History of Jazz

Duke Ellington

(1899-1974)

Duke Ellington was a prominent band leader and pianist. His band continued to performup to his death in 1974. He was also a prolific composer and arranger whose compositions have a unique and distinctive sound. In addition to jazz compositions, he wrote concert pieces, film scores, operas, ballets, and musicals. In all, he wrote over 2000 compositions and made hundreds of recordings.

As an arranger, he emphasized individual players' strengths. For example, he might have had three trumpet players perform completely different, specially-chosen licks in a piece to highlight the fact that one player performed well in the trumpet's high register, another could really swing, and the thrid improvised with great ease.

Did you know?

• Ellington won a scholarship to art school which he declined to pursue music.
• Ellington's popular them song Take the "A" Train is often attributed to Ellington, but was actually written by Ellington's long-time collaborator, Billy Strayhorn.
• The 1980s Broadway musical Sophisticated Ladies featured the music of Duke Ellington.

			Sound Examples (info)
MIDI			Duke Ellington, It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing

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