Duke Ellington Recordings

Duke Ellington
(1899 – 1974)

Many artists have been called the King of Jazz, a Prince of Rhythm, the King of Swing, or even the King the Big Band Sound. With all this musical royalty, there has only been one Duke. Without the Duke, it is easy to imagine that Jazz and the Big Band Music that got us through so much would never have been heard.

Edward Kennedy Ellington was born to Daisy and James Edward Ellington in Washington, DC, 1899. Both James and Daisy were piano players and Daisy was the daughter of a former slave. James made blueprints for the Navy Department, and both parents displayed radial pride and like many Washington families, did their best to shield their son from Jim Crow laws.

Daisy arranged for her son to take piano lessons for Marietta Clinkscales, thinking that by surrounding him with dignified women his sense of manners would be reinforced. When Edward developed a dapper sense of style, his neighborhood friends gave him the nickname Duke, which stuck.

Even though his piano training was mostly classical (his father enjoyed playing operatic arias), Duke began sneaking into Frank Holiday’s Pool Hall at the age of 14, where he was exposed to ragtime. He also heard ragtime while traveling on summer vacations with his mother to Philadelphia and Atlantic City. A high school music teacher began to give him private lessons and he learned to read sheet music. He realized that music was important enough that in 1916 he turned down a scholarship to New York’s Pratt Institute.

After dropping out of school, Duke worked as a sign painter while putting together small groups to play dances and any other gig he could find. He played with his friends throughout Washington and Virginia, but he eventually realized that to achieve the success he wanted he had to move to New York. After a gig in Atlantic City in 1924, the group he was playing with made eight records, some of which featured Ellington’s compositions. The leader of the seven-piece outfit left and Duke took over, renaming the band The Washingtonians. In 1926, Duke made a career enhancing arrangement with agent-publisher Irving Mills, and Mills got Duke and his band into Harlem’s famous Cotton Club in 1927. Soon, Duke increased his orchestra to eleven pieces and became the Cotton Club’s house band, featured on numerous remote broadcasts.

The Cotton Club orchestra were featured in Florenz Ziegfeld’s 1929 revue for several months, and Duke’s work began to be featured in movies as well. He appeared in Amos ‘n’ Andy’s film Check and Double Check (1930), and made a concert appearance with Maurice Chevalier at the Roseland Ballroom.

Although he put together one of the most important of the early Big Bands, Duke was not the authoritarian taskmaster that many white band leaders would be. He usually directed the orchestra from the piano, rarely using a baton. He kept control of the orchestra through a combination of charm, flattery, humor, and an astute understanding of the musician’s psychology. The Duke was signed exclusively with Brunswick from 1932 to 1936, and brought out hits like "It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing" (1932), "Sophisticated Lady" (1933), "Solitude" (1934), and "In a Sentimental Mood" (1935).

Although his fame was largely restricted to African American audiences Stateside, Ellington was building a large following in Europe. He was touring Europe as the decade closed and War became imminent. Back home, it became harder to hold a big band together as more musicians entered the service. Ellington began appearing with the same genius in smaller groups and built a reputation for arranging "three-minute masterpieces" that would fit on a side of a 78-rpm disk.

The Big Band Era effectively ended after the War as crooner recordings began to take center stage, although Duke’s reputation was solid enough for him to make a sold out tour of Western Europe in 1950 with his full orchestra. However, many of his players left after the tour to pursue other projects. An appearance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival brought the Duke renewed fame, introducing him to a new generation of fans. He began successfully scoring Hollywood films, including Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and Paris Blues (1961).

Ellington continued to perform up to the last. His final full concert was at Northern Illinois University on March 21, 1974. On May 24, 1974, Ellington succumbed to complications related to lung cancer just weeks after his 75th birthday.

A Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6535 Hollywood Blvd honors Duke Ellington’s contributions to the Recording Industry.