Summary
Ellington was born in Washington. D.C. on April 29, 1899, when the nation's capital had the largest Black population of any American city. It was at the height of segregation and since Black people were relegated to densely populated neighborhoods, they developed their own clubs, cultural organizations, commerce and especially churches. His father. James Edward Ellington (affectionately called "J.E.") made blueprints for the United States Navy worked as a butler for a prominent D.C. physician and occasionally "moonlighted" at the White House as a caterer. His mother, Daisy Kennedy Ellington, a high school graduate (a rare achievement at that time) was a homemaker who projected a refined manner and taught him how to live elegantly. Both of Ellington's parents played the piano; she would play parlor songs and he operatic airs.
Though Ellington began taking piano lessons at eight years old, he was more concerned with baseball. (Later on in his autobiography "Music is my Mistress," he would say. "I missed more lessons than I attended"). He attended Garnet Elementary School and Armstrong High School in Washington, D.C. At age fifteen, he wrote his first composition. "Soda Fountain Rag." He expressed an air of self-confidence that he absorbed from his father. The grace and ease with which he carried himself, along with his dapper dresswear, gave him the bearing of a nobleman. Thus began the nickname "Duke." a moniker that stuck with him for the rest for his life.He first appeared in "Black and Tan/' a short, all-Black film for RKO in 1929. Then came the Depression. The band survived the hard times by doing road tours and since he had a huge overseas following, they went to England in the mid-thirties. There was a slum in his career when his mother died in 1935, but he recovered as the bigband era was intensifying. Ellington reached his creative peak in the 1940s and maintained that position for the next decade. Some of his hits were; "Sophisticated Lady," "It Don't Mean a Thing," "Take the A Train" and "Mood Indigo."The grace and ease with which he carried himself, along with his dapper dresswear, gave him the bearing of a nobleman. [...] began the nickname "Duke." a moniker that stuck with him for the rest for his life.See the full content of this document
Extract
Duke Ellington
Born Edward Kennedy Ellington, the masterful music he made and left a distinguished legacy to the world. As one of the most important composers in the history of jazz, "Duke" was also a bandleader who held his large group of musicians together continuously for almost 50 years. In addition to conducting, Ellington recorded extensively and toured continuously year after year, which resulted in a body of work so vast that it was stilt being assessed more...
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