Every year on April 29th, we take pause to celebrate the life and career of one of the greatest jazz composers to ever live, Duke Ellington.
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, born April 29, 1899, was an American composer, pianist and jazz orchestra leader. Prior to his passing in 1974, Ellington wrote over one thousand compositions, his body of work being one of the most extensive recorded jazz legacies, many of which have become standards.
Ellington’s love of music was nurtured by his parents, both of whom were pianists. At the age of seven, he began taking piano lessons and his mother was constantly surrounding him with dignified women to teach him elegance and to reinforce his manners. His family also showed much racial pride and support in their home. During this time in Washington DC, many African American parents worked to protect their children from the Jim Crow laws of the time.
Duke Ellington’s career spanned more than six decades, during which he played with musicians who are now considered some of the best Jazz musicians to ever grace the earth. While mainly popular with the African American community through the 1920s, he also gained international recognition during the 1930s and was able to tour Europe, playing clubs in England and France. While touring the segregated south during this time, the band was often forced to take private rail cars to avoid the indignities of segregated facilities. Though Ellington continued to play music throughout his life, there was a career revival that took place when he appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1956. This gig was huge for him, introducing him to a completely new generation of fans. During his set, Duke played way beyond the curfew and the concert made international headlines.
On March 20, 1974, Ellington performed what is considered his final full concert at Northern Illinois University. On May 24, 1974, Duke Ellington passed away. His funeral was attended by over 12,000 people. While he never received a Pulitzer Prize for Music during his lifetime, he was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1999, “commemorating the centennial year of his birth, in recognition of his musical genius, which evoked aesthetically the principles of democracy through the medium of jazz and thus made an indelible contribution to art and culture.”
In the opinion 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.”
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