Musician Spotlight: Duke Ellington

Spanning more than six decades, Duke Ellington had quite the career as an American composer, pianist, and a leader of the jazz orchestra. Known from birth as Edward, the ‘Duke’ was a nickname given to him by his friends due to his casual, offhand manner and the fact that he would often be dressed in a dapper fashion. Hence the name, Duke Ellington was born.

Who was Duke Ellington?

Born in Washington, D.C on April 29th, 1899, Duke Ellington headed over to NYC from the mid-1920s. And it was here that he gained a national profile via his orchestra’s appearance at the Cotton Club in Harlem. This would play a significant part in his career and rocket his name into the world for everyone to eventually see.

He was a pivotal figure in the history of jazz but would also refer his music to that of a general category when it came to American music. His main focus was on the orchestra he led from 1923 and contained some of the best of the best when it came to musicians.

What genre did Ellington cover?

Duke Ellington is definitely one of the greatest, if not the greatest jazz composer and bandleaders of his time. He was one of the originators of big-band jazz and composed thousands of scores as a result of this.

Ellington would go onto win many awards for his work and even the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Nixon in 1969. Performing all over the world, he was certainly influencing the genre of jazz in a positive and popular way.

Watch this video of him performing “Take the A Train” to see his mastery of the piano:

Major accomplishments

One of the major accomplishments was that of the orchestra and many of the members would stay for several decades. With more than a thousand compositions, it’s one of the largest recorded personal jazz legacies in existence. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, including Perdido which had a Spanish element to big band jazz. Ellington also collaborated for thirty years with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn.

Ellington would have a major revival after the Newport Jazz Festival of July 1956 and embarked on world tours with his orchestra as a result. He recorded for most of the American record companies as well as performing in and scoring several films as well as composing some stage musicals too.

Posthumously, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize Special Award for music in 1999. His reputation continued to rise beyond his death and has certainly left behind a most impressive career and body of work.

What instruments did Ellington use?

The only instrument that Ellington used was the piano, long before the digital piano was invented. Due to his work as a composer and bandleader, he likely had enough to keep him occupied and the piano was likely to be enough for him. His talents go beyond the instrument and it seems as though he had a lot more to give in terms of composition and direction than just performing. Even though he would perform regularly, his passions seemed to lie in leading his big-band orchestra.