Duke Ellington

Throughout jazz history, few figures have matched the stature of Duke Ellington, who simultaneously directed a sizable orchestra without pause across nearly half a century. These two roles proved inseparable, since he treated the ensemble as an experimental workshop where fresh pieces took shape and were molded to spotlight the distinctive abilities of sidemen who often stayed for decades. He also supplied scores for motion pictures and theatrical productions, while several instrumental creations later received lyrics and entered the standard repertoire. Year-round touring paired with relentless studio work generated an immense catalog still under evaluation twenty-five years after his passing.

Born to James Edward Ellington, a butler at the White House, the future bandleader enjoyed a privileged upbringing and started piano instruction at seven, already composing by his teenage years. He left high school during his junior year in 1917 to focus on music full time. Early bookings and performances centered on the Washington, D.C., region until September 1923, when the five-piece Washingtonians, a unit to which he belonged, relocated permanently to New York and secured steady work at the Times Square nightclub first known as The Hollywood Club and later as The Kentucky Club. Their debut recordings appeared in November 1924, issued across multiple labels under assorted pseudonyms; as a result, major companies including Sony, Universal, and BMG today hold substantial archives of that material, which continue to surface in periodic reissues.

The ensemble slowly expanded and came under Ellington’s sole direction, developing a so-called jungle approach whose cunning charts often featured the muted, growling trumpet of James “Bubber” Miley. One early illustration was the band’s first signature number, “East St. Louis Toodle-oo,” initially waxed for Vocalion in November 1926 and later re-recorded for Columbia, where it became their first chart single in July 1927.

On December 4, 1927, the group shifted operations uptown to Harlem’s Cotton Club. More than three years of residency there, amplified by regular radio broadcasts from the venue, elevated Ellington to national prominence. Two two-sided successes followed in 1928: “Black and Tan Fantasy”/“Creole Love Call” on Victor (now BMG) and “Doin’ the New Low Down”/“Diga Diga Doo” on OKeh (now Sony), the latter credited to the Harlem Footwarmers. “The Mooche,” also on OKeh, reached the charts at the beginning of 1929.

While still fulfilling obligations at the Cotton Club, Ellington brought the orchestra downtown that summer for the Broadway musical Show Girl, which featured George Gershwin’s score. The following summer the band traveled to California to appear in the film Check and Double Check. From its soundtrack, “Three Little Words,” sung by the Rhythm Boys with Bing Crosby, climbed to number one on Victor in November 1930; the reverse side, “Ring Dem Bells,” also charted.

The Ellington orchestra departed the Cotton Club in February 1931 for what proved an unbroken touring schedule lasting until the leader’s death forty-three years later. Around the same time an instrumental treatment of the future standard “Mood Indigo” reached the Top Five on Victor and was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Recording for Brunswick as the Jungle Band, the orchestra scored further entries later in 1931 with “Rockin’ in Rhythm” and the two-sided “Creole Rhapsody,” whose extended length signaled Ellington’s growing interest in longer forms. A second version charted on Victor in March 1932. “Limehouse Blues” appeared on Victor in August 1931, and during the winter of 1932 the band achieved a Top Ten Brunswick hit with “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” featuring vocalist Ivie Anderson—more than three years before the swing era formally began.

Another signature piece, “Sophisticated Lady,” followed in spring 1933, its instrumental version reaching the Top Five on Victor; the flip side, a rendering of “Stormy Weather,” also landed in the Top Five.

In spring 1934 the orchestra appeared in the film Murder at the Vanities. Its instrumental “Cocktails for Two” hit number one on Victor in May, while both sides of the Brunswick coupling “Moon Glow”/“Solitude” reached the Top Five that autumn. Additional screen work included the Mae West picture Belle of the Nineties and the soundtrack for Many Happy Returns. Later that year “Saddest Tale” entered the Top Ten, and 1935 brought two more Top Ten hits, “Merry-Go-Round” and “Accent on Youth.” While the latter climbed the charts in September, Ellington recorded the expansive “Reminiscing in Tempo,” spread across two 78-rpm discs. Commercial success persisted alongside these ambitions: “Cotton” reached the Top Ten in fall 1935, followed in 1936 by “Love Is Like a Cigarette” and “Oh Babe! Maybe Someday.” A return to Hollywood yielded music for the Marx Brothers’ A Day at the Races and for Hit Parade of 1937. Further Top Ten entries arrived with “Scattin’ at the Kit-Kat” and “Caravan,” the latter co-written by valve trombonist Juan Tizol. Extended works such as “Diminuendo in Blue” and “Crescendo in Blue” continued to appear. In spring 1938 the vocal feature “If You Were in My Place (What Would You Do?)” with Ivie Anderson became a Top Ten hit, and an instrumental “I Let a Song Go out of My Heart” gave Ellington his third number-one record in April. That fall a version of the British show tune “Lambeth Walk” also reached the Top Ten.

Personnel shifts marked the close of the decade. After years with Brunswick, Ellington moved to Victor. Early in 1939 composer, arranger, and pianist Billy Strayhorn joined the organization; although he seldom performed onstage, he soon became Ellington’s compositional partner, rendering their individual contributions virtually indistinguishable. Bassist Jimmy Blanton arrived in September and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster in December; their brief but transformative presence later earned the designation “the Blanton-Webster Band.” These developments crystallized in the 1941 Victor release of Strayhorn’s “Take the ‘A’ Train,” later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

That summer Ellington’s stage musical Jump for Joy premiered in Los Angeles on July 10 and completed 101 performances, though it never reached Broadway; one song from the score, “I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good),” became a standard. U.S. entry into World War II and the American Federation of Musicians’ recording ban, which began in August 1942, curtailed momentum. With recording halted and touring restricted, Ellington returned to extended composition, launching an annual Carnegie Hall concert series on January 23, 1943, with the premiere of “Black, Brown and Beige.” Screen appearances followed in Cabin in the Sky and Reveille with Beverly. Labels mined back catalogs; lyricist Bob Russell added words to the 1940 instrumental “Never No Lament,” producing “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.” The Ink Spots scored with a vocal rendition, and Ellington’s three-year-old instrumental also charted, reaching the pop Top Ten and number one on the nascent R&B list. Russell repeated the process with “Concerto for Cootie,” another 1940 showcase for trumpeter Cootie Williams, resulting in “Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me.” Nearly four years after its original recording, the retitled track hit the pop Top Ten and topped the R&B charts in early 1944, while fresh vocal covers succeeded as well. Ellington’s vintage sides dominated the R&B summit through 1943–1944, adding number-one hits with “A Slip of the Lip (Can Sink a Ship),” “Sentimental Lady,” and “Main Stem.” Once the ban lifted in November 1944, Ellington recorded “I’m Beginning to See the Light,” co-written with saxophonist Johnny Hodges and lyricists Don George and Harry James. The James version reached number one in April 1945; Ellington’s own recording also entered the Top Ten.

After the war Ellington’s era of major pop-chart dominance largely concluded, yet unlike many swing-era leaders who disbanded, he maintained his orchestra through constant touring, supplementing road income with songwriting royalties. In a landscape shifting toward bebop and vocalists, the band no longer dominated the marketplace but remained active. Extended works continued: a 1946 collaboration with lyricist John Latouche yielded the Broadway musical Beggar’s Holiday, which opened December 26 and ran 108 performances. In 1950 Ellington supplied his first complete background score for a feature film, The Asphalt Jungle.

The early 1950s brought repeated personnel losses, some of them temporary. A decisive resurgence occurred at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 7, 1956, when a performance of “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue” showcased saxophonist Paul Gonsalves’s extended solo. Ellington landed on the cover of Time magazine and signed with Columbia Records, which issued Ellington at Newport, the best-selling album of his career. Freed from hit-making pressures and aided by the longer playing time of LPs, he devoted increasing attention to extended compositions. Renewed touring success led to his first full-scale European tour in fall 1958; world travel remained constant thereafter.

He appeared in and scored the 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder, whose soundtrack earned three Grammy Awards—for best performance by a dance band, best musical composition of the year, and best soundtrack. His next score, Paris Blues (1961), received an Academy Award nomination. In August 1963 the stage work My People, surveying African-American history, was presented in Chicago during the Century of Negro Progress Exposition.

Recordings and performances persisted. Ellington moved from Columbia to Frank Sinatra’s Reprise label (later acquired by Warner Bros. Records), issuing several pop-oriented albums that surprised purists yet revealed ongoing commercial ambitions. Artistic exploration continued with the first of his sacred concerts, given at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral on September 16, 1965. Another Broadway venture, the musical Pousse-Café, opened March 18, 1966, but closed after only a few days. Three months later the Sinatra film Assault on a Queen, scored by Ellington, reached theaters; his final film score, for Change of Mind, appeared in 1969.

Later years brought repeated Grammy recognition. A 1966 award for best original jazz composition honored “In the Beginning, God” from the sacred concerts. The 1967 album Far East Suite, drawn from Middle and Far Eastern travels, won best instrumental jazz performance, as did the 1969 tribute And His Mother Called Him Bill, dedicated to Strayhorn, who had died in 1967. “New Orleans Suite” earned the same prize in 1971, followed by “Togo Brava Suite” in 1972 and the posthumous The Ellington Suites in 1976.

Ellington performed regularly until illness struck in spring 1974; he succumbed to lung cancer and pneumonia. Leadership passed to his son Mercer, who directed the orchestra until his own death in 1996, after which a grandson assumed the role. The long-sought Broadway success arrived with the revue Sophisticated Ladies, which opened March 1, 1981, and completed 767 performances.

Centenary observances in 1999 confirmed Ellington’s standing as jazz’s preeminent composer. Although jazz traditionally privileges improvisation over notation, his ability to write for a stable roster of veteran soloists produced a body of work poised to enter academic and institutional settings—an outcome very much in keeping with the music’s trajectory at the close of the twentieth century. In this respect he anticipated jazz’s future and established himself among its most consequential figures.