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Duke Ellington
1899 - 1974
Duke Ellington was a major
force in jazz from the 1920s through the 1960s and his work continues to be
influential today. He is considered by many to be the greatest American
composer. He had many hits including Take the A Train (words and music by
Billy Strayhorn), His works were always
tailored to the talents of the musicians in his band, including Johnny
Hodges, Bubber Miley, Joe 'Tricky Sam' Nanton, Barney Bigard, Ben Webster,
Harry Carney, Sonny Greer, Otto Hardwicke, and Wellman Braud. Many musicians
stayed with him for decades. Ellington started playing
around Washington D.C. in his teens, then formed a band 'The Washingtonians',
which he moved to New York City in 1923. Ellington & The Washingtonians
played at various New York Clubs and toured New England as a dance band until
they got their first big break in 1927. When the then much better known Joe
'King' Oliver held out for more money at the prestigious Cotton Club, the job
as house band was offered to Ellington. This was the best known of the Harlem
clubs, and 'Duke Ellington and his Jungle Band' became well known nationally
thanks to the regular radio broadcasts from the Cotton Club. In this setting Ellington
had a chance to write music in a variety of styles for dance theatre acts as
well as extended specialties for the band. These appearances featured many
experiments in tonality, with trumpet screams and wah-wah, and growling saxophones.
When Ellington left the Cotton Club in 1931 he was one of the best-known
African-American celebrities, recording regularly for several record
companies and featured in motion pictures. Ellington continued to tour with
his band around the United States and Europe, plus a tour of much of the rest
of the world in the 1960s. He was a musical
experimenter all his life, recording with John Coltrane and Charles Mingus as
well as with his own highly skilled orchestra. The band reached a creative
peak in the 1940s, when he wrote for an orchestra of distinctive voices and
tremendous creativity. Some of these musicians, such as Jimmy Blanton,
transformed jazz during the short time they played with him. But even as player’s left
and the popularity of swing diminished, Ellington continued to find new
outlets, new forms and new sidemen. He frequently composed in longer forms
modelled on classical music, such as his Black, Brown and Beige (1943), and
Such Sweet Thunder (1957), based on Shakespeare. His Diminuendo and Crescendo
in Blue with a rocking saxophone interval by Paul Gonsalves in 1956 at the
Newport Jazz Festival greatly increased his fame and drawing power. He also wrote for films,
starting with Black and Tan Fantasy in 1929, but also Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
with James Stewart, in which he appeared as a bandleader, and Paris Blues
(1961), which featured Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as jazz musicians. Ellington was nominated for
a Pulitzer Prize in 1965, but was turned down. His reaction: 'Fate is being kind
to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young.' Duke Ellington died on May
24, 1974 and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York. A
large memorial to Duke 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. |
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Live Music Magazine 2007 |
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JAZZ TRAIN |
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