Jazz Appreciation Month: Duke Ellington
Friday, April 27th, 2018April 27, 2018
World Book ends Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) by celebrating the birthday of Duke Ellington on April 29, 1899. Ellington was an American jazz bandleader, composer, and pianist. He was one of the greatest figures in jazz and, according to many critics, its most significant composer.
Edward Kennedy Ellington was born on April 29, 1899, in Washington, D.C. He began playing piano at age 7 (despite a preference for baseball) and, sometime after earning the nickname, “Duke,” he made his professional debut at 17. He moved to New York City in 1923 as a member of Elmer Snowden’s band, the Washingtonians. Ellington soon took over the band, which grew from 5 pieces to 12 pieces by 1931. From 1927 to 1932, the Ellington band was the house band at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem. There, they played a rhythmic, exotic sound called jungle music.
The band’s reputation gradually grew through many recordings of Ellington compositions, including “Mood Indigo” (1930), “Creole Rhapsody” (1931), “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing” (1932), “Sophisticated Lady” (1933), “Solitude” (1934), and “In a Sentimental Mood” (1935). The mid-1930′s to the mid-1940′s is generally considered Ellington’s most creative period. Many of his most highly regarded recordings were made during this time, including “Harlem Air-shaft” (1940), “Jack the Bear” (1940), “Ko-Ko” (1940), and “Concerto for Cootie” (1940). In 1939, Billy Strayhorn joined Ellington’s band as a co-composer and arranger. Strayhorn wrote “Take the A Train” (1941), which became the band’s theme song.
Many of Ellington’s key musicians—such as saxophonists Johnny Hodges and Harry Carney—remained with him for several decades, contributing to the band’s readily identifiable sound. Other important musicians were tenor saxophonists Ben Webster and Paul Gonsalves, trombonists Joe Nanton and Lawrence Brown, clarinetist Barney Bigard, bassist Jimmy Blanton, and trumpeters Rex Stewart, Clark Terry, Cootie Williams, and Ray Nance.
Beginning in the 1940′s, Ellington composed longer works, such as Black, Brown, and Beige (1943). In 1959, he won the Spingarn Medal, the highest honor given by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. That same year, he won a Grammy (the awards were first presented in 1958) for his music in the film, Anatomy of a Murder.
During the 1960′s, Ellington wrote several more film scores and began composing sacred music. He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1966 and the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor awarded by the U.S. president, in 1969. Music Is My Mistress (1973) is Ellington’s autobiography. He died on May 24, 1974. Mercer Ellington (1919-1996), Duke’s son, was a trumpeter, composer, and record company executive. He also led the Ellington band for several years after his father’s death. In 1986, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative Duke Ellington postage stamp.