence on Cootie Williams, who replaced him.
In 1929, the Cotton Club Orchestra appeared on stage for several months in Florenz Ziegfeld's Show Girl, along with vaudeville stars Jimmy Durante, Eddie Foy, Jr., Ruby Keeler, and with music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Gus Kahn. Will Vodery, Ziegfeld’s musical supervisor, recommended Ellington for the show, and, according to John Hasse's Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington,
"Perhaps during the run of Show Girl, Ellington received what he later
termed ' valuable lessons in orchestration from Will Vodery.' In his
1946 biography, Duke Ellington, Barry Ulanov wrote:
From Vodery, as he (Ellington) says himself, he drew his chromatic convictions, his uses of the tones ordinarily extraneous to the diatonic scale, with the consequent alteration of the harmonic character of his music, its 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 his meeting with Vodery.[28]
Ellington's film work began with Black and Tan (1929), a nineteen-minute all-African-American RKO short[29] in which he played the hero "Duke". He also appeared in the Amos 'n' Andy film Check and Double Check released in 1930. 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".[30] Ellington's first period at the Cotton Club concluded in 1931.
The 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. As a bandleader, 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 and effectively used his
public persona to deflect attention away from himself .
Ellington signed exclusively to Brunswick in 1932 and stayed with
them through late 1936 (albeit with a short-lived 1933-34 switch to
Victor when Irving Mills temporarily moved him and his other acts from
Brunswick).
As the Depression worsened, the recording industry was in crisis, dropping over 90% of its artists by 1933.[31] Ivie Anderson was hired as their 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 popularity as Ellington and his
orchestra began to tour. The other records of this era include: "Mood Indigo" (1930), "Sophisticated Lady" (1933), "Solitude" (1934), and "In a Sentimental Mood" (1935)
While the band's United States audience remained mainly
African-American in this period, the Ellington orchestra had a huge
following overseas, exemplified by the success of their trip to England
in 1933 and their 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 Ellington's interest in composing longer works.
Those longer pieces had already begun to appear. He 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), and a
tribute to his mother, "Reminiscing in Tempo", took four 10" record
sides to record in 1935 after her death in that year. Symphony in Black (also 1935), a short film, featured his extended piece 'A Rhapsody of Negro Life'. It introduced Billie Holiday, and won an Academy Award as the best musical short subject.[32] Ellington and his Orchestra also appeared in the features Murder at the Vanities and Belle of the Nineties (both 1934),
For agent Mills the attention was a publicity triumph, as Ellington
was now internationally known. On the band's tour through the segregated
South in 1934, they avoided some of the traveling difficulties of
African-Americans by touring in private railcars. These provided easy
accommodations, dining, and storage for equipment while avoiding the
indignities of segregated facilities.
Competition was intensifying though, as swing bands like Benny Goodman's,
began to receive popular 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, swing is
business".[33]
The later 1930s
From 1936, Ellington began to make recordings of smaller groups
(sextets, octets, and nonets) drawn from his then-15-man orchestra and
he composed pieces intended to feature a specific instrumentalist, as
with "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. 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, although his situation improved the
following year.
After leaving agent Irving Mills, he signed on with the William Morris Agency.
Mills though continued to record Ellington. After only a year, his
Master and Variety labels, the small groups had recorded for the latter,
collapsed in late 1937, Mills placed Ellington back on Brunswick and
those small group units on Vocalion through to 1940. Well known sides
continued to be recorded, "Caravan" in 1937, and "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" the following year.
Ellington in 1939
Billy Strayhorn, originally hired as a lyricist, began his association with Ellington in 1939.[34]
Nicknamed "Swee' Pea" for his mild manner, Strayhorn soon became a
vital member of the Ellington organization. Ellington showed great
fondness for Strayhorn and never failed to speak glowingly of the man
and their collaborative working relationship, "my right arm, my left
arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head,
and his in mine".[35]
Strayhorn, with his training in classical music, not only contributed
his original lyrics and music, but also arranged and polished many of
Ellington's works, becoming a second Ellington or "Duke's doppelganger".
It was not uncommon for Strayhorn to fill in for Duke, whether in
conducting or rehearsing the band, playing the piano, on stage, and in
the recording studio.[36] The 1930s ended with a very successful European tour just as World War II loomed in Europe.
Ellington in the early to mid-1940s
Duke Ellington at the Hurricane Club in New York, May 1943
Some of the musicians who joined Ellington at this time 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. Terminal illness forced him to leave by late 1941
after only about two years. Ben Webster,
the Orchestra's first regular tenor saxophonist, whose main tenure with
Ellington spanned 1939 to 1943, started a rivalry with Johnny Hodges as
the Orchestra's foremost voice in the sax section.
Trumpeter Ray Nance joined, replacing Cootie Williams who had "defected", contemporary wags claimed, 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 also an occasional vocalist, 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 after eleven years: the longest term of any of Ellington's
vocalists.[37]
Once again recording for Victor (from 1940), with the small groups
recording for their Bluebird label, three-minute masterpieces on 78 rpm record sides continued to flow from Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Ellington's son Mercer Ellington, and members of the Orchestra. "Cotton Tail", "Main Stem", "Harlem Airshaft", "Jack the Bear", and dozens of others date from this period. Strayhorn's "Take the "A" Train"
a hit in 1941, became the band's theme, replacing "East St. Louis
Toodle-Oo". Ellington and his associates wrote for an orchestra of
distinctive voices who displayed tremendous creativity.[38] Mary Lou Williams, working as a staff arranger, would briefly join Ellington a few years later.
Ellington's long-term aim though was to extend the jazz form from
that three-minute limit, of which he was an acknowledged master.[39]
While he had composed and recorded some extended pieces before, such
works now became a regular feature of Ellington's output. In this, he
was helped by Strayhorn, who had enjoyed a more thorough training in the
forms associated with classical music than Ellington. The first of these, "Black, Brown, and Beige"
(1943), was dedicated to telling the story of African-Americans, and
the place of slavery and the church in their history. Ellington debuted Black, Brown and Beige in Carnegie Hall
on January 23, 1943, beginning an annual series of concerts there over
the next four years. While some jazz musicians had played at Carnegie
Hall before, none had performed anything as elaborate as Ellington’s
work. Unfortunately, starting a regular pattern, Ellington's longer
works were generally not well received.
A partial exception was Jump for Joy, a full-length musical based on themes of African-American identity, debuted on July 10, 1941 at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles. Hollywood luminaries like actors John Garfield and Mickey Rooney invested in the production, and Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles offered to direct.[40]
At one performance though, Garfield insisted Herb Jeffries, who was
light skinned, should wear make-up. Ellington objected in the interval,
and compared Jeffries to Al Jolson.
The change was reverted, and the singer later commented that the
audience must have thought he was an entirely different character in the
second half of the show.[41]
Although it had sold-out performances, and received positive reviews,[42]
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.[43] Despite this disappointment, a Broadway production of Ellington's Beggar's Holiday, his sole book musical, premiered on December 23, 1946[44] under the direction of Nicholas Ray.
The settlement of the first recording ban of 1942–43,
leading to an increase in royalties paid to musicians, had a serious
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.[45]
Early post-war years
World War II brought about a swift end to the big band era as
musicians went off to serve in the military and travel restrictions made
touring difficult. When the war ended, the focus of popular music
shifted towards crooners such as Frank Sinatra and Jo Stafford, so Ellington's wordless vocal feature "Transblucency" (1946) with Kay Davis
was not going to have a similar reach. With inflation setting in after
1945, the cost of hiring big bands went up and club owners preferred
smaller jazz groups who played in new styles such as bebop.
Ellington poses with his piano at the KFG Radio Studio November 3, 1954.
Ellington continued on his own course through these tectonic shifts. While Count Basie
was forced to disband his whole ensemble and work as an octet for a
time, Ellington was able to tour most of Western Europe between 6 April
and 30 June 1950, with the orchestra playing 74 dates over 77 days.[46] During the tour, according to Sonny Greer, the newer works were not performed, though Ellington's extended composition, Harlem (1950) was in the process of being completed at this time. Ellington later presented its score to music-loving President Harry Truman. Also during his time in Europe, Ellington would compose the music for a stage production by Orson Welles. Titled Time Runs in Paris[47] and An Evening With Orson Welles in Frankfurt, the variety show also featured a newly discovered Eartha Kitt, who performed Ellington's original song "Hungry Little Trouble" as Helen of Troy.[48]
In 1951, Ellington suffered a significant loss of personnel: Sonny Greer, Lawrence Brown, and most importantly Johnny Hodges left to pursue other ventures, although 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[46] after periods with Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie and stayed for the rest of his life, while Clark Terry joined in November 1951.[49]
During the early 50s, Ellington's career was at a low point with his
style being generally seen as outmoded, but his reputation did not
suffer as badly as some artists. 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!"[50] 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 and introduced him to a new generation of fans. The feature "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue"
comprised two tunes that had been in the band's book since 1937 but
largely forgotten until 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 Festive organizer George Wein to bring the program to an end.
The concert made international headlines, led to one of only fiveTime magazine cover stories dedicated to a jazz musician [51] (Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck, and Wynton Marsalis are the others) and resulted in an album produced by George Avakian[52] that would become the best-selling long-playing recording of Ellington's career.
Ironically though, much of the music on the vinyl 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.[52]
The band assembled the next day to re-record several of the numbers
with the addition of artificial crowd noise, 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, and Ellington's collaboration
with Strayhorn had been renewed around the same time, under terms more
amenable to the younger man.
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.[53]
In 1957, CBS (Columbia Records' parent corporation) aired a live television production of A Drum Is a Woman,
an allegorical suite which received mixed reviews. His hope that
television would provide a significant new outlet for his type of jazz
was not fulfilled. Tastes and trends had moved on without him. Festival
appearances at the new Monterey Jazz Festival and elsewhere provided venues for live exposure, and a European tour in 1958 was well received. Such Sweet Thunder (1957), based on Shakespeare's plays and characters, and The Queen's Suite (1958), dedicated to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II,
were products of the renewed impetus which the Newport appearance
helped to create, although the latter work was not commercially issued
at the time. The late 1950s also saw Ella Fitzgerald record her Duke Ellington Songbook
(Verve) with Ellington and his orchestra—a recognition that Ellington's
songs had now become part of the cultural canon known as the 'Great American Songbook'.
Jimmy Stewart and Ellington in Anatomy of a Murder.
Ellington at this time (with Strayhorn) began to work directly on scoring for film soundtracks, in particular Anatomy of a Murder (1959), with James Stewart, in which Ellington appeared fronting a roadhouse combo, and Paris Blues (1961), which featured Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as jazz musicians. Detroit Free Press music critic Mark Stryker concludes that the work of Billy Strayhorn and Ellington in Anatomy of a Murder, a trial court drama film directed by Otto Preminger, is "indispensable, [although] . . . too sketchy to rank in the top echelon among Ellington-Strayhorn masterpiece suites like Such Sweet Thunder and The Far East Suite, but its most inspired moments are their equal."[54]
Film historians have recognized the soundtrack "as a landmark – the
first significant Hollywood film music by African Americans comprising non-diegetic
music, that is, music whose source is not visible or implied by action
in the film, like an on-screen band." The score avoided the cultural stereotypes which previously characterized jazz scores and rejected a strict adherence to visuals in ways that presaged the New Wave cinema of the ’60s".[55] Ellington and Strayhorn, always looking for new musical territory, produced suites for John Steinbeck's novel Sweet Thursday, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt.
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. During a period when he 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 paint brush 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."[13]
He was now performing all over the world; a significant part of each
year was spent on overseas tours. As a consequence, he formed new
working relationships with artists from around the world, including the
Swedish vocalist Alice Babs, and the South African musicians Dollar Brand and Sathima Bea Benjamin (A Morning in Paris, 1963/1997).
Ellington wrote an original score for director Michael Langham's production of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens at the Stratford Festival
in Ontario, Canada which opened on July 29, 1963. Langham has used it
for several subsequent productions, including a much later adaptation by
Stanley Silverman which expands the score with some of Ellington's
best-known works.
Last years
Ellington receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Nixon, 1969.
Ellington was a Pulitzer Prize for Music nominee in 1965 but another nominee was selected.[56] Then 66 years old, he said: "Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young."[57] In 1999 he was posthumously awarded a special Pulitzer Prize
(not the Music 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."[4][58]
In September 1965, he premiered the first of his Sacred Concerts.
He created a jazz Christian liturgy. Although the work received mixed
reviews, Ellington was proud of the composition and performed it dozens
of times. This concert was followed by two others of the same type in
1968 and 1973, known as the Second and Third Sacred Concerts. These
generated 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".[59] The Steinway piano upon which the Sacred Concerts were composed is part of the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Like Haydn and Mozart,
Ellington conducted his orchestra from the piano – he always played the
keyboard parts when the Sacred Concerts were performed.[60]
Despite his advancing age (he turned 65 in the spring of 1964),
Ellington showed no sign of slowing down as he continued to make vital
and innovative recordings, including The Far East Suite (1966), New Orleans Suite (1970), Latin American Suite (1972) and The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (1971), much of it inspired by his world tours. It was during this time that he recorded his only album with Frank Sinatra, entitled Francis A. & Edward K. (1967).
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.[61]
The last three shows Ellington and his orchestra performed were one
on March 21, 1973 at Purdue University's Hall of Music and two on March
22, 1973 at the Sturges-Young Auditorium in Sturgis, Michigan.[62]
Personal life
Ellington in 1973
Ellington married his high school sweetheart, Edna Thompson (d.
1967), on July 2, 1918, when he was 19. The next spring, on March 11,
1919, Edna gave birth to their only son, Mercer Kennedy Ellington.
Ellington was joined in New York City by his wife and son in the late twenties, but the couple soon permanently separated.[63] According to her obituary in Jet magazine, she was "homesick for Washington" and returned (she died in 1967).[64] In 1928, Ellington became the companion of Mildred Dixon, who traveled with him, managed Tempo Music, inspired songs at the peak of his career, and reared his son Mercer.
In 1938 he left his family (his son was then 19) and moved in with
Beatrice "Evie" Ellis, a Cotton Club employee. Their relationship,
though stormy, continued after Ellington met and formed a relationship
with Fernanda de Castro Monte in the early 1960s. Ellington supported
both women for the rest of his life.[65]
Mildred Dixon - Ellington's companion; his son Mercer referred to her as his "mother"
Ellington's sister Ruth (1915–2004) later ran Tempo Music, his music
publishing company. Ruth's second husband was the bass-baritone McHenry Boatwright, whom she met when he sang at her brother's funeral.
As an adult, son Mercer Ellington (d. 1996) played trumpet and piano,
and led his own band. He also worked as his father's business manager,
eventually taking full control of the band after Duke's death. He was an
important archivist of his father's musical life.
Ellington died on May 24, 1974 of complications from lung cancer and pneumonia, a few weeks after his 75th birthday. His last words were, "Music is how I live, why I live and how I will be remembered."[66] 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."[67] He was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York City.[68]
Following Duke's death, his son Mercer took over leadership of the orchestra, continuing until his own death in 1996. Like the Count Basie Orchestra, this group continued to release albums long after Duke Ellington's death. 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.
Legacy
Memorials
The grave of Duke Ellington
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 intensive arts instruction and strong academic programs that
prepare students for post-secondary education and professional careers.
Originally built in 1935, the Calvert Street Bridge was renamed the Duke Ellington Bridge in 1974.
In 1989, a bronze plaque was attached to the newly named Duke Ellington Building at 2121 Ward Place, NW.[69] 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.[70] Ellington's residence at 2728 Sherman Avenue, NW, during the years 1919-1922,[71] is marked by a bronze plaque.
On February 24, 2009, the United States Mint
launched a new coin featuring Duke Ellington, making him the first
African American to appear by himself on a circulating U.S. coin.[72] Ellington appears on the reverse ("tails") side of the District of Columbia quarter.[72] The coin is part of the U.S. Mint's program honoring the District and the U.S. territories[73] and celebrates Ellington's birthplace in the District of Columbia.[72]
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.[73]
Ellington on the Washington, D.C. quarter released in 2009.
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.
A statue of Ellington at a piano is featured at the entrance to UCLA's Schoenberg Hall. According to UCLA Magazine:
When UCLA students were entranced by Duke Ellington's provocative tunes at a Culver City club in 1937, they asked the budding musical great to play a free concert in Royce Hall. 'I've been waiting for someone to ask us!' Ellington exclaimed.
On the day of the concert, Ellington accidentally mixed up the venues and drove to USC instead. He eventually arrived at the UCLA campus and, to apologize for his tardiness, played to the packed crowd for more than four hours. And so, "Sir Duke" and his group played the first-ever jazz performance in a concert venue.[74]
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 large focus that the festival places on his works.
Tributes
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."[75]
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."[76]
In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Duke Ellington on
his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.[77]
Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6535 Hollywood Blvd.
While his compositions are now the staple of the repertoire of music conservatories,[citation needed]
they have been revisited by artists and musicians around the world both
as a source of inspiration and a bedrock of their own performing
careers.
- Dave Brubeck dedicated "The Duke" (1954) to Ellington and it became a standard covered by others,[78] both during Ellington's lifetime (such as by Miles Davis on Miles Ahead, 1957) and posthumously (such as George Shearing on I Hear a Rhapsody: Live at the Blue Note, 1992). 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.
- Stevie Wonder wrote the song "Sir Duke" as a tribute to Ellington in 1976.
- Joe Jackson interpreted Ellington's work on The Duke (2012)[79] in new arrangements and with collaborations from Iggy Pop, Sharon Jones and Steve Vai.
There are hundreds of albums dedicated to the music of Duke Ellington
and Billy Strayhorn by artists famous and obscure. The more notable
artists include Sonny Stitt, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Eckstine, Tony Bennett, Oscar Peterson, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Joe Pass, Milt Jackson, Earl Hines, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, McCoy Tyner, André Previn, World Saxophone Quartet, Ben Webster, Zoot Sims, Kenny Burrell, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, Martial Solal, Clark Terry and Randy Weston.
Sophisticated Ladies,
an award-winning 1981 musical revue, incorporated many tunes from
Ellington's repertoire. A second Broadway musical interpolating
Ellington's music, Play On!, debuted in 1997.
Discography
Main article: Duke Ellington discography
Awards
- 1966, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.[4]
- 1969, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US[4]
- 1971, an Honorary PhD from the Berklee College of Music[4]
- 1973, the Legion of Honor by France, its highest civilian honors.[4]
- 1999, posthumous Special Pulitzer Prize for his lifetime contributions to music and culture
Grammy Awards
Ellington earned 12 Grammy awards from 1959 to 2000, three of which were posthumous.
| Duke Ellington Grammy Award History[80] | ||||
| Year | Category | Title | Genre | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Historical Album | The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition RCA Victor Recordings (1927–1973) |
Jazz | Winner |
| 1979 | Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band | Duke Ellington At Fargo, 1940 Live | Jazz | Winner |
| 1976 | Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band | The Ellington Suites | Jazz | Winner |
| 1972 | Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band | Togo Brava Suite | Jazz | Winner |
| 1971 | Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band | New Orleans Suite | Jazz | Winner |
| 1968 | Best Instrumental Jazz Performance – Large Group Or Soloist With Large Group |
...And His Mother Called Him Bill | Jazz | Winner |
| 1967 | Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Large Group Or Soloist With Large Group |
Far East Suite | Jazz | Winner |
| 1966 | Best Original Jazz Composition | "In The Beginning God" | Jazz | Winner |
| 1965 | Best Instrumental Jazz Performance - Large Group Or Soloist With Large Group |
Ellington '66 | Jazz | Winner |
| 1959 | Best Performance By A Dance Band | Anatomy of a Murder | Pop | Winner |
| 1959 | Best Musical Composition First Recorded And Released In 1959 (More Than 5 Minutes Duration) |
Anatomy of a Murder | Composing | Winner |
| 1959 | Best Sound Track Album – Background Score From A Motion Picture Or Television |
Anatomy of a Murder | Composing | Winner |
Grammy Hall of Fame
Recordings of Duke Ellington were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame,
which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings
that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or
historical significance".
| Duke Ellington: Grammy Hall of Fame Award[81][82] | ||||
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Commemorative U.S. quarter | D.C. and U.S. Territories Quarters Program.[83][84] |
| 2008 | Gennett Records Walk of Fame | |
| 2004 | Nesuhi Ertegün Jazz Hall of Fame at Jazz at Lincoln Center |
|
| 1999 | Pulitzer Prize | Special Citation[4] |
| 1992 | Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame | |
| 1986 | 22¢ commemorative U.S. stamp | Issued April 29, 1986[85] |
| 1978 | Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame | |
| 1973 | French Legion of Honor[86] | 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[87] | |
| 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[88][89] | |
| 1966 | Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award | |
| 1959 | NAACP Spingarn Medal | |
| 1956 | Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame inductee |
Notes
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.(Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5kGOH7EZS)
- "Yale Honorary Degree Recipients". Yale University.
References
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Duke Ellington. |
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: Duke Ellington |
- Official website
- Duke Ellington Legacy Big Band & Duke Ellington Legacy Band – official website of the family organization Duke Ellington Legacy
- Symphony In Black (discussion and film)
- Duke Ellington at the Internet Movie Database
- Duke Ellington at the Internet Broadway Database
- Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn: Jazz Composers – April–June 2009 exhibition at NMAH
- Ellingtonia.com – "Duke Ellington Complete Discography"
- The Duke Ellington Society, TDES, Inc
- Duke Ellington: 20th International Conference, London, May 2008
- Duke Ellington Orchestra at Wenig-LaMonica Associates
- Duke Ellington at Library of Congress Authorities, with 1653 catalog records