Duke Ellingtonby PirateJazzRadio

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ContentsArticlesDuke Ellington Duke Ellington discography 1 18 29 30 30 32 32 36 36 42 42 47 47 50 50 53 53 56 56 59 61 61 63 63 66

Albums 1938Braggin' in Brass: The Immortal 1938 Year

1939The BlantonWebster Band

1940Duke Ellington at Fargo, 1940 Live

1942Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band

1943The Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1943

1944The Carnegie Hall Concerts: December 1944

1946The Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1946

1947The Carnegie Hall Concerts: December 1947 Liberian Suite

1950Great Times!

1951Masterpieces by Ellington

1952

Ellington Uptown

66 69 69 71 73 73 75 77 77 79 79 82 84 86 92 94 97 97 99 102 106 106 108 110 112 114 116 118 122 125 127 129 129

1953Premiered by Ellington The Duke Plays Ellington

1954Ellington 55 Dance to the Duke!

1955Ellington Showcase

1956Blue Rose (Rosemary Clooney album) Historically Speaking (Duke Ellington album) Duke Ellington Presents... Ellington at Newport The Complete Porgy and Bess A Drum Is a Woman

1957Studio Sessions, Chicago 1956 Such Sweet Thunder Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook

1958Black, Brown and Beige (album) Dance Concerts, California 1958 Dance Dates, California 1958 Duke Ellington at the Bal Masque The Cosmic Scene Happy Reunion Ellington Indigos Newport 1958 Jazz at the Plaza Vol. II Duke Ellington at the Alhambra

1959Jazz Party

Back to Back: Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges Play the Blues Side by Side (album) Anatomy of a Murder Live at the Blue Note (Duke Ellington album) Festival Session Blues in Orbit

132 134 136 146 148 151 154 154 156 158 160 162 162 164 167 171 174 174 176 178 180 183 186 188 190 193 193 195 198 200 202 204 206 208

1960The Nutcracker Suite (Duke Ellington album) Piano in the Background Swinging Suites by Edward E. and Edward G. Unknown Session

1961Piano in the Foreground The Great Summit Paris Blues First Time! The Count Meets the Duke

1962Featuring Paul Gonsalves Studio Sessions 1957 & 1962 Midnight in Paris (album) Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins Money Jungle Duke Ellington & John Coltrane Studio Sessions, New York 1962 Recollections of the Big Band Era

1963Afro-Bossa The Great Paris Concert The Symphonic Ellington Duke Ellington's Jazz Violin Session Serenade to Sweden Studio Sessions New York 1963 My People (Duke Ellington album)

1964

Ellington '65 Duke Ellington Plays Mary Poppins

208 210 212 212 215 217 219 225 225 227 229 231 233 239 242 242 245 247 250 252 252 254 256 256 259 259 261 263 265 267 270 272 272

1965Ellington '66 Concert in the Virgin Islands Ella at Duke's Place Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts

1966The Stockholm Concert, 1966 The Popular Duke Ellington In the Uncommon Market Soul Call Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur The Far East Suite

1967Studio Sessions, 1957, 1965, 1966, 1967, San Francisco, Chicago, New York The Jaywalker ...And His Mother Called Him Bill Francis A. & Edward K.

1968Yale Concert Studio Sessions New York, 1968

196970th Birthday Concert (Duke Ellington album)

1970Latin American Suite The Pianist (album) New Orleans Suite Orchestral Works The Suites, New York 1968 & 1970 The Intimacy of the Blues

1971The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse

Studio Sessions New York & Chicago, 1965, 1966 & 1971 The Intimate Ellington Togo Brava Suite

274 276 278 280 280 282 285 287 289 289 291 294 294 296 296 297 298 300 302 304 304 309 311 313 314 316 325 327

1972Live at the Whitney The Ellington Suites This One's for Blanton! Up in Dukes Workshop

1973Duke's Big 4 It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing (Duke Ellington & Teresa Brewer album)

1974Eastbourne Performance

SinglesIt Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) Cocktails for Two Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue Take the "A" Train Mood Indigo

FilmsBlack and Tan (The Movie) Check and Double Check Murder at the Vanities Belle of the Nineties Cabin in the Sky Timon of Athens Beggar's Holiday Sophisticated Ladies

ReferencesArticle Sources and Contributors Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 329 333

Article Licenses

License

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Duke Ellington

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Duke EllingtonEdward Ellington

Frankfurt am Main, February 6, 1965 Background information Birth name Born Edward Kennedy Ellington April 29, 1899 Washington, D.C., U.S. May 24, 1974 (aged75) New York City, New York, U.S. Orchestral jazz, swing, big band

Died

Genres

Occupations Bandleader, pianist, composer Instruments Piano Years active 19141974 Website Duke Ellington Legacy [1]

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 May 24, 1974) was a composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions. In the words of Bob Blumenthal of the Boston Globe "In the century since his birth, there has been no greater composer, American or otherwise, than Edward Kennedy Ellington."[2] A prominent figure in the history of jazz, Ellington's music stretched into various other genres, including blues, gospel, film scores, popular, and classical. 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, the Pulitzer Prize Board bestowing a special posthumous honor in 1999.[3] Ellington called his music "American Music" rather than jazz, and liked to describe those who impressed him as "beyond category".[4] These included many of the musicians who were members of his orchestra, some of whom are considered among the best in jazz in their own right, but it was Ellington who melded them into one of the most well-known jazz orchestral units in the history of jazz. He often composed specifically for the style and skills of these individuals, such as "Jeep's Blues" for Johnny Hodges, "Concerto for Cootie" for Cootie Williams, which later became "Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me" with Bob Russell's lyrics, and "The Mooche" for Tricky Sam Nanton and Bubber Miley. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan" and "Perdido" which brought the 'Spanish Tinge' to big-band jazz. Several members of the orchestra remained there for several decades. After 1941, he frequently collaborated with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his

Duke Ellington "writing and arranging companion."[5] Ellington recorded for many American record companies, and appeared in several films. Ellington led his band from 1923 until his death in 1974. His son Mercer Ellington, who had already been handling all administrative aspects of his father's business for several decades, led the band until his own death in 1996. At that point, the original band dissolved. Paul Ellington, Mercer's youngest son and executor of the Duke Ellington estate,[6] kept the Duke Ellington Orchestra going from Mercer's death onwards.[7]

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BiographyEarly lifeEdward Kennedy Ellington was born on April 29, 1899 to James Edward Ellington and Daisy Kennedy Ellington. Daisy and J.E. were both pianists. She primarily played parlor songs and he operatic airs. They lived with his maternal grandparents at 2129 Ida Place (now Ward Place), NW in the West End neighborhood of Washington, D.C.[8] His father, James Edward Ellington was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina on April 15, 1879 and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1886 with his parents.[9] Daisy Kennedy, was born in Washington, D.C. on January 4, 1879, and was the daughter of a former American slave.[8] [10] James Ellington made blueprints for the United States Navy. He also worked as a butler for Dr. Middleton F. Cuthbert, a prominent white physician, and occasionally worked as a White House caterer.[11] At the age of seven Ellington began taking piano lessons from Marietta Clinkscales.[12] Daisy surrounded her son with dignified women to reinforce his manners and teach him to live elegantly. Ellingtons childhood friends noticed that "his casual, offhand manner, his easy grace, and his dapper dress gave him the bearing of a young nobleman",[13] 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."[14] 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.[15] 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 Cafe, he wrote his first composition, "Soda Fountain Rag" (also known as the "Poodle Dog Rag"). Ellington created "Soda Fountain Rag" by ear, because 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."[16] In his autobiography, Music is my Mistress (1973), Ellington said 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, he listened to 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.[17] 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.[16] 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 cafs and clubs in and around Washington, D.C. and his attachment grew to be so strong that he turned down an art scholarship to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 1916. Three months before

Duke Ellington graduating he dropped out of Armstrong Manual Training School, where he was studying commercial art.[18] From 1917 through 1919, Ellington launched his musical career, painting commercial signs by day and playing piano by night. Through his day job, Duke's entrepreneurial side came out: when a customer would ask him to make a sign for a dance or party, he would ask them if they had musical entertainment; if not, Ellington would ask if he could play for them. He also had a messenger job with the U.S. Navy and State Departments. 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 Dukes Serenaders" ("Colored Syncopators", his telephone directory advertising proclaimed).[18] He was not only a member, but also the booking agent. His first play date was at the True Reformer's Hall, where he took home 75 cents.[19] Ellington played throughout the Washington, D.C. area and into Virginia for private society balls and embassy parties. The band included Otto Hardwick, who switched from bass to 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 during the racially divided times.[20]

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Early careerWhen 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, becoming one of the figures of the Harlem Renaissance. New dance crazes like 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 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 called Elmer Snowden and his Black Sox Orchestra and had seven members, including 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"), an engagement which set the stage for the biggest opportunities in Ellington's life. Ellington made eight records in 1924, receiving composing credit on three including Choo Choo.[21] In 1925 Ellington contributed four songs to Chocolate Kiddies, 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 ten-piece organization; they developed their distinct sound by displaying the non-traditional expression of Ellingtons 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 the group, imparting his propulsive swing and superior musicianship to the young band members. This helped attract the attention of some of the biggest names of jazz, including Paul Whiteman. In 1927 King Oliver turned down a regular booking for his group as the house band at Harlem's Cotton Club; the offer passed to Ellington. With a weekly radio broadcast and famous white clientele nightly pouring in to see them, Ellington and his band thrived in the period from 1932 to 1942, a golden age for the band. Ellington was joined in New York City by his wife, Edna Thompson, and son Mercer in the late twenties, but the couple soon permanently separated.[22] According to her obituary in Jet magazine, she was "[h]omesick for Washington" and returned (she died in 1967).[23]

Duke Ellington Although trumpeter Bubber Miley was a member of the orchestra for only a short period, he had a major influence on Ellington's sound.[24] An early exponent of growl trumpet, his style changed the "sweet" dance band sound of the group to one that was hotter, which contemporaries termed 'jungle' style. He also composed most of "Black and Tan Fantasy" and "Creole Love Call". An alcoholic, Miley had to leave the band before they gained wider fame. He died in 1932 at the age of twenty-nine. He was an important influence on Cootie Williams, who replaced him. In 1927 Ellington made a career-advancing agreement with agent-publisher Irving Mills, giving Mills a 45% interest in Ellington's future.[25] Mills had an eye for new talent and early on published compositions by Hoagy Carmichael, Dorothy Fields, and Harold Arlen. During the 1930s Ellington's popularity continued to increase largely as a result of the promotional skills of Mills who got more than his fair share of co-composer credits. Mills arranged recording sessions on the Brunswick, Victor, and Columbia labels which gave Ellington popular recognition. Mills lifted the management burden from Ellington's shoulders, allowing him to focus on his band's sound and his compositions. Ellington ended his association with Mills in 1937, although he continued to record under Mills' banner through to 1940. 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. Weekly radio broadcasts from the club gave Ellington national exposure. In 1929 Ellington appeared in his first movie, a nineteen-minute all-African-American RKO short, Black and Tan, in which he played the hero "Duke". In the same year, The Cotton Club Orchestra appeared on stage for several months in Florenz Ziegfeld's Show Girl, along with vaudeville stars Jimmy Durante, Eddie Foy, Jr., Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, and with music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Gus Kahn. That feverish period also included numerous recordings, under the pseudonyms "Whoopee Makers", "The Jungle Band", "Harlem Footwarmers", and the "Ten Black Berries". In 1930 Ellington and his Orchestra connected with a whole different audience in a concert with Maurice Chevalier and they also performed at the Roseland Ballroom, "America's foremost ballroom". Noted composer Percy Grainger was also an early admirer and supporter. In 1929, when Ellington conducted the orchestra for Show Girl, he met Will Vodery, Ziegfelds musical supervisor. 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.[26] As the Depression worsened, the recording industry was in crisis, dropping over 90% of its artists by 1933.[27] Ellington and his orchestra survived the hard times by taking to the road in a series of tours. Radio exposure also helped maintain popularity. Ivie Anderson was hired as their featured vocalist. Sonny Greer had been providing occasional vocals and continued to do in a cross-talk feature with Anderson. Ellington, however, later had many different vocalists, including Herb Jeffries (until 1943) and Al Hibbler (who replaced Jeffries in 1943 and continued until 1951). 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 crafty combination of charm, humor, flattery, and astute psychology. A complex, private person, he revealed his feelings to only his closest intimates and effectively used his public persona to deflect attention away from himself. While the band's United States audience remained mainly African-American in this period, the Cotton Club had a near-exclusive white clientele and 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

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Duke Ellington praise from members of the 'serious' music community, including composer Constant Lambert, which gave a boost to Ellington's aspiration to compose longer works. For agent Mills it 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. The death of Ellington's mother in 1935 led to a temporary hiatus in his career. Competition was also intensifying, as African-American and white swing bands began to receive popular attention, including those of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Carter, Earl Hines, Chick Webb, and Count Basie. Swing dancing became a youth phenomenon, particularly with white college audiences, and "danceability" drove record sales and bookings. Jukeboxes proliferated nationwide, spreading the gospel of "swing". Ellington band could certainly swing, but Ellington's strengths were mood and nuance, and richness of composition; hence his statement "jazz is music; swing is business".[28] Ellington countered with two developments. He made recordings of smaller groups (sextets, octets, and nonets) drawn from his then-15-man orchestra and he composed pieces intended to feature 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. Things improved in 1938 and he met and moved in with Cotton Club employee Beatrice "Evie" Ellis. After splitting with agent Irving Mills, he signed on with the William Morris Agency. The 1930s ended with a very successful European tour just as World War II loomed. Ellington delivered some huge hits during the 1930s, which greatly helped to build his overall reputation. Some of them include: "Mood Indigo" (1930), "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" (1932), "Sophisticated Lady" (1933), "Solitude" (1934), "In a Sentimental Mood" (1935), "Caravan" (1937), "I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart" (1938). "Take the "A" Train" which hit big in 1941, was written by Billy Strayhorn. Strayhorn, originally hired as a lyricist, began his association with Ellington in 1939.[29] Nicknamed "Swee' Pea" for his mild manner, Strayhorn soon became a vital member of the Ellington Organization. Ellington showed great fondness kept the Duke Ellington Orchestra going 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".[30] 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.[31]

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Duke Ellington

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Duke in the 1940sThe band reached a creative peak in the early 1940s, when Ellington and a small hand-picked group of his composers and arrangers wrote for an orchestra of distinctive voices who displayed tremendous creativity.[32] Some of the musicians created a sensation in their own right. The short-lived Jimmy Blanton transformed the use of double bass in jazz, allowing it to function as a solo rather than a rhythm instrument alone. Ben Webster, the Orchestra's first regular tenor saxophonist, started a rivalry with Johnny Hodges as the Orchestra's foremost voice in the sax section. Ray Nance joined, replacing Cootie Williams (who had "defected", contemporary wags claimed, to Benny Goodman). Nance, however, added violin to the instrumental colors Ellington had at his disposal. Three-minute masterpieces flowed from the minds of Ellington, Billy Duke Ellington at the Hurricane Club in New Strayhorn, Ellington's son Mercer Ellington, Mary Lou Williams and York, May 1943 members of the Orchestra. "Cotton Tail", "Main Stem", "Harlem Airshaft", "Sidewalks of New York (East Side, West Side)", "Jack the bear", and dozens of others date from this period. Privately made recordings of Nance's first concert date, at Fargo, North Dakota, on November 7, 1940 by Jack Towers and Dick Burris, are probably the most effective display of the band during this period. These recordings, later released as Duke Ellington at Fargo, 1940 Live, are among the first of innumerable live performances which survive, made by enthusiasts or broadcasters, significantly expanding the Ellington discography. Ellington's long-term aim became to extend the jazz form from the three-minute limit of the 78 rpm record side, of which he was an acknowledged master.[33] He had composed and recorded Creole Rhapsody as early as 1931 (issued as both sides of 12" record for Victor and both sides of a 10" record for Brunswick), and his tribute to his mother, "Reminiscing in Tempo," had filled four 10" record sides in 1935; however, it was not until the 1940s that this became a regular feature of Ellington's work. In this, he was helped by Strayhorn, who had enjoyed a more thorough training in the forms associated with classical music than Ellington. The first of these, "Black, Brown, and Beige" (1943), was dedicated to telling the story of African-Americans, 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 a series of concerts there suited to displaying Ellington's longer works. While some jazz musicians had played at Carnegie Hall before, few had performed anything as elaborate as Ellingtons work. Unfortunately, starting a regular pattern, Ellington's longer works were generally not well-received. 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. Although it had the support of the Hollywood establishment, and received mostly positive reviews, its socio-political outlook provoked a negative reaction among some members of the public. It ran for 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, despite Ellington's plans to take it there.[34] The settlement of the first recording ban of 194243 had a serious effect on all the big bands because of the increase in royalty payments to musicians which resulted from it. The financial viability of Ellington's Orchestra came under threat, though Ellington's income as a songwriter ultimately subsidized it. Ellington always spent lavishly and although he drew a respectable income from the Orchestra's operations, the band's income often just covered expenses.[35]

Duke Ellington The music industry's focus shifted away from the Big Bands to the work of solo vocalists such as the young Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday and mainstream groups like The Andrews Sisters as World War II drew to a close. While Ellington had featured some of the most talented singers of the day fronting his orchestra, he and his band took a back seat to no one, which set him down a path that put him increasingly at odds with the growing recording industry which was profiting from celebrity singers who were cheaper to keep than a big band, and produced bigger revenues. By the mid 1940s artists were creatively changing. One of Ellington's composer-arrangers, Mary Lou Williams, left Ellington in 1943 and by 1945 was working with Dizzy Gillespie on a new form of jazz music, "Bebop." Bebop rebelled against mainstream jazz and the strict forms of which Ellington was perhaps its most well known standard-bearer. The music, which had redefined the American sound over 35 years, was about to be shaken up. It would take another ten years for Bebop to begin catching on with jazz aficionados world-wide, but it was an early hit with club owners of smaller venues who could draw the jazz form's growing audiences in New York City at a fraction of the cost of hosting a big band, particularly one of Ellington's caliber. Newer, smaller bands and splinter forms of music increasingly put pressure on the bigger clubs who paid out increasingly more to maintain their big bands. Ellington's elite band was a costly enterprise that, along with his excessive personal spending, always teetered on the brink of break-even. The new music trends eventually pushed it over the edge and put Ellington out on the road in search of venues that could afford to showcase his music. Bebop was also a huge shift for young talent, from Charlie Parker to John Coltrane to Thelonious Monk who did not embrace Big Band and sought out new creative frontiers, redefining "modern" jazz music forever. Ellington did not recruit or embrace these new artists and change with the times. In 1950 another emerging musical trend, the African-American popular music style known as Rhythm and Blues driven by a new generation of composers and musicians like Fats Domino drew away young audiences from both the African-American and white communities, and ultimately unified those audiences as R&B morphed into Rock & Roll which expanded the cults of the singers from the Big Band era to the singer/songwriters from Domino to Elvis Presley to Buddy Holly. Again, Ellington did not embrace the new musical form, leaving him further in the growing dust cloud of musical history. Ellington continued on his own course through these tectonic shifts in the music business. He did not wholly resist trends while trying to turn out major works. The Kay Davis vocal feature "Transblucency" was an attempt to cater to the singer-centric music world. He still performed major extended compositions such as Harlem (1950), whose score he presented to music-loving President Harry Truman, but these works were rapidly becoming reflections of his greatness in the 1930s and 1940s, and not ground-breaking works that rattled the music world back into the Big Band camp. In 1951, Ellington suffered a major loss of personnel, with Sonny Greer, Lawrence Brown, and most significantly Johnny Hodges, leaving to pursue other ventures. Lacking overseas opportunities and motion picture appearances, Ellington's Orchestra survived on "one-nighters" and whatever else came their way. By the summer of 1955 the band was performing for six weeks at the Aquacade in Flushing, New York, where Ellington is supposed to have "invented" a drink known as "The Tornado," the only alcoholic concoction that features his signature Coca-Cola and sugar. Ellington had hoped that television would provide a significant new outlet for his type of jazz was not fulfilled. Tastes and trends had moved on without him. The introduction of the 33 1/3 rpm LP record and hi-fi phonograph though, did give new life to many of his older compositions. However by 1955, after three years of recording for Capitol, Ellington no longer had a regular recording affiliation.

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Career revivalThe music business' increasing factionization into specific forms of rock-and-roll, country, bluegrass, or jazz broke down into even more sub-sets, and opened the door for the second act in Duke Ellington's career. An international fascination with Jazz re-opened the door at record labels to artists like Ellington and Louis Armstrong who had found themselves out of step with the times for the last half-decade. The Ellington who was too big or too proud to change would now appear with a variety of artists from the different jazz forms. Ellington's appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 7, 1956 returned him to wider prominence and exposed him to new audiences. The feature "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue", with saxophonist Paul Gonsalves's six-minute saxophone solo, had been in the band's book since 1937, but on this occasion nearly created a riot. The revived attention should not have surprised anyone The August 20, 1956 cover of Time featured Ellington. Hodges had returned to the fold the previous year, and Ellington's collaboration with Strayhorn had been renewed around the same time, under terms more amenable to the younger man. Such Sweet Thunder (1957), based on Shakespeare's plays and characters, and The Queen's Suite, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II, were products of the renewed impetus which the Newport appearance helped to create. A new record contract with Columbia produced Ellington's best-selling LP Ellington at Newport and yielded six years of recording stability under producer Irving Townsend, who coaxed both commercial and artistic productions from Ellington.[36] In 1957, CBS (Columbia's parent corporation) aired a live television production of A Drum Is a Woman, an allegorical suite which received mixed reviews. Festival appearances at the new Monterey Jazz Festival and elsewhere provided venues for live exposure, and a European tour in 1958 was wildly received. After a 25-year gap, Ellington (with Strayhorn) returned to work on film scores, this time for Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and Paris Blues (1961). Ellington and Strayhorn, always looking for new musical territory, produced adaptations of John Steinbeck's novel Sweet Thursday, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt. The late 1950s also saw Ella Fitzgerald record her Duke Ellington Songbook with Ellington and his orchestraa recognition that Ellington's songs had now become part of the cultural canon known as the "Great American Songbook".

Duke Ellington

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Detroit Free Press music critic Mark Stryker concludes that the work of Billy Strayhorn and Ellington in Anatomy of a Murder, the trial court drama film directed by Otto Preminger in 1959, 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."[37] 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".[38] In the early 1960s, Ellington embraced recording with artists who had been fierce rivals of the past, or who had been young artists from the Bebop beginnings whom he did not associate with. The Ellington and Count Basie orchestras recorded together. During a period when he was between recording contracts he made a 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.

Ellington in 1973

Ironically, the singer most responsible for setting off the changes that brought an end to the big band era became Ellington's salvation. He signed to Frank Sinatra's new Reprise label. Musicians who had previously worked with Ellington returned to the Orchestra as members: Lawrence Brown in 1960 and Cootie Williams in 1962. The international mania for jazz reinstated Ellington as one of the highest earning artists in jazz. He performed all over the world; a significant part of each year was now spent making overseas tours. He formed notable new working relationships with international artists from around the world, including the Swedish vocalist Alice Babs, and South African musicians Dollar Brand and Sathima Bea Benjamin (A Morning in Paris, 1963/1997). His earlier hits became big sellers in the rediscovery of the music world-wide, earning Ellington impressive royalties. "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."[16]

Last yearsEllington was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1965, but was turned down.[39] His reaction at 67 years old: "Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young."[40] In September of the same year, the first of his Sacred Concerts was given its premiere. It was an attempt to fuse Christian liturgy with jazz, and even though it 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. This caused 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

Duke Ellington important thing I've done."[41] 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.[42] Ellington continued to make vital and innovative recordings, including The Far East Suite (1966), the New Orleans Suite (1970), and The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (1971), much of it inspired by his world tours. It was during this time that Ellington recorded his only album with Frank Sinatra, entitled Francis A. & Edward K. (1967). Ellington was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1966. He was later awarded several other prizes, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, an Honorary PhD from the Berklee College of Ellington receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Nixon, Music in 1971, and the Legion of Honor by 1969. France in 1973, the highest civilian honors [3] in each country. He died of lung cancer and pneumonia on May 24, 1974, a month after his 75th birthday, and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York City.[43] 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."[44] Mercer Ellington picked up the reins of the orchestra immediately after Duke's death. Ellington's last words were, "Music is how I live, why I live and how I will be remembered."

10

Work in films and the theaterEllington's film work began in 1929 with the short film Black and Tan.[45] Symphony in Black (1935) featured his extended piece 'A Rhapsody of Negro Life'. It introduced Billie Holiday, and won an Academy Award as the best musical short subject. He also appeared in the Amos 'n' Andy film Check and Double Check (1930). Ellington and his Orchestra continued to appear in films through the 1930s and 1940s, both in short films and in features such as Murder at the Vanities and Belle of the Nineties (1934), and Cabin in the Sky (1943). In the late 1950s, his work in films took the shape of scoring for soundtracks, notably Anatomy of a Murder (1959), with James Stewart, in which he appeared fronting a roadhouse combo, and Paris Blues (1961), which featured Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as jazz musicians. He 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, most recently in an adaptation by Stanley Silverman which expands the score with some of Ellington's best-known works. Ellington composed the score for the musical Jump For Joy, which was performed in Los Angeles during 1941. Ellington's sole book musical, Beggar's Holiday, was staged on Broadway in 1946. Sophisticated Ladies, an award-winning 1981 musical revue, incorporated many tunes from his repertoire.

Duke Ellington

11

Private lifeEllington married his high school sweetheart, Edna Thompson, on July 2, 1918, when he was 19. Shortly after their marriage, on March 11, 1919 Edna gave birth to their only son, Mercer Kennedy Ellington. Mercer played trumpet, led his own band and 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's sister Ruth (19152004) later ran Tempo Music, Ellington's music publishing company. Ruth's second husband was the bass-baritone McHenry Boatwright, whom she met when he sang at her brother's funeral. Ellington's grandson Paul Ellington is a musician and maintains a small salaried band known as the Duke Ellington Legacy, which frequently comprises the core of the big band operated by The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts.

LegacyDuke Ellington's work has come to be recognized as a cornerstone of American culture and heritage. He is widely regarded as the most important composer in jazz; he was also a galvanizing bandleader who inspired many of his musicians to produce their best work, whilst himself being a significant exponent of jazz piano. His works have been revisited by artists and musicians around the world both as a source of inspiration and a bedrock of their own performing careers. Ellington's compositions are now the staple of the repertoire of music conservatories, and even high school band programs that have embraced his music continue to give it life and voice. His son, Mercer Ellington kept his big band alive after his passing. When Mercer died, Paul Ellington kept the Duke Ellington Orchestra going. It plays in concert halls around the world to this day.

Awards, honors and recognitionsMemorialsNumerous memorials have been dedicated to Duke Ellington, in cities from New York and Washington, DC to Los Angeles. In Ellington's birthplace of Washington, D.C., there is a school dedicated to his honor and memory as well as one of the bridges over Rock Creek Park. The Duke Ellington School of the Arts educates talented students, who are considering careers in the arts, by providing intensive arts instruction and strong academic programs that prepare students for post-secondary education and professional careers. The Calvert Street Bridge was renamed the Duke Ellington Bridge; built in 1935, it connects Woodley Park to Adams Morgan.

The grave of Duke Ellington

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.[46] Ellington appears on the reverse ("tails") side of the District of Columbia quarter.[46] The coin is part of the U.S. Mint's program honoring the District and the U.S. territories[47] and celebrates Ellington's birthplace in the District of Columbia.[46] Ellington is depicted on the quarter

Duke Ellington seated at a piano, sheet music in hand, along with the inscription "Justice for All", which is the District's motto.[47] Ellington lived for years in a townhouse on the corner of Manhattan's Riverside Drive and West 106th Street. After his death, West 106th Street was officially renamed Duke Ellington Boulevard. A large memorial to Ellington, created by sculptor Robert Graham, was dedicated in 1997 in New York's Central Park, near Fifth Avenue and 110th Street, an intersection named Duke Ellington Circle. Although he made two more stage appearances before his death, Ellington performed what is considered his final "full" concert in a ballroom at Northern Illinois University on March 20, 1974.[48] The hall was renamed the Duke Ellington Ballroom in 1980. 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."[49]

12

Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6535 Hollywood Blvd.

He is one of only five jazz musicians ever to have been featured on the cover of Time (the other four being Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Wynton Marsalis, and Dave Brubeck).[50] 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 Sathima Bea Benjamin - the South African vocalist wrote "Gift of Love", in memory of Duke Ellington, for her 1987 album Love Light. Dave Brubeck - dedicated "The Duke" (1954) to Ellington and it became a standard covered by others,[51] 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's wife. It is performed as a duet between Louis Armstrong and Carmen McRae. It is also dedicated to Duke Ellington. Tony Bennett frequently altered the lyrics to "Lullaby of Broadway" in live performance, to sing, "You rock-a-bye your baby 'round/to Ellington or Basie," as a personal tribute to the two jazz masters. Judy Collins - wrote "Song For Duke" in 1975, and included it on her album Judith. Miles Davis - one month after Ellington's death, created his half-hour dedicated dirge "He Loved Him Madly" (1974) collected on Get Up with It. The jazz-influenced band Steely Dan recorded a note-for-note version of an early Ellington standard, "East St. Louis Toodle-oo," on their album Pretzel Logic, released in 1974, using treated slide guitars to re-create the plunger-muted "jungle sound" of the original Ellington horns. Stevie Wonder - wrote the song "Sir Duke" as a tribute to Ellington in 1976. Charles Mingus - composed "Open Letter to Duke" and "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love" Lorraine Feather - has composed lyrics to many of Ellington's instrumental compositions,recorded on CD's including "Dooji Wooji" and "Such Sweet Thunder."

Duke Ellington The Modern Jazz Quartet composed two original Ellington tributes for their album For Ellington. 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, Tony Bennett, Claude Bolling, Oscar Peterson, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Dick Hyman, Joe Pass, Milt Jackson, Earl Hines, Andr Previn, World Saxophone Quartet, Ben Webster, Zoot Sims, Kenny Burrell, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, Martial Solal, Clark Terry and Randy Weston.

13

Homage from criticsGunther Schuller wrote, "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."[52] 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."[53] In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Duke Ellington on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.[54] Andre Previn said, "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, thats done like this. But Duke merely lifts his finger, three horns make a sound, and I dont know what it is!" [55]

AwardsGrammy AwardsEllington earned 12 Grammy awards from 1959 to 2000, nine while he was alive.Duke Ellington Grammy Award History Year 1999 Category Historical Album [56] Genre Jazz Result Winner

Title The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition RCA Victor Recordings (19271973) Duke Ellington At Fargo, 1940 Live The Ellington Suites Togo Brava Suite New Orleans Suite ...And His Mother Called Him Bill

1979 1976 1972 1971 1968

Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band Best Instrumental Jazz Performance - Large Group Or Soloist With Large Group Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Large Group Or Soloist With Large Group Best Original Jazz Composition Best Instrumental Jazz Performance Large Group Or Soloist With Large Group Best Performance By A Dance Band

Jazz Jazz Jazz Jazz Jazz

Winner Winner Winner Winner Winner

1967

Far East Suite

Jazz

Winner

1966 1965

"In The Beginning God" Ellington '66

Jazz Jazz

Winner Winner

1959

Anatomy of a Murder

Pop

Winner

Duke Ellington

14Best Musical Composition First Recorded And Released In 1959 (More Than 5 Minutes Duration) Best Sound Track Album - Background Score From A Motion Picture Or Television Anatomy of a Murder Composing Winner

1959

1959

Anatomy of a Murder

Composing Winner

Grammy Hall of FameRecordings 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 Year Recorded 1932 1934 1957 1956 1967 1944 1928 1941 1931 Title [57] [58] Label Brunswick Victor Columbia Columbia RCA Year Inducted 2008 2007 2004 1999 1999 1990 1981 1976 1975

Genre

"It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" Jazz (Single) "Cocktails for Two" Ellington at Newport "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" Far East Suite Black, Brown and Beige "Black and Tan Fantasy" "Take the "A" Train" "Mood Indigo" Jazz (Single) Jazz (Album) Jazz (Single) Jazz (Album)

Jazz (Single) RCA Victor Jazz (Single) Jazz (Single) Jazz (Single) Victor Victor Brunswick

Honors and inductions

Ellington on the Washington, D.C. quarter released in 2009.

Duke Ellington

15

Year 2009 2008 2004

Category Commemorative U.S. quarter Gennett Records Walk of Fame Nesuhi Ertegn Jazz Hall of Fame at Jazz at Lincoln Center Pulitzer Prize 22 commemorative U.S. stamp Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame French Legion of Honor [62]

Notes D.C. and U.S. Territories Quarters Program. [59] [60]

1999 1986 1978 1973 1973 1971 1971 1969 1956 1968 1966 1959

Special Citation

[3] [61]

Issued April 29, 1986

July 6, 1973 May 16, 1973

Honorary Degree in Music from Columbia University Honorary Doctorate Degree from Berklee College of Music Songwriters Hall of Fame Presidential Medal of Freedom Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame inductee Grammy Trustees Award Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award NAACP Spingarn Medal

Special Merit Award

Notes[1] [2] [3] [4] http:/ / www. dukeellingtonlegacy. com Boston Globe, 25 April 1999 1999 Pulitzer Prize Winners Special Awards and Citations (http:/ / www. pulitzer. org/ citation/ 1999-Special-Awards-and-Citations) Tucker 1995, 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." [5] Hajdu, David (1996), Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn, New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, ISBN 978-0-86547-512-0, page 170 [6] DukeEllington.com "Paul Ellington." (http:/ / www. dukeellington. com/ paulvideo. html) Retrieved on September 18, 2009. [7] Entertainment Booking Agency "The Duke Ellington Orchestra." (http:/ / www. bookingentertainment. com/ artists/ jazz/ booking-the-duke-ellington-orchestra. php) Retrieved on September 18, 2009. [8] Lawrence 2001, p.1 [9] Lawrence 2001, p.2. [10] Hasse 1995, p.21. [11] Hasse 1993, p.23. [12] Clinkscales lived at 1212 T Street NW, an address sometimes erroneously given as Ellington childhood home. [13] Terkel 2002 [14] Ellington 1976, p.20. [15] Ellington 1976, p.10. [16] "Ellington, Duke". Current Biography. H.W. Wilson Company, 1970. [17] 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.. pp.ix. [18] Simmonds, Yussuf (September 11, 2008). "Duke Ellington" (http:/ / www. lasentinel. net/ Duke-Ellington. html). Los Angeles Sentinel. . Retrieved 2009-07-14. [19] Hasse 1993, p.45. [20] Cohen, Harvey G. (Autumn 2004). "The Marketing of Duke Ellington: Setting the Strategy for an African American Maestro" (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ stable/ 4134056). The Journal of African-American History (Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, Inc.) 89 (4): 291315. . Retrieved 2009-07-14. [21] Hasse 1993, p.79. [22] Susan Robinson "Duke Ellington" (http:/ / gibbsmagazine. com/ Duke Ellington. htm), Gibbs magazine, n.d.

Duke Ellington[23] "Obituary: Edna Thompson Ellington" (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=s7gDAAAAMBAJ& pg=PA46), Jet, 31:17, February 2, 1967, p4647 [24] Schuller, Gunther (October 1992). "Jazz and Composition: The Many Sides of Duke Ellington, the Music's Greatest Composer" (http:/ / jstor. org/ stable/ 3824163). Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (American Academy of Arts & Sciences) 46 (1): 3651. doi:10.2307/3824163. . [25] Hasse 1993, p.90. [26] Ulanov, Barry. Duke Ellington, Creative Age Press, 1946. [27] Hasse 1993, p.166. [28] Hasse 1993, p.203. [29] Stone, Sonjia (ed) (1983). "WILLIAM THOMAS STRAYHORN" (http:/ / www. billystrayhorn. com/ biography. htm). Billy Strayhorn Songs. University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. . Retrieved 2009-07-14. [30] Ellington 1976, p.156. [31] http:/ / www. allaboutjazz. com/ php/ article_print. php?id=31974 [32] "Jazz Musicians - Duke Ellington" (http:/ / theoryjazz. com/ artists/ ellington. html). Theory Jazz. . Retrieved 2009-07-14. [33] Crawford, Richard (1993). The American Musical Landscape. Berkeley: University of California Press. [34] http:/ / indianapublicmedia. org/ nightlights/ jump-for-joy-duke-ellingtons-celebratory-musical/ [35] Hasse 1993, p.274. [36] Wein, George (2003). Myself Among Others: A Life in Music. Da Capo Press. [37] Stryker, Mark, Music Critic, Ellington's score still celebrated, January 20, 2009 (http:/ / www. freep. com/ apps/ pbcs. dll/ article?AID=200990120016) Detroit Free Press [38] Mark Stryker "Ellington's score still celebrated", Detroit Free Press, 20 January 2009; Mervyn Cooke History of Film Music, 2008, Cambridge University Press [39] Gary Giddins, "How Come Jazz Isn't Dead", p. 3955 in Weisbard 2004, pp.4142. Giddins remarks that in 1965, Ellington was denied the Pulitzer because the Pulitzer jury commended him for his body of work rather than for a particular composition, but his posthumous Pulitzer was granted precisely for that life-long body of work. [40] Tucker, Mark; Duke Ellington (1995). The Duke Ellington reader. Oxford University Press. [41] Ellington 1976, p.269. [42] "Ellington's Steinway Grand" (http:/ / www. piano300. si. edu/ collectn. htm). National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. . Retrieved 2008-08-26. [43] "Duke Ellington" (http:/ / www. findagrave. com/ cgi-bin/ fg. cgi?page=gr& GRid=318). Find a Grave. . Retrieved September 2, 2010. [44] Hasse 1993, p.385. [45] Stratemann, Dr. Klaus. Duke Ellington: Day by Day and Film by Film, 1992. ISBN 87-88043-34-7 [46] Staff reporter (2009-02-24). "Jazz man is first African-American to solo on U.S. circulating coin" (http:/ / www. cnn. com/ 2009/ US/ 02/ 24/ duke. ellington. coin/ index. html). CNN. . Retrieved 2009-10-03. "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) [47] United States Mint. Coins and Medals. District of Columbia. (http:/ / www. usmint. gov/ mint_programs/ DCAndTerritories/ index. cfm?action=dcterritories& local=DC) [48] McGowan, Mark (November 3, 2003). "NIU to rededicate Duke Ellington Ballroom during Nov. 6 NIU Jazz Ensemble concert" (http:/ / www. niu. edu/ PubAffairs/ RELEASES/ 2003/ nov/ ellington. shtml). Northern Illinois University. . Retrieved 2009-07-14. [49] Maya Parmer, Curtain Up: Two Days of the Duke (http:/ / www. magazine. ucla. edu/ depts/ happenings/ two_days_of_the_duke/ ), UCLA Magazine, April 1, 2009 [50] Time.com (http:/ / www. time. com/ time/ covers/ 0,16641,19560820,00. html) [51] ""The Duke" by Dave Brubeck: song review, recordings, covers" (http:/ / www. allmusic. com/ song/ t933027). Allmusic. . Retrieved 2007-03-21. [52] Schuller, Gunther, The Swing Era, Oxford University Press, 1989, ISBN 0-19-504312-X. p. 157. [53] Martin Williams, liner notes, Duke Ellington's Symphony in Black,The Smithsonian Jazz Repertory Ensemble conducted by Gunther Schuller, The Smithsonian Collections recording, 1980. [54] Asante, Molefi Kete (2002). 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Amherst, New York. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-963-8. [55] Ralph J. Gleason, Duke Excites, Mystifies Without Any Pretension, Down Beat, November 5, l952, reprinted in Jazz Perspectives Vol. 2, No. 2, July 2008, pp. 21549. [56] Grammy Awards Database (http:/ / theenvelope. latimes. com/ factsheets/ awardsdb/ env-awards-db-search,0,7169155. htmlstory?searchtype=all& query=Duke+ Ellington& x=8& y=6) [57] Grammy Hall of Fame Award Database (http:/ / www. grammy. com/ Recording_Academy/ Awards/ Hall_Of_Fame/ ) [58] 2008 Grammy Hall of Fame List (http:/ / www. grammy. com/ PressReleases/ 443_466_Hall of Fame release FINAL. pdf) [59] 2009 D.C. and U.S. Territories Quarters Program (http:/ / www. usmint. gov/ mint_programs/ DCAndTerritories/ ) from the United States Mint website

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Duke Ellington[60] Sheridan, Mary Beth (2008-06-20). "Ellington Comes Out Ahead in Coin Tossup" (http:/ / www. washingtonpost. com/ wp-dyn/ content/ article/ 2008/ 06/ 19/ AR2008061904090. html). Washington Post. . Retrieved 2009-10-03. [61] Duke Ellington: 22 cents Commemorative stamp (http:/ / www. centerforjazzarts. org/ usps_exhibition2. html#ellington) from the Center for Jazz Arts website [62] American History: Duke Ellington (http:/ / americanhistory. si. edu/ archives/ d5301c13. htm)

17

Bibliography (further reading) Cohen, Harvey G. Duke Ellington's America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-226-11263-3 Collier, James Lincoln. Duke Ellington. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. ISBN 0-19-503770-7 Dailey, Raleigh. "Ellington as a Composer for the Piano," in Jazz Research Proceedings Yearbook, #31 (Jan.2001), pp.151156. Dance, Stanley. The World Of Duke Ellington. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1970. ISBN 0-306-80136-1 Ellington, Duke. Music Is My Mistress. New York: Da Capo, 1976 ISBN 0-7043-3090-3 Ellington, Mercer. Duke Ellington In Person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978. ISBN 0-395-27511-5. Hajdu, David, Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1996. ISBN 978-0-86547-512-0. Hasse, John Edward. Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington. New York: Da Capo, 1995. ISBN 0-306-80614-2 Lawrence, A. H. Duke Ellington and His World: A Biography. New York: Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0-415-93012-X Schuller, Gunther. Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. ISBN 978-0-19-504043-2. Especially pp.318357. Schuller, Gunther. The Swing Era: The Development Of Jazz, 1930-1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 9780195072405. Esp. pp.46157. (French) Gilles Tordjman, Franois Billard, Duke Ellington, Le Seuil, Paris, 1994. ISBN 978-2-02-013700-3 Terkel, Studs (2002), Giants of Jazz (2nd ed.), New York: The New Press, ISBN 978-1-56584-769-9. Tucker, Mark. Ellington, The Early Years, University of Illinois Press, 1991. ISBN 0-252-01425-1 Tucker, Mark. The Duke Ellington Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993 ISBN 978-0-19-509391-9 . Ulanov, Barry. Duke Ellington, Creative Age Press, 1946. Weisbard, Eric, ed.. This Is Pop: In Search of the Elusive at Experience Music Project. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-674-01344-1.

Reference works (discographies, filmographies, etc.) Massagli, Luciano and Volont, Giovanni. The New Desor: Duke Ellington's Story on Records Parts One and Two, 1999, Milan, Italy. Privately published two part discography with no ISBN number. The most comprehensive Ellington discography for sessions and record issues. Stratemann, Dr. Klaus. Duke Ellington: Day by Day and Film by Film. Copenhagen: JazzMedia, 1992. ISBN 87-88043-34-7 Covers all of Duke's travels and films from the 1929 short film Black and Tan onwards Timner, W.E.. Ellingtonia: The Recorded Music of Duke Ellington and His Sidemen. 5th ed. Lanham, Md. & Toronto: Scarecrow Press, 2007. ISBN 0-8108-5889-4 Has a unique discography of Ellington's sidemen.

Duke Ellington

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External links Official website (http://www.dukeellington.com/) Official family website (http://www.dukeellingtonlegacy.com/) Symphony In Black (discussion and film) (http://www.redhotjazz.com/sib.html) Duke Ellington (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0254153/) at the Internet Movie Database Duke Ellington (http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=11631) at the Internet Broadway Database Duke Ellington Biography, in Down Beat Magazine. (http://www.downbeat.com/artists/window. asp?action=new&aid=173&aname=Duke+Ellington) Duke Ellington Collection: Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Archive Center. (http:// americanhistory.si.edu/archives/d53011ab.htm) A Duke Ellington Panorama; including detailed discography. (http://www.depanorama.net/) The Duke Ellington Society, TDES, Inc (http://thedukeellingtonsociety.org/) Duke Ellington: 20th International Conference. May 2008, London. (http://www.ELLINGTON2008.org/) Duke Ellington Orchestra (http://www.wlatalent.com/roster/duke_ellington_orchestra/artistprofile.htm) at Wenig-LaMonica Associates (http://wlatalent.com) "Duke Ellington" (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=318). Find a Grave. Retrieved September 2, 2010.

Duke Ellington discographyThis is the discography of Duke Ellington. The majority of these recordings are listed under the year they were recorded, rather than released. Reissues are listed for most of the recordings released before the 1950s, as the original 78s are rare. A full discography up to the 1942 recording ban is available at http://www.ellingtonia.com

Hit recordsYear Single Chart positions US US UK R&B

1927 1928

"East St. Louis Toodle-oo" "Black and Tan Fantasy" "Creole Love Call" "Doin' the New Low Down" "Diga Diga Doo" "The Mooche"

10 15 19 20 17 16 1 17 12 3 19 18 13

1930

"Three Little Words" "Ring Dem Bells"

1931

"Blue Again" "Mood Indigo" "Rockin' In Rhythm" "Creole Rhapsody Parts 1 & 2" "Limehouse Blues"

Duke Ellington discography

191932 "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" "Creole Rhapsody"(new version) "Rose Room (In Sunny Roseland)" "Moon Over Dixie" "Blue Ramble" 1933 "Drop Me Off At Harlem" "Sophisticated Lady" "Stormy Weather" "I'm Satisfied" "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" 1934 "Daybreak Express" "Cocktails For Two" "Moon Glow" "Solitude" "Saddest Tale" 1935 "Merry Go Round" "In a Sentimental Mood" "Accent On Youth" "Cotton" 1936 "Isn't Love the Strangest Thing?" "Love Is Like a Cigarette" "Clarinet Lament" "Echoes of Harlem" "Oh Babe! Maybe Someday" "Jazz Lips" "Yearning For Love" 1937 "The New East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" "There's a Lull In My Life" "Scattin' At the Kit Kat" "Caravan" "Azure" "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" 1938 "Harmony In Harlem" "If You Were In My Place (What Would You Do?)" "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" "The Gal From Joe's" "Lambeth Walk" "Prelude To a Kiss" 6 19 15 14 16 17 3 4 11 13 20 1 2 2 9 6 14 6 4 12 8 12 19 8 20 16 16 12 9 4 13 14 15 10 1 20 7 18

Duke Ellington discography

201940 "You, You, Darlin'" "Ko Ko" "At a Dixie Roadside Diner" "Sepia Panorama" 1941 "Flamingo" "Take the A Train" "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good" 1942 1943 "Hayfoot, Strawfoot" "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" "Perdido" "Take the A Train"(re-entry) "Bojangles" "A Slip of the Lip" "Sentimental Lady" 1944 "Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me" "Main Stem" "My Little Brown Book" "Someone" "I Don't Mind" 1945 "I'm Beginning To See the Light" "Don't You Know I Care" "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues" 1946 1948 1953 "Come To Baby, Do" "Don't Be So Mean To Baby" "Satin Doll" "Boo Dah" 1954 "Skin Deep" 27 30 7 13 15 6 8 21 19 19 19 19 10 23 1 1 1 1 4 7 9 4 10 4 28 25 27 24 11 11 13 10 1

1920sDuring the late 1920s and early 1930s, Ellington and his band recorded for the labels BluDisc, Pathe, Victor, Brunswick, Columbia, Okeh, Vocalion, Cameo, RCA-Victor, Plaza, Durium and ARC. Some labels, such as RCA-Victor, Okeh and Brunswick, have collected Ellington's early recordings into box sets, while material from other labels is scattered. The most comprehensive source for Ellington's early work are the Classics releases, although note that these records omit alternate takes, which may be found in other collections. 1926 1924-1926: The Birth of A Band Vol. 1 (EPM Musique) (released 1988) The Birth of Big Band Jazz (Riverside) (EP) (released 1956) Complete Edition (19241926) (Masters of Jazz) 1927 The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1924-1927 (Classics)

Duke Ellington discography Complete Edition (19261927) (Masters of Jazz) 1928 Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: 1927-1928 (Classics) (Released 1996) Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: 1928 (Classics) Complete Vol. 1: 1925-1928 (Columbia - France) (released 1973) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1927-1928 (Classics) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1928 (Classics) Complete Edition (19271928) (Masters of Jazz) Complete Edition (1928) (2 discs) (Masters of Jazz)

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1929 Flaming Youth (19271929) (RCA Victor) (Released 1965) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1928-1929 (Classics) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1929 (Classics) Complete Edition (1929) (2 discs) (Masters of Jazz)

1930s1930 The OKeh Ellington (Columbia) (19271930) (released 1991) The Works of Duke: Vol. 1 - Vol. 5 (RCA) (19271930) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1929-1930 (Classics) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1930 (2 volume) (Classics) Complete Edition (19291930) (Masters of Jazz) Complete Edition (1930) (2 discs) (Masters of Jazz)

1931 Early Ellington: The Complete Brunswick Recordings (3 discs) (Decca) (19261931) (released 1994) Jazz Heritage Brunswick/Vocalion Rarities (19261931) (MCA) (released 1983) Mood Indigo (19271931) (Columbia) (released 1992) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1930-31 (Classics) Complete Edition (19301931) (Masters of Jazz)

1932 Jungle Nights in Harlem (19271932) (Bluebird) (released 1991) Jazz Cocktail (AVS/Living Era) (19281932) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1931-32 (Classics) 1933 The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1932-33 (Classics) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1933 (Classics) 1934 Early Ellington: 1927-1934 (Bluebird) (released 1954; CD release 1990 on RCA) Duke Ellington 1927-1934 (Nimbus) (1991) Great Original Performances 1927-1934 (Mobile Fidelity (released 1989) Jubilee Stomp (Bluebird) (19281934)

1935 The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1933-35 (Classics) 1936

Duke Ellington discography Rockin in Rhythm (19271936) (Jazz Hour) (Released 1996) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1935-36 (Classics) 1937 The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1936-37 (Classics) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1937 (2 volumes) (Classics) 1938 Braggin in Brass: The Immortal 1938 Year (Portrait) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1938 (Classics) 1939 Duke Ellington Playing the Blues (19271939) (Black and Blue) (Released 2002) The Dukes Men: Small Groups vol. 2, 1938-1939 (Columbia/Vocalion) The BlantonWebster Band (19391942) (RCA/BlueBird) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1938-39 (Classics) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1939 (2 volumes) (Classics)

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1940sThe early 1940s saw limited output due to the recording ban, but Ellington did make annual visits to Carnegie Hall, listed below. In the January 1943 concert, Ellington introduced his first extended suite, "Black, Brown and Beige." This era also saw the appearance of the "Liberian Suite" and his highly regarded recordings featuring Jimmy Blanton and Ben Webster, "the best Ellington band" according to critic Bob Blumenthal.[1] 1940 On the Air Duke Ellington at Fargo, 1940 Live (Vintage Jazz Classics) The Duke in Boston (Jazz Unlimited) The British Connection: 1933-1940 (Jazz Unlimited) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1939-40 (Classics) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1940 (2 volumes) (Classics)

1941 Take the A Train (Vintage Jazz Classics) The Great Ellington Units (Bluebird) "1941 Classics - Live in Hollywood" (Alamac) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1940-41 (Classics) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1941 (Classics)

1942 Hollywood Swing & Jazz (19371942) (Rhino) Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band (19391942) 1943 The Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1943 (Prestige - released 1977) Black, Brown and Beige (RCA) The Carnegie Hall Concerts: December 1943 (Storyville) Live at the Hurricane (Storyville)

1944 The Carnegie Hall Concerts: December 1944 (Prestige - released 1977) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1942-44 (Classics)

Duke Ellington discography 1945 The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1944-45 (Classics) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1945 (2 volumes) (Classics) The Treasury Shows 1943-1945 (13 double LPs) (D.E.T.S.) Duke's Joint (19431945) (Buddha) The Duke Ellington World Broadcasting Series (Circle)

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1946 The Carnegie Hall Concerts: January 1946 (Prestige - released 1977) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1945-46 (Classics) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1946 (2 volumes) (Classics) The Great Chicago Concerts (Music Masters) Happy Go Lucky Local (Musicraft)

1947 The Carnegie Hall Concerts: December 1947 (Prestige - released 1977) Daybreak Express Live at the Hollywood Bowl Duke Ellington Vol. 4: April 30, 1947 The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1946-47 (Classics) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1947 (2 volumes) (Classics) Duke Ellington at Ciro's (Dems) Liberian Suite (Columbia)

1948 Live at Click Restaurant Philadelphia Vol. 1 Live at Click Restaurant Philadelphia Vol. 2 Carnegie Hall 30 November 1948 The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1947-48 (Classics) Cornell University (Music Masters)

1949 The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1948-49 (Classics) Duke Ellington at the Hollywood Empire (Storyville)

1950sEllington began the 1950s losing Johnny Hodges, Sonny Greer and Lawrence Brown. The second half of the 1950s, however, feature his famous "comeback" appearance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, with Paul Gonsalves running through 27 choruses of "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue." 1950 The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1949-50 (Classics) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1950 (Classics) Live In Zurich, Switzerland 2.5.1950 (TCB Music) Great Times! (Riverside)

1951 Johnny Hodges, Duke Ellington, and Billy Strayhorn All Stars (Prestige) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1950-51 (Classics) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1951 (Classics)

Duke Ellington discography Masterpieces by Ellington (Columbia) 1952 Ellington Uptown Duke on the Air The Seattle Concert Live at the Blue Note (Bandstand) Duke Ellington at Birdland (Jazz Unlimited) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1952 (Classics)

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1953 The Pasadena Concert (GNP) Duke Ellington Plays the Blues The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1952-53 (Classics) The Chronological Duke Ellington & His Orchestra 1953 (2 volumes) (Classics) Premiered by Ellington (Capitol) The Duke Plays Ellington (Capitol) released on CD as Piano Reflections

1954 Ellington 55 (Capitol) Dance to the Duke! (Capitol) Duke Ellington Plays Happy Birthday Duke! April 29 Birthday Sessions (Laserlight) 1954 Los Angeles Concert (GNP)

1955 Ellington Showcase (Capitol) Dukes Mixture (Columbia) Here's the Duke (Columbia) The Duke and His Men Jazz Masters: 1953-1955 (EMI) The Washington, D.C. Armory Concert (Jazz Guild) The Complete Capitol Recordings of Duke Ellington The Carnegie Hall Concerts: March 1955

1956 Blue Rose (Columbia) with Rosemary Clooney Historically Speaking (Bethlehem) Duke Ellington Presents... (Bethlehem) Ellington at Newport (Columbia) rereleased with restoration of the complete 1956 Newport Jazz Festival performance in 1999 as Ellington at Newport Complete Duke Ellington and the Buck Clayton All Stars at Newport Al Hibbler Sings with the Duke (Columbia) The Complete Porgy and Bess Ellington '56 (Charly) Live From The 1956 Stratford Festival (Music and Arts) A Drum Is a Woman (Columbia)

1957 Studio Sessions, Chicago 1956 (LMR) - released as The Private Sessions Volume One in 1987 Such Sweet Thunder (Columbia)

Duke Ellington discography Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook Live at the 1957 Stratford Music Festival (Music & Arts) All-Star Road Band - Volume 2 (CBS) In a Mellotone (RCA-Victor)

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1958 Black, Brown and Beige (Columbia) Dance Concerts, California 1958 (LMR) - released as The Private Sessions Volume Two in 1987 Dance Dates, California 1958 (LMR) - released as The Private Sessions Volume Six in 1987 Duke Ellington at the Bal Masque (Columbia) The Cosmic Scene (Columbia) Happy Reunion (Sony) Ellington Indigos (Columbia) Newport 1958 (Columbia) Later re-released on an extended double CD as Live at Newport 1958. Jazz at the Plaza Vol. II (Columbia) Duke Ellington at the Alhambra (Pablo)

1959 Jazz Party (Columbia) Back to Back: Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges Play the Blues (Verve) Side by Side (Verve) Anatomy of a Murder (Columbia soundtrack album) Live at the Blue Note (Roulette) Festival Session (Columbia) Blues in Orbit (Columbia)

1960sIn the 1960s, Ellington made recordings with a number of top stars, including Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald and Coleman Hawkins. He also wrote and recorded a number of suites, such as his religious "Sacred Concerts", the "Perfume Suite" and the "Latin American Suite." 1960 The Nutcracker Suite (Columbia) released on CD as part of Three Suites Piano in the Background (Columbia) Swinging Suites by Edward E. and Edward G. (aka Peer Gynt Suite/Suite Thursday) released on CD as part of Three Suites Unknown Session (Columbia, released 1979) Hot Summer Dance (Red Baron) Live At Monterey 1960 (Status) 1961 Piano in the Foreground (Columbia) The Great Reunion with Louis Armstrong (Roulette) Together Again with Louis Armstrong (Roulette) The above two were later re-released together in 2001 by Blue Note Records as The Great Summit. Paris Blues (United Artists) First Time! The Count Meets the Duke - with Count Basie (Columbia) The Girl's Suite & The Perfume Suite (Columbia) 1962

Duke Ellington discography All American in Jazz (Columbia) Featuring Paul Gonsalves (Fantasy) Studio Sessions 1957 & 1962 (LMR) released as The Private Collection Volume Seven in 1987 Midnight in Paris (Columbia) Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins (Impulse!) Money Jungle (United Artists) Duke Ellington & John Coltrane (Impulse!, released 1963) Will the Big Bands Ever Come Back? (Reprise) Studio Sessions, New York, 1962 (LMR) - released as The Private Collection Volume Three in 1987 Recollections of the Big Band Era (Atlantic, released 1974) The Feeling of Jazz (Black Lion) Duke 56/62 (in three volumes) (CBS)

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1963 Afro-Bossa (Reprise) The Great Paris Concert (Atlantic, released 1973) The Symphonic Ellington (Reprise) Duke Ellington's Jazz Violin Session (Atlantic, released 1976)

Serenade to Sweden - with Alice Babs (Reprise) Studio Sessions New York 1963 (LMR) released as The Private Collection Volme Four in 1987 My People (Red Baron) 1964 Ellington '65 (Reprise) Duke Ellington Plays Mary Poppins (Reprise) Jazz Group 1964 (Jazz Anthology) Live at Carnegie Hall 1964 (Jazz Up) Harlem (Pablo) All-Star Road Band (CBS) At Basin Street East (Music & Arts) London: The Great Concerts (MusicMasters) New York Concert (Musicmasters)

1965 Ellington '66 (Reprise) Concert in the Virgin Islands (Reprise) Ella at Duke's Place (Verve) The Duke at Tanglewood Jumpin Pumkins '65 Revisited (Affinity) Two Great Concerts (1949 and 1965) (Accord) A Concert of Sacred Music From Grace Cathedral (Status)

1966 The Stockholm Concert, 1966 (Pablo) The Popular Duke Ellington (RCA) In the Uncommon Market (recorded 1963-66 - released 1986) (Pablo) Soul Call (Verve) Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur (Status) The Far East Suite (RCA)

Duke Ellington discography 1967 Johnny Come Lately North of the Border in Canada Live at the Rainbow Grill Beyond Category: The Musical Genius of Duke Ellington (19271967) (Smithsonian) Live in Italy (Jazz Up) 1967 European Tour (Lone Hill) Studio Sessions, 1957, 1965, 1966, 1967, San Francisco, Chicago, New York (LMR) released as The Private Collection Volume Eight in 1987 Berlin '65 / Paris '67 (Pablo) The Jaywalker (recorded 1966-7 - released 2004) (Storyville) The Greatest Jazz Concert In The World (Pablo) ...And His Mother Called Him Bill (RCA) Francis A. & Edward K. (Reprise)

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1968 Yale Concert (issued 1973) (Fantasy) Second Sacred Concert (Prestige) Studio Sessions New York, 1968 (LMR) released as The Private Collection Volume Nine in 1987 1969 70th Birthday Concert (Solid State)

1970sEllington remained active to the end of his life, recording three final major suites in the 1970s, his "Third Sacred Concert," the "New Orleans Suite," the "Toga Brava Suite" and "The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse," his most explicit venture into what would be called "world music." His concert at Eastbourne was Ellington's final recording. 1970 Latin American Suite (recorded 1968 & 1970 - released 1972) (Fantasy) The Pianist (recorded 1966 & 1970 - released 1974) (Fantasy) New Orleans Suite (Atlantic) Orchestral Works (Decca) The Suites, New York 1968 & 1970 (LMR) released as The Private Collection Volume Five in 1987 The Intimacy of the Blues (recorded 1967-70 - released 1986) (Fantasy)

1971 The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (Fantasy) Studio Sessions New York & Chicago, 1965, 1966 & 1971 (LMR) released as The Private Collection Volume Ten in 1987 The Intimate Ellington (recorded 1969-71 - released 1977) (Pablo) Togo Brava Suite (United Artists) 1972 Live at the Whitney (released 1995) (Impulse!) The Ellington Suites (recorded 1959-72 - released 1976) (Pablo) This One's for Blanton! - with Ray Brown (Pablo) Up in Dukes Workshop (recorded 1969-72 - released 1979) (Pablo) 1973

Duke Ellington discography Duke's Big 4 (Pablo) It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing - with Teresa Brewer (Flying Dutchman) Third Sacred Concert (RCA) 1974 Eastbourne Performance (RCA)

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Compilations Complete Works: 1924-1947 (Proper UK) (2003) (40 discs) The Centennial Edition: The Complete RCA-Victor Recordings (1999) (24 discs) The Complete RCA-Victor Mid-Forties Recordings (2000) The Private Collection (19561971) (Saja) (10 discs) The Duke Box (Storyville) (2007) (8 discs) 1936-40 Small Group Sessions (Mosaic) (7 discs) The Complete Capitol Recordings (Blue Note) (1999) (5 discs) The Reprise Studio Recordings (Mosaic) (5 discs)

Early Ellington: The Complete Brunswick And Vocalion Recordings Of Duke Ellington, 1926-1931 (GRP Records/ Verve Music Group) (3 discs) Masterpieces, 1926-1949 (Proper) (4 discs) The Gold Collection, 40 Classic Performances (Proper/Retro) (2 discs) Duke Ellington's Incidental Music for Shakespeare's Play Timon of Athens, adapted by Stanley Silverman (1993). Ellington does not perform on this recording, but it includes previously unreleased compositions.

References[1] The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide, 70.

External links Red Hot Jazz (http://www.redhotjazz.com/duke.html) A Duke Ellington Panorama (http://www.depanorama.net/) Official Website (http://www.duke-ellington.com/) The Duke Ellington Society, TDES, Inc. (http://thedukeellingtonsociety.org/)

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Albums

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1938Braggin' in Brass: The Immortal 1938 YearBraggin in Brass: The Immortal 1938 Year

Compilation album by Duke Ellington Released Recorded Genre Label 1991 August 4 & 9, September 2, December 19 & 22, 1938 Jazz Portrait Duke Ellington chronology

Braggin in Brass: The Immortal 1938 Year (1938)

The BlantonWebster Band (1940-42)

Braggin in Brass: The Immortal 1938 Year is a compilation album of American pianist, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington's 1938 recordings for the Brunswick label which was released in 1991.[1]

Braggin' in Brass: The Immortal 1938 Year

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ReceptionThe Allmusic review by Stephen Cook awarded the album 4 stars stating "this 1938 incarnation of Ellington's group held their own with many fine compositions, a seamless sense of swing, and a wealth of unique solo contributions, elements that set the group apart throughout the big-band era. Maybe not as essential as other Ellington tiles, but still highly recommended".[2]

Track listing:All compositions by Duke Ellington except as indicated 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. "Please Forgive Me" (Ellington, Irving Gordon, Irving Mills) - 2:59 "Lambeth Walk" (Douglas Furber, Noel Gay) - 2:27 "Prelude to a Kiss" (Ellington, Gordon, Mills) - 2:56 "Hip Chic" - 2:55 "Buffet Flat" - 2:24 "Mighty Like the Blues" (Leonard Feather) - 2:34 "Jazz Potpourri" - 2:55 "T.T. on Toast" (Ellington, Mills) - 2:45

9. "Battle of Swing" - 2:56 10. "Blue Light" - 2:36 11. "Blue Light" [alternate take] - 2:40 12. "Boy Meets Horn" (Ellington, Rex Stewart) - 2:59 13. "Slap Happy" - 2:44 Recorded at ARC-Brunswick Studios in New York on August 4, 1938 (track 1), August 9, 1938 (tracks 2-5), September 2, 1938 (track 6), December 19, 1938 (tracks 7-9), and December 22, 1938 (tracks 10-13).

Personnel Duke Ellington piano Rex Stewart - cornet Wallace Jones, Cootie Williams - trumpet Lawrence Brown, Joe Nanton - trombone Juan Tizol - valve trombone Barney Bigard - tenor saxophone, clarinet Johnny Hodges - alto saxophone, soprano saxophone Otto Hardwick - clarinet, alto saxophone Harry Carney - baritone saxophone, clarinet, alto saxophone Fred Guy - guitar Billy Taylor - bass Sonny Greer - drums

References[1] A Duke Ellington Panorama (http:/ / www. depanorama. net/ index. htm) accessed May 21, 2010 [2] Allmusic Review (http:/ / www. allmusic. com/ album/ r138144) accessed May 24, 2010

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1939The BlantonWebster BandThe Blanton-Webster Band

Compilation album by Duke Ellington Released Recorded Genre 1990 19401942 jazz Swing Big band music 204:07 Bluebird Records (RCA) Steve Becker, Bob Porter Professional reviews Allmusic link [2] Rolling Stone link [1]

Length Label Producer

The BlantonWebster Band combines the master takes of all the recordings by Duke Ellington's Orchestra during the years of 1940 to 1942, involving bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster. The recordings were originally made for RCA Victor during what many critics regard as the Ellington orchestra's golden period. The three CDs contain many numbers which were to become classics, and the arrangements (by Ellington and Billy Strayhorn) were frequently inventive and innovative. The collection does not include alternate takes or the duets Ellington performed with Jimmy Blanton, available elsewhere. With 66 tracks, the selection includes many of Ellington's hits and classic songs. Rolling Stone praises the collection as "a masterwork of composition and leadership" and "a series of individual triumphs from the greatest team of jazz players...ever assembled".[3] Allmusic describes it as "essential for all jazz collections".[4] The collection was re-organized and rereleased with additional tracks in 2003 as Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band.

The BlantonWebster Band

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Track listUnless otherwise noted, all tracks by Duke Ellington.

Disc one1. "You, You Darlin'" (M.K. Jerome, Jack Scholl) 3:19 2. "Jack the Bear" 3:15 3. "Ko Ko" 2:39 4. "Morning Glory" (Ellington, Rex Stewart) 3:15 5. "So Far, So Good" (Jack Lawrence, Jimmy Mundy, E.G. White) 2:50 6. "Conga Brava" (Ellington, Juan Tizol) 2:54 7. "Concerto for Cootie" 3:19 8. "Me and You" 2:54 9. "Cotton Tail" 3:08 10. "Never No Lament (Don't Get Around Much Anymore)" (Ellington, Bob Russell) 3:15 11. "Dusk" 3:19 12. "Bojangles" 2:50 13. "A Portrait of Bert Williams" 3:09 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. "Blue Goose" 3:21 "Harlem Air Shaft" 2:57 "At a Dixie Roadside Diner" (Joe Burke, Edgar Leslie) 2:45 "All Too Soon" (Ellington, Carl Sigman) 3:28 "Rumpus in Richmond" 2:46 "My Greatest Mistake" (Jack Fulton), Jack O'Brien) 3:27 "Sepia Panorama" 3:20 "There Shall Be No Night" (Gladys Shelley, Abner Silver) 3:05 "In a Mellow Tone" (Ellington, Milt Gabler) 3:19

Disc two1. "Five O'Clock Whistle" (Kim Gannon, Gene Irwin, Josef Myrow) 3:18 2. "Warm Valley" 3:20 3. "The Flaming Sword" 3:06 4. "Across the Track Blues" 2:58 5. "Chloe" (Gus Kahn, Neil Moret) 3:24 6. "I Never Felt This Way Before" (Al Dubin, Ellington) 3:23 7. "The Sidewalks of New York" (James W. Blake, Charles B. Lawlor) 3:14 8. "Flamingo" (Edmund Anderson, Ted Grouya) 3:22 9. "The Girl in My Dreams Tries to Look Like You" 3:19 10. "Take the "A" Train" (Billy Strayhorn) 2:54 11. "Jumpin' Punkins" 3:33 12. "John Hardy's Wife" 3:28 13. "Blue Serge" 3:20 14. "After All" (Strayhorn) 3:19 15. "Bakiff" (Tizol) 3:23 16. "Are You Sticking?" 3:02 17. "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'" (Ellington, Gaines, Strayhorn) 3:33 18. "The Giddybug Gallop" 3:29

The BlantonWebster Band 19. 20. 21. 22. "Chocolate Shake" (Ellington, Paul Francis Webster) 2:50 "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)" (Ellington, Webster) 3:17 "Clementine" (Strayhorn) 2:53 "Brown-Skin Gal (In the Calico Gown)" (Ellington, Webster) 3:06

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Disc three1. "Jump for Joy" (Ellington, Sid Kuller, Webster) 2:50 2. "Moon Over Cuba" (Ellington, Tizol) 3:09 3. "Five O'Clock Drag" 2:49 4. "Rocks in My Bed" 3:06 5. "