CDs by Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington and John Coltrane  /  Ellington at Newport  / The Great Summit  / The Count Meets the Duke  / Blues in Orbit

The Very Best of Duke Ellington / Three Suites / Piano Reflections / Far East Suite / Masterpieces-1926-1949 / Money Jungle

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Duke Ellington 

Bio-Chronology

1899-1974

1899-- Born April 29, 1899 in Washington, D.C., delivered by a midwife named Eliza Jane Johnson at 2129 Ward Place, N.W., at the home of his paternal grandparents. His parents Daisy Kennedy Ellington and James Edward Ellington, ideal role models, taught him everything from proper table manners to an understanding of the emotional power of music.

1906-1907-- Duke’s first piano lessons came around the age of seven or eight and appeared to not have that much lasting effect upon him. It seemed as if young Duke was more inclined to baseball at a young age. Duke got his first job selling peanuts at Washington Senator’s baseball games. This was the first time Duke was placed as a "performer" for a crowd and had to first get over his stage fright. 

1913-- Began to sneak into Frank Holliday’s poolroom. His experiences from the poolroom taught him to appreciate the value in mixing with a wide range of people. 

1913-1917--Attended Armstrong Manual Training School to study commercial art instead of an academically-oriented school

Began to show a flare for the artistic. Nicknamed "Duke" by a boyhood friend who admired his regal air, the name stuck and became indelibly associated with the finest creations in big band and vocal jazz.

Began to seek out and listen to ragtime pianists in Washington and during the summers, where he and his mother vacationed in Philadelphia or Atlantic City.

Heard a hot pianist named Harvey Brooks. Later sought Harvey out in Philadelphia where Harvey showed Duke some pianistic tricks and shortcuts. Duke later recounted that, "When I got home I had a real yearning to play. I hadn’t been able to get off the ground before, but after hearing him I said to myself, ‘Man you’re going to have to do it.’" Thus the music career of Duke Ellington was born.

Taken under the wings of Oliver "Doc" Perry and Louis Brown who taught Duke how to read music and helped improve his overall piano playing skills. 

Found piano playing jobs at clubs and cafes throughout the Washington area. 

Dropped out of school and began his professional music career, three months shy of graduation, 

1917 (late)--Formed his first group: The Duke’s Serenaders.

1918-1919--Moved out of his parents’ home and into a home he bought for himself. Became his own booking agent for his band. Play throughout the Washington area and into Virginia for private society balls and embassy parties.

1918--Married Edna Thompson. 

1919 (March 11, 1919)--Mercer Kennedy Ellington was born.

1920--Earned enough money to support both wife and child.

1923--Left the security of Washington and moved to New York under the encouragement of Fats Waller, during the formative Cotton Club years, experimented with and developed the style that would quickly bring him worldwide success and recognition.

Ellington would be among the first to focus on musical form and composition in jazz using ternary forms and "call-and-response" techniques in works like Concerto for Cootie (known in its familiar vocal version as Do Nothin' till You Hear from Me) and Cotton Tail and classic symphonic devices in his orchestral suites. In this respect, he would

Made his first recording. Ellington and his renamed band, The Washingtonians, established themselves during the prohibition era by playing at places like the Exclusive Club, Connie’s Inn, the Hollywood Club (Club Kentucky), Ciro’s, the Plantation Club, and most importantly the Cotton Club. Thanks to the rise in radio receivers and the industry itself, Duke’s band was broadcast across the nation live on "From the Cotton Club." 

1923-1927--Honed skills as a bandleader, songwriter, and pianist. Learned how to function within New York's competitive musical scene. Sough professional opportunities with publishers and record companies.

1926-1927--Distinctive qualities appeared in such pieces as East St. Louis Toodle-O, Immigration Blues, Black and Tan Fantasy, and Creole Love Call. After a decade of study and apprenticeship, Ellington emerged an original.

1927 (late)--landed a job for his orchestra at the Cotton Club, one of New York's premier nightspots, located in Harlem at 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue. Operated by the gangster Owney Madden, patronized by wealthy whites, and staffed by blacks,

1928 --Signed an agreement with Irving Mills to produce and published Ellington’s music. Recording companies like Brunswick, Columbia, and Victor came calling. Duke’s band became the most sought after band in the United States and even throughout the world.

Some of Ellington’s greatest works include, Rockin’ in Rhythm, Satin Doll, New Orleans, A Drum is a Women, Take the "A" Train, Happy-Go-Lucky Local, The Mooche, and Crescendo in Blue.

1927-1931--Ellington and his orchestra remained at the Cotton Club, with periodic interruptions, until early February 1931. Expanded to twelve pieces, three reeds, three trumpets, two trombones, and four in the rhythm section (piano, banjo or guitar, bass, drums). Trumpeter Arthur Whetsol returned in 1928. 

Others joined Ellington: reed-players Johnny Hodges and Barney Bigard, trumpeter Freddie Jenkins, and in 1929, trumpeter Cootie Williams and valve trombonist Juan Tizol. 

Began to compose and record prolifically, turning out over 180 sides between December 1927 and February 1931 (compared with the 31 his band had make in nearly four years at the Kentucky Club). 

Under contract to Victor, recorded for other labels under various pseudonyms, such as The Jungle Band, The Whoopee Makers, and Mills Ten Blackberries.

1930--Apeared in film Check and Double Check

1932--Boston critic R.D. Darrell wrote "Black Beauty," the first serious essay on Ellington's music to be published.

1933 (summer)--First visit to Europe. Six weeks in Britain with large audiences, appearances in Holland and France.At one private party the Duke of Kent asked Ellington to play Swampy River, and the Prince of Wales briefly took Sonny Greer's place at the drums. While in London, the orchestra recorded for Decca and broadcast over the BBC.

1934-- Appeared with his orchestra in two Hollywood Films, Murder at the Vanities and Belle of the Nineties.

Made with his orchestra a Paramount short on their own, Symphony in Black (released in 1935), featuring the young Billie Holiday. 

1935--Mother Daisy dies.  Loss of his mother was especially traumatic which resulted in an extend period of mourning during which few new works appeared. Recorded in Reminiscing in Tempo

1936-- wrote Echoes of Harlem

1937--Father James Edward. dies. Recorded the two-part Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue

1937--wrote Azure

1937-1938--Returned to the Cotton Club, then located downtown on 48th Street.

1938--Left Mildred Dixon, a dancer he had met at the Cotton Club, for Baetrice " "Evie" Ellis. Had separated from his wife in the late 20s.

1938--Wrote Braggin' in Brass

1939--Broke with manager Irving Mills and signed  with the William Morris Agency and moved to the publisher Jack Robbins.

1939--Wrote The Sergeant Was Shy 

1940--Wrote Jack the Bear, Harlem Air Shaft, Concerto for Cootie, Ko-Ko, and Cotton Tail

1941--America Entered World War II

1941-- Recorded Jump for Joy; Chelsea Bridge, Raincheck and a new theme for the orchestra, Take the "A" Train

1941--Dispute between radio broadcasters and the American Society of Composers and Publishers in 1941, which stimulated the composition of new pieces since much of Ellington's previous ASCAP-licensed repertory was banned from the airwaves

1942--Wrote Main Stem; A Slip of the Lip (May Sink a Ship)

1942-1944--Musicians' union strike led to a recording hiatus of nearly a year and a half.

1943--Wrote the "tone parallel" Black, Brown and Beige, premiered 23 January 1943 at Carnegie Hall (Ellington's debut). First major black composer--who worked in the jazz idiom and whose works usually were heard in nightclubs, ballrooms, and theaters rather in temples of high art--to present an evening of original music in New York's most prestigious concert hall. a black composer. Thereafter over the next five years, Ellington performed Carnegie at regular, near-annual intervals. 

New York celebrated "Ellington Week" from 17-23 January. 

1943 (11 December)--Wrote for concert hall New World A-Coming

Engagement at New York's Hurricane Club included broadcast

Ben Webster left orchestra

1944 (19 December)--Wrote for concert hall Perfume Suite

Engagement at New York's Hurricane Club included broadcast

Richard O. Boyer wrote extensive profile in the New Yorker in which he dubbed Ellington "The Hot Bach."

Juan Tizol left orchestra

1945--Engaged at the Zanzibar Club, include broadcast

Rex Stewart left orchestra

1946--(23 November 1946)--Wrote for concert hall  Deep South Suite

Otto Hardwick left orchestra; Joe Nanton died 20 July while on tour

1947 (27 December)-- Wrote for concert hall Liberian Suite

Left Victor and signed with Columbia

1948 (13 November)--Wrote for concert hall The Tattooed Bride

1950-- Paul Gonsalves joins Ellington badn

Trip  to Europe (for the first time since 1939) and in 1958 and 1959.

1951-- Wrote Harlem

Left Ellington orchestra-- Johnny Hodges, Lawrence Brown, Sonny Greer and Tyree Glenn

Trumpeter Clark Terry and drummer Louie Bellson  joined Ellington band

1953--moved to Capitol in 1953 (the first session produced Satin Doll) 

1955--Wrote Night Creature for symphony and jazz orchestra,

1956--Wrote A Drum is a Woman,  for a television production,

Appeared at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. Went back to Columbia. 

1957--Wrote Such Sweet Thunder

1958--Made a trip  to Europe

1959--Wrote Tool Suite and Idiom; and Anatomy of a Murder for a Hollywood film directed by Otto Preminger.

Made a trip  to Europe

1963--Traveled to the Middle East and India. Wrote My People for Century of Negro Progress Exposition in Chicago, contained such religious pieces as such religious numbers as Ain't But the One, Will You Be There?, and David Danced Before the Lord.

1964-- Traveled to Japan. Composed Far East Suite

1967--Billy Strayhorn died

1968--Traveed to Latin America and Mexico. Composed Latin American Suite

1970--Composed Afro-Eurasian Suite. Collaborated with Alvin Ailey on the ballet The River

Johnny Hodges died

1971--Traveld to the Soviet Union. Composed Goutelas Suite

1973--Wrote Music is my Mistress

1974 (24 May)--Died from cancer.

Sources: www.dukeellington.com/index.html     www.ilinks.net/~holmesr/ellington-bio.htm

Duke Ellington was recognized in his lifetime as one of the greatest jazz composers and performers.  A genius for instrumental combinations, improvisation, and jazz arranging brought the world the unique "Ellington" sound that found consummate expression in works like "Mood Indigo," "Sophisticated Lady," and the symphonic suites Black, Brown, and Beige (which he subtitled "a Tone Parallel to the History of the Negro in America") and Harlem ("a Tone Parallel to Harlem").  Duke Ellington and his band went on to play everywhere from New York to New Delhi, Chicago to Cairo, and Los Angeles to London. Ellington and his band played with such greats as Miles Davis, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, and Louis Armstrong.  They entertained everyone from Queen Elizabeth II to President Nixon. Before passing away in 1974, Duke Ellington wrote and recorded hundreds of musical compositions, all of which continue to have a lasting effect upon people worldwide for a long time to come.

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