Early life

Early career

When their drummer Sonny Greer was invited to join the Wilber Sweatman orchestra in New York, Ellington made the fateful decision to leave his success in Washington behind and aspire to the challenge of Harlem. The 'Harlem Renaissance' was in progress. New dance crazes, like the Charleston, were bred there as well as Black musical theater, including Eubie Blake's Shuffle Along. After the young musicians left the Sweatman Orchestra to strike out on their own, they found an emerging jazz scene that was highly competitive and hard to crack. They hustled pool by day and played whatever gig they could find. Ellington met Willie "The Lion" Smith who showed them the scene and even gave them spare cash. They played at rent-house parties to get by. After a few months, the young musicians returned to Washington feeling discouraged. But in June of 1923, a gig in Atlantic City, New Jersey led to a play date at the prestigious Exclusive Club in Harlem. That led to a move to the Hollywood Club, the group then called Elmer Snowden and his Black Sox Orchestra, and a four-year engagement which gave Ellington a solid artistic base. The group now had seven members, including James "Bubber" Miley, a trumpeter whose growling style changed the "sweet" dance band sound of the group to one that was edgier and hipper. They renamed themselves "The Washingtonians". When Snowden left the group in early 1924, Ellington took over as bandleader. After a fire, the club was re-opened as the Club Kentucky (often referred to as the "Kentucky Club"), an engagement which set the stage for the biggest opportunities in Ellington's life.

In 1924, Ellington made seven records, receiving composing credit on three including Choo Choo. Then in 1925, Ellington contributed two songs to Chocolate Kiddies, an all-black revue which introduced European audiences to black-American styles and performers. While the orchestra had grown in size to a ten piece conglomeration, their distinct sound had begun to develop as well, displaying the non-traditional expression of Ellington’s arrangements, the street rhythms of Harlem and featured the exotic-sounding trombone growls and wah-wahs, high squealed trumpets, and sultry saxophone blues licks of the band members. For a short time, the great tenor saxophonist Sidney Bechet played with the group, imparting his propulsive swing and superior musicianship on the young band members. This helped attract to the Washingtonians the attention of some of the biggest names of jazz including Paul Whiteman and Tommy Dorsey.

In 1927, King Oliver turned down a regular booking for his group as the house band at Harlem's Cotton Club; the offer passed to Ellington. With a weekly radio broadcast and famous clientele nightly pouring in to see them, giving rise to what many call the “golden age” for the poor boy from Washington D.C., from 1932 to 1942. It was during these ten years that Ellington added three new members to his orchestra and composed some of his most well-known short works, including "Concerto For Cootie", "Ko-Ko", "Cotton Tail", "In A Sentimental Mood", and Jump For Joy, his first full-length musical stage revue.

Trumpeter Bubber Miley was present for only a short period but had a major influence on Ellington's sound. An early experimenter in jazz trumpet growling, Miley is credited with morphing the band's style from rigid dance instrumentation to a more "New Orleans", or "jungle" style. He also composed most of Black and Tan Fantasy and Creole Love Call. An alcoholic, Miley had to leave the band before they gained wider notoriety, and died in 1930 at the age of twenty-eight. He was though an important influence on Cootie Williams, another member of the orchestra (basically his replacement) in the early years and later.

In 1927 Ellington made a career-advancing agreement with agent-publisher Irving Mills giving Mills a 45% interest in Ellington's future. The brash, shrewd Mills had an eye for new talent and early on published compositions by Hoagy Carmichael, Dorothy Fields, and Harold Arlen. During the 1930s Ellington's popularity continued to increase, largely as a result of the promotional skills of Mills, who got more than his fair share of co-composer credits. Mills arranged recording sessions on the Brunswick, Victor, and Columbia labels which gave Ellington popular recognition. Mills took the management burden off of Ellington's shoulders, allowing him to focus on his band's sound and his compositions; Mills arranged a private train just for the band, so that they would not have to suffer the indignities of segregated accommodations while touring the South. Ellington ended his association with Mills in 1937, although he continued to record under Mills' banner through 1940.

While their United States audience remained mainly African-American in this period, the Cotton Club had a near exclusive white clientele and the band had a huge following overseas, demonstrated both in a trip to England in 1933 and a 1934 visit to the European mainland. The English visit saw Ellington win praise from members of the "serious" music community, including composer Constant Lambert.

Ellington managed to have a huge hit composition every few years, which greatly helped to build his overall reputation ("Mood Indigo" in 1930, "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" in 1932, "Sophisticated Lady" in 1933, "In A Sentimental Mood" in 1935, "Caravan" in 1937, "I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart" in 1938, "Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me" in 1940 and "Take The 'A' Train " (written by Billy Strayhorn, but forever associated with Ellington) in 1941.

The most important event of Ellington’s “golden age” was the arrival of Billy Strayhorn. Hired as a lyricist, Strayhorn eventually became a vital member of the Ellington Organization and as Duke described him, "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back if my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine". In November of 1943 Ellington debuted Black, Brown and Beige in Carnegie Hall which told the struggle of blacks in America. While some jazz musicians had played there before, few had performed anything as elaborate as Duke’s work.

Ellington's band by now had become a large orchestra and the ranks had been filled by many men who would become famous in their own right. Johnny Hodges joined the orchestra in 1928 and stayed until his death in 1970, except for two brief sabbaticals. Hodges became the band's undisputed leading soloist, the king of romantic alto saxophone ballads with his swooning, creamy style remaining influential for years. A master of New Orleans jazz clarinet, Barney Bigard, stayed with the band for twelve years. Harry Carney was one of the original innovators of the baritone saxophone, winning each Downbeat magazine poll until the emergence of Gerry Mulligan. Carney, who also pioneered circular breathing, was the longest lasting member of the orchestra, joining in 1927 and remaining with the group until his death in 1974. Lawrence Brown brought a buttery, elegant trombone style that conflicted with that of Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton, who was the originator of many unique trombone stylings, most notably the plunger mute technique. Filling out the rhythm section were guitarist Fred Guy and drummer Sonny Greer, who stayed with the group until 1950.

Ellington in the 1940s

The band reached a creative peak in the early 1940s, when Ellington wrote for an orchestra of distinctive voices and displayed tremendous creativity. Some of the musicians created a sensation in their own right. The short-lived Jimmy Blanton transformed the use of double bass in jazz, allowing it to function as a solo rather than a rhythm instrument alone. Ben Webster too, the Orchestra's first regular tenor saxophonist, started a rivalry with Johnny Hodges as the Orchestra's foremost voice in the sax section. Ray Nance joined in, replacing Cootie Williams who had "defected", contemporary wags claimed, to Benny Goodman. Nance, however, added violin to the instrumental colors Ellington had at his disposal. A privately made recording of Nance's first concert date, at Fargo, North Dakota, in November 1940, is probably the most effective display of the band at the peak of its powers during this period. This recording is one of the first of innumerable live performances which survive, made by enthusiasts or broadcasters, significantly expanding the Ducal discography as a result.

Three-minute masterpieces flowed from the minds of Ellington, Billy Strayhorn (from 1939), Ellington's son Mercer Ellington, and members of the Orchestra. "Cottontail", "Mainstem", "Harlem Airshaft", "Streets of New York" and dozens of others date from this period.

Ellington's long-term aim became to extend the jazz form from the three-minute limit of the 78 rpm record side, of which he was an acknowledged master. He had composed and recorded "Creole Rhapsody" as early as 1931, but it was not until the 1940s that this became a regular feature of Ellington's work. In this, he was helped by Strayhorn, who had enjoyed a more thorough training in the forms associated with classical music than Ellington himself. The first of these, "Black, Brown, and Beige" (1943), was dedicated to telling the story of African-Americans, the place of slavery, and the church in their history. Unfortunately, starting a regular pattern, Ellington's longer works were not well received; Jump for Joy, an earlier musical, closed after only six performances in 1941.

The first recording ban of 1942-3 had a serious effect on all the big bands because of the increase in royalty payments to musicians its resolution necessitated; the financial viability of Ellington's operation was under threat, though Ellington's income as a songwriter ultimately subsidized the Orchestra.

Meanwhile, the development of modern jazz, or bebop and the music industry's shift to vocalists such as the young Frank Sinatra meant that Ellington's popularity and status as a trendsetter was under threat. For a time though Ellington continued to turn out major work, such as the Kay Davis vocal feature "Transblucency" and major extended compositions such as "Harlem" (1950).

Eventually though, in 1951, Ellington suffered a major loss of personnel, with Sonny Greer, Lawrence Brown, and most significantly, Johnny Hodges leaving to pursue other ventures. By 1955, after several years of recording for Capitol, Ellington no longer had a regular recording affiliation.

Revival of his career

Ellington's appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 7, 1956 was to return him to wider prominence. The feature "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue", with saxophonist Paul Gonsalves's six-minute saxophone solo, had been in the band's book since 1937, but on this occasion it nearly created a riot. The revived attention should not have surprised anyone — Hodges had returned to the fold the previous year, and Ellington's collaboration with Strayhorn had been renewed around the same time, under terms which the younger man could accept. Such Sweet Thunder (1957), based on Shakespeare's plays and characters, and The Queen's Suite the following year (dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II), were products of the renewed impetus which the Newport appearance had helped to create.

The late 1950s also saw Ella Fitzgerald record her Duke Ellington Songbook with Ellington and his orchestra, a recognition that Ellington's songs had now become part of the cultural canon known as the "Great American Songbook".

In the early 1960s, Ellington was between recording contracts, which allowed him to record with a variety of artists mostly not previously associated with him. In 1962, he participated in a session which produced the "Money Jungle" (United Artists) album with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, and also recorded with John Coltrane for Impulse, who also recorded Ellington and his Orchestra with Coleman Hawkins. Musicians who had previously worked with Ellington returned to the Orchestra as members: Lawrence Brown in 1960 and Cootie Williams two years later. Ellington was by now performing all over the world, a significant portion of each year was now spent making overseas tours, and he formed notable new working relationships, among which included the Swedish vocalist Alice Babs, and South African musicians Dollar Brand and Sathima Bea Benjamin (A Morning in Paris, 1963/2007).

Last years

Ellington was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1965, but was turned down. His reaction at 67 years old: "Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young." He performed his first Concert of Sacred Music, an attempt at fusing Christian liturgy with jazz, in September of the same year. This concert was followed by two others of the same type in 1968 and 1973, called the Second and Third Sacred Concerts, respectively. This caused enormous controversy in what was already a tumultuous time in the United States. Many saw the Sacred Music suites as an attempt to reinforce commercial support for organized religion, though Ellington simply said it was, "the most important thing I've done," perhaps with a touch of hyperbole.

Though his later work is overshadowed by his music of the early 1940s, Ellington continued to make vital and innovative recordings, including The Far East Suite (1966), "The New Orleans Suite" (1970), and "The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse" (1971). Increasingly, this period of music is being reassessed as people realize how creative Ellington was right up to the end of his life. However, some critics, such as James Lincoln Collier, continue to dismiss Ellington's later work.

Ellington was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1966. He was later awarded several other prizes, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, and the Legion of Honor by France in 1973, the highest civilian honors in each country. He died of lung cancer and pneumonia on May 24, 1974, a month after his 75th birthday, and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York City.

Work in films and the theatre

Ellington's film work began in 1929 with the short film Black and Tan Fantasy. He also appeared in the Amos 'n' Andy film Check and Double Check. Ellington's performance was a hit and helped introduce him to a wider audience. He and his Orchestra continued to appear in films throughout the 1930s and 1940s, both in short films and in features such as Murder at the Vanities (1934). In the late 1950s, his work in films took the shape of scoring for soundtracks, notably Anatomy of a Murder (1959), with James Stewart, in which he also appeared fronting a roadhouse combo, and Paris Blues (1961), which featured Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as jazz musicians.

A long-time fan of William Shakespeare, he wrote an original score for Timon of Athens that was first used in the Stratford Festival production that opened July 29, 1963 for director Michael Langham, who has used it for several subsequent productions, most recently in an adaptation by Stanley Silverman that expands on the score with some of Ellington's best-known works.

Ellington's sole book musical, Beggar's Holiday, was staged on Broadway in 1946. Sophisticated Ladies, an award-winning 1981 musical revue, incorporated many of the tunes he made famous.

Awards

In December of 1936 he was given the keys to the city of Las Angeles. Then, in 1966 Lyndon B. Johnson presented Ellington with the Presidents Gold Medal. Just three years later he was recognized by Richard M. Nixon with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Along with politically natured awards, he received high honors from the music community. Ellington has been honored with thirteen Grammy awards which span from 1959 to 2000, nine of which he lived to receive. In addition to a variety of awards, numerous memorials have been dedicated to Duke Ellington.

Places

In Ellington's birthplace of Washington, D.C., there stands a school dedicated to his honor and memory as well as a majestic bridge. The Duke Ellington School of the Arts educates talented students, who are considering careers in the arts, by providing intensive arts instruction and strong academic programs that prepare students for post-secondary education and professional careers. The massive Duke Ellington Bridge, built in 1935, carries Calvert Street over the ravine of Rock Creek Park, connecting Woodley Park to Adams Morgan. Ellington lived for years in a townhouse on the corner of Manhattan's Riverside Drive and West 106th Street. After his death, West 106th Street was officially renamed Duke Ellington Boulevard. A large memorial to 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. Although he made two more stage appearances before his death, Ellington performed what is considered his final "full" concert in a ballroom at Northern Illinois University on March 20, 1974. The hall was renamed the Duke Ellington Ballroom in 1980.