Duke Ellington

Trackimage Playbut Trackname Playbut Trackname
In A Sentimental Mood 04:18 Tools
Caravan 03:56 Tools
My Little Brown Book 05:27 Tools
Mood Indigo 03:10 Tools
Sophisticated Lady 03:03 Tools
Solitude 05:51 Tools
Black and Tan Fantasy 06:24 Tools
The Mooche 03:32 Tools
Satin Doll 02:43 Tools
Perdido 02:25 Tools
Take the A Train 00:00 Tools
It Don't Mean a Thing 03:00 Tools
It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) 03:00 Tools
Haupe 00:00 Tools
Creole Love Call 03:15 Tools
Take the 'A' Train 00:00 Tools
Prelude To A Kiss 03:02 Tools
Jeep's Blues 00:00 Tools
Warm Valley 03:22 Tools
Cotton Tail 03:10 Tools
Rockin' in Rhythm 02:56 Tools
Take The Coltrane 04:47 Tools
Black Beauty 00:00 Tools
Money Jungle 00:00 Tools
Take The “A” Train 02:55 Tools
East St. Louis Toodle-Oo 03:15 Tools
Very Special 04:25 Tools
Don't Get Around Much Anymore 03:04 Tools
Wig Wise 03:19 Tools
Things Ain't What They Used to Be 02:58 Tools
Stevie 04:25 Tools
I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart 03:10 Tools
C Jam Blues 04:51 Tools
Big Nick 04:25 Tools
Ko-Ko 02:42 Tools
I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) 04:10 Tools
The Feeling Of Jazz 03:23 Tools
Tea for Two 01:55 Tools
Rem Blues 04:16 Tools
New York, New York 00:00 Tools
Jump for Joy 02:54 Tools
Concerto for Cootie 03:19 Tools
I'm Beginning To See The Light 02:48 Tools
Fleurette Africaine 03:37 Tools
Jack the Bear 00:00 Tools
Angelica 06:02 Tools
A Little Max (Parfait) 02:59 Tools
Harlem Air Shaft 02:59 Tools
Switch Blade 05:12 Tools
Chelsea Bridge 02:56 Tools
Jingle Bells 02:58 Tools
In A Mellow Tone 02:53 Tools
Stompy Jones 06:38 Tools
Ring Dem Bells 00:00 Tools
Isfahan 00:00 Tools
Jubilee Stomp 02:43 Tools
Backward Country Boy Blues 00:00 Tools
In A Mellotone 07:04 Tools
Fleurette Africaine (African Flower) - 2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
Skin Deep 08:13 Tools
Main Stem 00:00 Tools
Flamingo 03:41 Tools
Cotton Club Stomp 00:00 Tools
All Too Soon 00:00 Tools
St. Louis Blues 00:00 Tools
Hot and Bothered 00:00 Tools
What Am I Here for? 00:00 Tools
Solitude - 1990 Digital Remaster 04:53 Tools
Echoes of Harlem 00:00 Tools
REM Blues (Alternate Take) 00:00 Tools
Very Special - 2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
Tourist Point of View 00:00 Tools
The Single Petal Of A Rose - The Queen's Suite 00:00 Tools
Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me 00:00 Tools
Take It Easy 00:00 Tools
Day Dream 00:00 Tools
Limbo Jazz 00:00 Tools
Moon Mist 00:00 Tools
The Jeep Is Jumpin' 00:00 Tools
Diga Diga Doo 02:54 Tools
Passion Flower 00:00 Tools
Come Sunday 00:00 Tools
Overture 03:23 Tools
Jingle Bells (Robbie Hardkiss Remix) 03:53 Tools
Tulip or Turnip 00:00 Tools
Never No Lament 03:16 Tools
Smada 00:00 Tools
Cottontail 00:00 Tools
Johnny Come Lately 00:00 Tools
Jam With Sam 00:00 Tools
Mount Harissa 00:00 Tools
Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy) 00:00 Tools
Jeep's Blues - Live 00:00 Tools
Happy-Go-Lucky Local - Live 00:00 Tools
Blue Pepper (Far East of The Blues) 00:00 Tools
Snibor 00:00 Tools
I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good) - live 00:00 Tools
Echoes of the Jungle 00:00 Tools
Lotus Blossom 00:00 Tools
I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good 00:00 Tools
Flirtibird 00:00 Tools
Depk 00:00 Tools
One O'Clock Jump 05:36 Tools
Star Spangled Banner 01:13 Tools
Sepia Panorama 00:00 Tools
Midriff 00:00 Tools
Merry-Go-Round 00:00 Tools
A Portrait of Bert Williams 00:00 Tools
Fleurette Africaine (African Flower) 00:00 Tools
Bluebird of Delhi (Mynah) 00:00 Tools
Ad Lib on Nippon 00:00 Tools
After All 00:00 Tools
Agra 00:00 Tools
Bojangles 00:00 Tools
Alabamy Home 03:03 Tools
Reflections in D 00:00 Tools
Across the Track Blues 00:00 Tools
Birmingham Breakdown 00:00 Tools
Double Check Stomp 00:00 Tools
Everything but You 00:00 Tools
Misty Mornin' 00:00 Tools
Stormy Weather 00:00 Tools
Azure 00:00 Tools
Just Squeeze Me 00:00 Tools
Conga Brava 00:00 Tools
Old Man Blues 00:00 Tools
Riot Prevention 00:00 Tools
Dancers In Love 00:00 Tools
Solitude (Alternate Take) 00:00 Tools
The "C" Jam Blues 00:00 Tools
Slippery Horn 00:00 Tools
Clementine 00:00 Tools
Diminuendo in Blue 00:00 Tools
Blue Serge 00:00 Tools
Summertime 00:00 Tools
Amad 00:00 Tools
Self Portrait (Of The Bean) 00:00 Tools
I Can't Get Started 00:00 Tools
Harlem Air-Shaft 00:00 Tools
Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue 00:00 Tools
Raincheck 00:00 Tools
The Gal from Joe's 00:00 Tools
Blues in Orbit 00:00 Tools
Sentimental Lady 04:02 Tools
Jumpin' at the Woodside 00:00 Tools
Rhapsody In Blue 04:48 Tools
Crescendo in Blue 00:00 Tools
Blood Count 00:00 Tools
The Blues with a Feelin' 00:00 Tools
In a Jam 00:00 Tools
Melancholia 00:00 Tools
Pyramid 00:00 Tools
How High the Moon 00:00 Tools
All of Me 00:00 Tools
Dusk 00:00 Tools
East St. Louis Toodle-O 00:00 Tools
Memphis Blues 00:00 Tools
Wanderlust 00:00 Tools
Pie Eye's Blues 00:00 Tools
Such Sweet Thunder (Cleo) 00:00 Tools
Money Jungle - 2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
The Sidewalks of New York 00:00 Tools
Just a-Settin' and a-Rockin' 00:00 Tools
Wig Wise - 2002 - Remaster 00:00 Tools
Drop Me Off In Harlem 00:00 Tools
Duke & Band Leave Stage/Father Norman O'Connor Talks About The Festival 00:00 Tools
Just A-Sittin' And A-Rockin' 00:00 Tools
The Star-Crossed Lovers (aka Pretty Girl) 00:00 Tools
Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me 00:00 Tools
Washington Wobble 00:00 Tools
Body and Soul 00:00 Tools
Battle of Swing 00:00 Tools
Sonnet for Caesar 00:00 Tools
Tootin' through the roof 00:00 Tools
Tenderly 00:00 Tools
A Little Max (Parfait) (Alternate Take) 00:00 Tools
Sophisticated Lady (Live) 04:32 Tools
Morning Glory 00:00 Tools
Three J's Blues 00:00 Tools
Hot Feet 00:00 Tools
Switch Blade (Alternate Take) 00:00 Tools
Saddest Tale 00:00 Tools
Me and You 00:00 Tools
Pitter Panther Patter 00:00 Tools
Ray Charles' Place 04:05 Tools
Lost in Meditation 00:00 Tools
SARATOGA SWING 00:00 Tools
Warm Valley - 2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
Daybreak Express 00:00 Tools
Main Title and Anatomy of a Murder 00:00 Tools
Rose Of The Rio Grande 00:00 Tools
U.M.M.G. 00:00 Tools
December Blue 00:00 Tools
Chloe 00:00 Tools
Something To Live For 00:00 Tools
Three Little Words 00:00 Tools
You Dirty Dog 00:00 Tools
Drop me off at harlem 00:00 Tools
Bakiff 00:00 Tools
Slap Happy 00:00 Tools
Showboat Shuffle 00:00 Tools
Jungle Nights in Harlem 00:00 Tools
Frustration 00:00 Tools
Fleurette Africaine (African Flower) (Remastered) 00:00 Tools
Boy Meets Horn 00:00 Tools
Lady Mac 00:00 Tools
The Tattooed Bride 00:00 Tools
Father Norman O'Connor Introduces Duke & The Orchestra/Duke Introduces Tune & Anderson, Jackson, & Procope 00:00 Tools
Braggin' in Brass 00:00 Tools
If You're Ever in My Arms Again 00:00 Tools
Creole Rhapsody 00:00 Tools
Rumpus in Richmond 00:00 Tools
Delta Serenade 00:00 Tools
Sonnet to Hank Cinq 00:00 Tools
Honeysuckle Rose 00:00 Tools
Saturday Night Function 00:00 Tools
Ko Ko 00:00 Tools
The Swinger's Jump 00:00 Tools
Harlem Speaks 00:00 Tools
Transblucency 00:00 Tools
Villes Ville Is The Place, Man 00:00 Tools
Nutcracker Suite: Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy) 00:00 Tools
Way Early Subtone 00:00 Tools
Tiger Rag 00:00 Tools
Sweet and Pungent 00:00 Tools
Happy Go Lucky Local 00:00 Tools
Caravan (Remastered) 00:00 Tools
Bugle Call Rag 00:00 Tools
Sultry Serenade 00:00 Tools
Esquire swank 00:00 Tools
Day in, Day Out (Live) 00:00 Tools
The Star Spangled Banner 00:00 Tools
Hero to Zero 00:00 Tools
Autumn Leaves 00:00 Tools
Peanut Brittle Brigade 00:00 Tools
Very Special - 24-Bit Mastering;2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
Midnight Indigo 00:00 Tools
Where or When 00:00 Tools
Sonnet in Search of a Moor 00:00 Tools
Black and Tan Fantasy - Live 00:00 Tools
Carnegie Blues 00:00 Tools
Blues in Blueprint 00:00 Tools
Part I - Festival Junction (Live) 00:00 Tools
Entr'acte 00:00 Tools
Arabesque Cookie 00:00 Tools
The Swingers Get the Blues Too 00:00 Tools
Boo-Dah 00:00 Tools
Jeep's Blues (Live) 00:00 Tools
Jumpin' Punkins 00:00 Tools
Low Key Lightly 00:00 Tools
Clarinet Lament 00:00 Tools
There Shall Be No Night 00:00 Tools
So Far, so Good 00:00 Tools
moonbow 00:00 Tools
Blue Ramble 00:00 Tools
Battle Royal 00:00 Tools
Danse Of The Floreadores (Waltz Of The Flowers) 00:00 Tools
Swamp Fire 00:00 Tools
Stardust 00:00 Tools
Basin Street Blues 00:00 Tools
In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree 03:14 Tools
Sunswept Sunday 00:00 Tools
The Telecasters 00:00 Tools
Harmony in Harlem 00:00 Tools
Blues For New Orleans 00:00 Tools
Duke's Place 00:00 Tools
The Star-Crossed Lovers 00:00 Tools
Doin' the Voom Voom 00:00 Tools
Blue Goose 00:00 Tools
I Didn't Know About You 00:00 Tools
Country Gal 00:00 Tools
Acht O'Clock Rock 00:00 Tools
Laura 00:00 Tools
Frankie and Johnny 00:00 Tools
The Wonder of You 00:00 Tools
I Must Have That Man 00:00 Tools
Solitude - 2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
Sonnet for Sister Kate 00:00 Tools
Awful Sad 00:00 Tools
Willow Weep for Me 00:00 Tools
Upper and Outest 00:00 Tools
Grace Valse 00:00 Tools
Dinah's in a Jam 00:00 Tools
Blues 00:00 Tools
Sophisticated Lady - live 00:00 Tools
Chinoiserie 00:00 Tools
Lady Of The Lavender Mist 00:00 Tools
Diminuendo In Blue - Live 00:00 Tools
The Ricitic 00:00 Tools
Night and Day 00:00 Tools
Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy) 00:00 Tools
Circle of Fourths 00:00 Tools
Beale Street Blues 00:00 Tools
Ducky Wucky 00:00 Tools
On the Sunny Side of the Street 00:00 Tools
Announcements, Pandemonium (Live) 00:00 Tools
Come to Baby, Do! 00:00 Tools
I Can't Give You Anything but Love 00:00 Tools
Part III - Newport Up (Live) 00:00 Tools
John Hardy's Wife 00:00 Tools
The Mystery Song 00:00 Tools
Loveless Love 00:00 Tools
Dancing in the Dark 00:00 Tools
The Hawk Talks 00:00 Tools
Portrait Of Louis Armstrong 00:00 Tools
La plus belle africaine 00:00 Tools
Pretty Woman 00:00 Tools
Chloe (Song Of The Swamp) 00:00 Tools
The Flaming Sword 00:00 Tools
Part II - Blues to Be There (Live) 00:00 Tools
Harlem Airshaft 00:00 Tools
I Never Felt This Way Before 00:00 Tools
Rocks In My Bed 00:00 Tools
Got Everything but You 00:00 Tools
Black Butterfly 00:00 Tools
Rockabye River 00:00 Tools
At a Dixie Roadside Diner 00:00 Tools
Come Sunday (from Black, Brown And Beige) - accapella 00:00 Tools
Harlem River Quiver 00:00 Tools
The Intimacy Of The Blues 00:00 Tools
Janet 00:00 Tools
Such Sweet Thunder 00:00 Tools
Flaming Youth 00:00 Tools
Hop Head 00:00 Tools
Solitude [alternate take] 00:00 Tools
FIVE O'CLOCK DRAG 00:00 Tools
Five O'clock Whistle 00:00 Tools
Air Conditioned Jungle 00:00 Tools
Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue (Live) 00:00 Tools
Brown Penny 00:00 Tools
Riding on a Blue Note 00:00 Tools
Corner Pocket (Aka Until I Met You) 00:00 Tools
Kinda Dukish 00:00 Tools
Blue Skies 00:00 Tools
Caravan - Remastered 00:00 Tools
A Little Max (Parfait) [alternate take] 00:00 Tools
All Day Long 00:00 Tools
Almost Cried 00:00 Tools
Fleurette Africaine (African Flower) - Remastered 00:00 Tools
Rock Skippin' At the Blue Note 00:00 Tools
Happy Anatomy 00:00 Tools
C-Jam Blues 00:00 Tools
All The Things You Are 00:00 Tools
Chocolate Shake 00:00 Tools
Lazy Rhapsody 00:00 Tools
The Blues 00:00 Tools
Duke Announces Soloists; Introduces Part II (Live) 00:00 Tools
B Sharp Blues 00:00 Tools
Royal Garden Blues 00:00 Tools
Money Jungle - Remastered 00:00 Tools
If You Can't Hold the Man You Love 00:00 Tools
You, You Darlin' 00:00 Tools
That Lindy Hop 00:00 Tools
The Blues I Love to Sing 00:00 Tools
Blue Feeling 00:00 Tools
Moonglow 00:00 Tools
It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing 00:00 Tools
Tonk 00:00 Tools
Someone 00:00 Tools
Cocktails for Two 00:00 Tools
Pussy Willow 00:00 Tools
Are You Sticking? 00:00 Tools
Day in, Day Out - live 00:00 Tools
Indian Summer 00:00 Tools
In The Mood 00:00 Tools
Harlem Nocturne 00:00 Tools
Happy-Go-Lucky Local 00:00 Tools
Love You Madly 00:00 Tools
Studio Concert (Excerpts) 00:00 Tools
Didjeridoo 00:00 Tools
Second Line 00:00 Tools
Take The "A" Train (White House) - Live 00:00 Tools
Kissing Bug 00:00 Tools
Don't You Know I Care 00:00 Tools
Back Room Romp 00:00 Tools
Downtown Uproar 00:00 Tools
Charpoy 00:00 Tools
tuxedo junction 00:00 Tools
Brown-Skin Gal (In The Calico Gown) 00:00 Tools
Switch Blade - 2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
In The Hall Of The Mountain King 00:00 Tools
Deep Purple 00:00 Tools
Very Special - Remastered 00:00 Tools
Move Over 00:00 Tools
A Little Max (Parfait) - 2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
Portrait of the lion 00:00 Tools
Meditation 00:00 Tools
Work Song 00:00 Tools
Moon over Cuba 00:00 Tools
My Greatest Mistake 00:00 Tools
Subtle Slough 00:00 Tools
Nutcracker Suite: Nutcracker Suite: Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy) 00:00 Tools
Going Up 00:00 Tools
Brown Betty 00:00 Tools
Stop Look And Listen 00:00 Tools
I'm Just A Lucky So And So 00:00 Tools
Announcements, Pandemonium - live 00:00 Tools
Afrique 00:00 Tools
On a Turquoise Cloud 00:00 Tools
Solitude - 1990 Remastered Version 00:00 Tools
The c jam blues 00:00 Tools
Rem Blues - 2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
Bojangles (A Portrait of Bill Robinson) 00:00 Tools
Duke Announces Strayhorn's A Train & Nance/Duke Introduces Festival Suite, Part I & Hamilton 00:00 Tools
Take The "A" Train - Live 00:00 Tools
Magenta Haze 00:00 Tools
What Am I Here For 00:00 Tools
Take The "A" Train (White House) (Live) 00:00 Tools
Take The A Train - Live Version 00:00 Tools
That Jungle Jamboree 00:00 Tools
Toot Toot Tootie Toot (Dance Of The Reed-Pipes) 00:00 Tools
Swampy River 00:00 Tools
Carnival in Caroline 00:00 Tools
The Girl in My Dreams Tries to Look Like You 00:00 Tools
Beer Garden 00:00 Tools
Half The Fun (aka Lately) 00:00 Tools
Bli-Blip 00:00 Tools
Mood Indigo - 1990 Remastered Version 00:00 Tools
Retrospection 00:00 Tools
Thanks For The Beautiful Land On The Delta 00:00 Tools
My Old Flame 00:00 Tools
Diga Diga Do 00:00 Tools
I Like the Sunrise 00:00 Tools
The Duke Steps Out 00:00 Tools
Drawing Room Blues 00:00 Tools
Sherman Shuffle 00:00 Tools
Suddenly It Jumped 00:00 Tools
Money Jungle - 24-Bit Mastering;2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
Malletoba Spank 00:00 Tools
Single Petal Of A Rose 00:00 Tools
Tea For Two - Live 00:00 Tools
Stevedore Stomp 00:00 Tools
Arabesque Cookie (Arabian Dance) 00:00 Tools
Crosstown 00:00 Tools
The Giddybug Gallop 00:00 Tools
Oh, Babe! Maybe Someday 00:00 Tools
Portrait Of Wellman Braud 00:00 Tools
Diminuendo In Blue And Blow By Blow 00:00 Tools
The Twitch 00:00 Tools
I Ain't Got Nothin' But The Blues 00:00 Tools
Duke Announces Strayhorn's A Train & Nance Duke Introduces Festival Suite, Part 1 & Hamilton 00:00 Tools
The Sergeant Was Shy 00:00 Tools
Little Posey 00:00 Tools
The Star Spangled Banner - Live 00:00 Tools
Serenade to Sweden 00:00 Tools
I'm Just A Lucky So And So - 1990 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
I Don't Know What Kind of Blues I Got 00:00 Tools
Clouds in My Heart 00:00 Tools
Sweet Mama 00:00 Tools
Bourbon Street Jingling Jollies 00:00 Tools
Who Knows? 00:00 Tools
Blue Cellophane 00:00 Tools
El Gato 00:00 Tools
Lullaby Of Birdland 00:00 Tools
Chinoiserie (Chinese Dance) 00:00 Tools
Jeep's Blues - studio 00:00 Tools
Ase's Death 00:00 Tools
Old King Dooji 00:00 Tools
Stompin' At The Savoy 00:00 Tools
Newport Up 00:00 Tools
Maybe I Should Change My Ways 00:00 Tools
Eerie Moan 00:00 Tools
Just Squeeze Me (But Don't Tease Me) 00:00 Tools
New York City Blues 00:00 Tools
Limehouse Blues 00:00 Tools
Tootie for Cootie 00:00 Tools
Chicago Stomp Down 00:00 Tools
Clarinet Lament (Barney's Concerto) 00:00 Tools
Portrait Of Mahalia Jackson 00:00 Tools
Vagabonds 00:00 Tools
Three Cent Stomp 00:00 Tools
Portrait Of Sidney Bechet 00:00 Tools
Tang 00:00 Tools
What Good Would It Do? 00:00 Tools
Sultry Sunset 00:00 Tools
Washington Wabble - Take 1 00:00 Tools
The Volga Vouty (Russian Dance) 00:00 Tools
Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue 00:00 Tools
Hy'a Sue 00:00 Tools
Ain't Misbehavin' 00:00 Tools
Very Special (Remastered) 00:00 Tools
Mood to Be Wooed 00:00 Tools
The Opener 00:00 Tools
The Mooche (78 Rpm Version) 00:00 Tools
Gong 00:00 Tools
Soul Call 00:00 Tools
Lonesome Lullaby 00:00 Tools
Golden Cress 00:00 Tools
The Sheik of Araby 00:00 Tools
Stomp, Look and Listen 00:00 Tools
I Can't Believe That You're in Love With Me 00:00 Tools
Segue in C 00:00 Tools
The Clothed Woman 00:00 Tools
Dear Old Southland 00:00 Tools
To You 00:00 Tools
Haunted Nights 00:00 Tools
Lay-By 00:00 Tools
Blue Rose 00:00 Tools
Shout 'em aunt tillie 00:00 Tools
Washington Wabble - Take 2 00:00 Tools
Antra's Dance 00:00 Tools
Azalea - 1990 Remastered Version 00:00 Tools
Part I-Festival Junction - Live 00:00 Tools
Aristocracy A La Jean Lafitte 00:00 Tools
Baby, When You Ain't There 00:00 Tools
The Unbooted Character 00:00 Tools
Part I - Festival Junction 00:00 Tools
True 00:00 Tools
Take the A-Train 00:00 Tools
Koko 00:00 Tools
I'm Afraid (Of Loving You Too Much) 00:00 Tools
I Don't Mind 00:00 Tools
Pt. I-Festival Junction - Live 00:00 Tools
My Funny Valentine 00:00 Tools
New World a-Comin' 00:00 Tools
Rain Check 00:00 Tools
Hard Way 00:00 Tools
Part II - Blues to Be There 00:00 Tools
Blues I Love To Sing - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Ev'ry Day 00:00 Tools
Studio Concert - Excerpts 00:00 Tools
Backward Country Boy Blues - 2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
Tymperturbably Blue 00:00 Tools
Sugar Rum Cherry 00:00 Tools
It's Glory 00:00 Tools
Rock-Skippin' at the Blue Note 00:00 Tools
The New East St. Louis Toodle-O 00:00 Tools
Part III - Newport Up 00:00 Tools
Flying Home 00:00 Tools
Part I 00:00 Tools
B D B 00:00 Tools
Take the ''a'' Train 00:00 Tools
Goin' to Town 00:00 Tools
Blue Harlem 00:00 Tools
Solitude (Remastered) 00:00 Tools
The Minor Goes Muggin' 00:00 Tools
Bandanna Babies 00:00 Tools
Morning Mood 00:00 Tools
The Mood to Be Wooed 00:00 Tools
The New East St. Louis Toodle-O: East St. Louis Toodle-O 00:00 Tools
Rent Party Blues 00:00 Tools
Madness in Great Ones (Hamlet) 00:00 Tools
Arabian Lover 00:00 Tools
Park At 106th 00:00 Tools
Just You, Just Me 00:00 Tools
The Anticipation 00:00 Tools
Harlem River Quiver - Take 1 00:00 Tools
I Done Caught You Blues 00:00 Tools
Down in Our Alley Blues 00:00 Tools
Happy Reunion 00:00 Tools
Duke Announces Strayhorn's A Train & Nance Duke Introduces Festival Suite, Pt. I & Hamilton - Live 00:00 Tools
Blue Fuse No. 1 00:00 Tools
Blues I Love To Sing - Take 2 00:00 Tools
Dinah 00:00 Tools
Part II-Blues To Be There - Live 00:00 Tools
Exposition Swing 00:00 Tools
Pt. II-Blues to Be There - Live 00:00 Tools
A Gypsy Without a Song 00:00 Tools
Perdido - 1986 Remastered 00:00 Tools
Father Norman O'Connor Introduces Duke & The Orchestra / Duke Introduces Tune & Anderson, Jackson, & Procope - Live 00:00 Tools
Sleigh Ride 00:00 Tools
Let's Get Together 00:00 Tools
Blue Bubbles - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Wabash Blues 00:00 Tools
Total Jazz 00:00 Tools
Perdido - Live @ the Olympia Theatre, Paris 00:00 Tools
I'm Just A Lucky So-And-So 00:00 Tools
New Orleans Low-Down 00:00 Tools
West Indian Pancake 00:00 Tools
Duke & Band Leave Stage / Father Norman O'Connor Talks About the Festival - Live 00:00 Tools
Peer Gynt Suites Nos. 1 & 2 : In the Hall of the Mountain King 00:00 Tools
Lazy Duke 00:00 Tools
Good Queen Bess 00:00 Tools
Jazz Cocktail 00:00 Tools
Day-Dream 00:00 Tools
Come Sunday (from Black, Brown and Beige) 00:00 Tools
Cong-Go 00:00 Tools
Harlem River Quiver - Take 3 00:00 Tools
Progressive Gavotte 00:00 Tools
Duke Announces Soloists; Introduces Part II - Live 00:00 Tools
Happy As the Day Is Long 00:00 Tools
Part II 00:00 Tools
Duke Announces Soloists / Introduces Pt. II - Live 00:00 Tools
Solitude - 24-Bit Mastering;2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
Pt. III-Newport Up - Live 00:00 Tools
Studio Concert 00:00 Tools
Minnie the Moocher 00:00 Tools
Solvejg's Song 00:00 Tools
Jungle Jamboree 00:00 Tools
Jazz Lips 00:00 Tools
Anatomy of a Murder 00:00 Tools
The New Black and Tan Fantasy 00:00 Tools
Perdido - Remastered - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Part III-Newport Up - Live 00:00 Tools
Blue Bubbles - Take 2 00:00 Tools
High Life 00:00 Tools
Primpin' For the Prom 00:00 Tools
Fleurette Africaine (African Flower) (2002 Digital Remaster) 00:00 Tools
Santa Claus, Bring My Man Back 00:00 Tools
It's Bad To Be Forgotten 00:00 Tools
Harlem 00:00 Tools
Steppin' Into Swing Society 00:00 Tools
Fillie Trillie 00:00 Tools
Paris Blues 00:00 Tools
Hello Little Girl 00:00 Tools
Grievin' 00:00 Tools
My Honey's Lovin' Arms 00:00 Tools
Jumpin' Room Only 00:00 Tools
Harlemania 00:00 Tools
Announcements, Pandemonium 00:00 Tools
Fleurette Africaine (African Flower) - 1986 - Remaster 00:00 Tools
A Hundred Dreams Ago 00:00 Tools
Lament for Javanette 00:00 Tools
Japanese Dream 00:00 Tools
Weary Blues 00:00 Tools
Immigration Blues 00:00 Tools
East Saint Louis Toodle-o 00:00 Tools
Solitude (24-Bit Mastering) (2002 Digital Remaster) 00:00 Tools
Blues for Jerry 00:00 Tools
Misfit Blues 00:00 Tools
Wig Wise (Remastered) 00:00 Tools
Breakfast Dance 00:00 Tools
Blue Light (Transbluency) 00:00 Tools
Maori 00:00 Tools
The 'C' Jam Blues 00:00 Tools
Black, Brown & Beige (Part 1: Blues) 00:00 Tools
You're Lucky to Me 00:00 Tools
Schwiphti 00:00 Tools
Star-Crossed Lovers 00:00 Tools
Big House Blues 00:00 Tools
Long, Long Journey 00:00 Tools
The Mooch 00:00 Tools
Black, Brown & Beige (Part 1: West Indian Dance/Emancipation 00:00 Tools
Springtime in Africa 00:00 Tools
Absinthe 00:00 Tools
John Sanders Blues - Live 00:00 Tools
Swanee Shuffle 00:00 Tools
Before My Time 00:00 Tools
Switch Blade - 24-Bit Mastering;2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
Hop, Skip, Jump 00:00 Tools
Louisiana 00:00 Tools
Rockin in Rhythm 00:00 Tools
Diminuendo In Blue/ Crescendo In Blue 06:32 Tools
Kinda Dukish and Rockin' in Rhythm 00:00 Tools
I've Got the World On a String 00:00 Tools
Lotus Blossom, Pt. 1 00:00 Tools
Day In, Day Out 00:00 Tools
Mississippi 00:00 Tools
Zweet Zurzday 00:00 Tools
Great Times 00:00 Tools
Charlie the Chulo 00:00 Tools
Blue Bubbles 00:00 Tools
Diminuendo in Blue/Blow by Blow 00:00 Tools
Yellow Dog Blues 00:00 Tools
Fontainebleau Forest 00:00 Tools
Madness in Great Ones 00:00 Tools
Tip Toe Topic 00:00 Tools
Warm Valley (2002 Digital Remaster) 00:00 Tools
Heaven 00:00 Tools
A Midnight In Paris 00:00 Tools
A Little Max (Parfait) - 24-Bit Mastering;2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
I'm Slappin' 7th Avenue 00:00 Tools
Tourist Point Of View (Alternate Take) 00:00 Tools
The Dicty Glide - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Montevideo 00:00 Tools
Tonight I Shall Sleep (With a Smile On My Face) 00:00 Tools
Amad (Alternate Take) 00:00 Tools
The Eighth Veil 00:00 Tools
Le Sucrier Velours, Pt. 1 00:00 Tools
Blues of the Vagabond 00:00 Tools
Rose Room 00:00 Tools
Searching (Pleading for Love) 00:00 Tools
So 00:00 Tools
Frankie & Johnny (Part 2) 00:00 Tools
It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) (Live) 00:00 Tools
March of the Hoodlums 00:00 Tools
Oclupaca 00:00 Tools
Do Nothin' 'Til You Hear From Me 00:00 Tools
Memories of You 00:00 Tools
Dreamy Sort Of Thing 00:00 Tools
You're Just An Old Antidisestablishmentarianismist 00:00 Tools
Jingle Bells (Rise Ashen's Reindeer Dub) 00:00 Tools
Switch Blade [alternate take] 00:00 Tools
Jeep's Blues (Studio) 00:00 Tools
Syncopated Shuffle 00:00 Tools
The Piano Player 00:00 Tools
Later 00:00 Tools
Tulip Or Turnip - Live 00:00 Tools
Blue Again 00:00 Tools
The Dicty Glide - Take 2 00:00 Tools
Skin Deep - Live Version 00:00 Tools
Solitude - Remastered 00:00 Tools
Rem Blues - 24-Bit Mastering;2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
One More Once 00:00 Tools
Tishomingo Blues 00:00 Tools
Sloppy Joe - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Dance No. 2 00:00 Tools
Dashing Through The Snow 00:00 Tools
Take the -A- Train 00:00 Tools
Live and Love Tonight 00:00 Tools
When a Black Man's Blue 00:00 Tools
Stack O'lee Blues 00:00 Tools
Toot Toot Tootie Toot 00:00 Tools
Flirtbird 00:00 Tools
A Slip Of The Lip (Can Sink A Ship) 00:00 Tools
Keep a Song in Your Soul 00:00 Tools
Warm Valley - Remastered 00:00 Tools
My Gal Is Good for Nothing but Love 00:00 Tools
For Dancers Only 00:00 Tools
Mood Indigo (1957) 00:00 Tools
REM Blues [alternate take] 00:00 Tools
Lightnin' 00:00 Tools
Mood Indigo - Live 00:00 Tools
Ebony rhapsody 00:00 Tools
The Tatooed Bride (Part 2) 00:00 Tools
Three Dances 00:00 Tools
Dance No. 1 00:00 Tools
Snake Hip Dance 00:00 Tools
The Peanut Vendor 00:00 Tools
Swing Low 00:00 Tools
Praise God 00:00 Tools
Doin' the New Low Down 00:00 Tools
The Creeper 00:00 Tools
Medley: Things Ain't What They Used to Be / Hello Dolly 00:00 Tools
Dance No. 5 00:00 Tools
Dance No. 3 00:00 Tools
It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) - 1990 Remastered Version 00:00 Tools
I Was Made to Love You 00:00 Tools
Trumpet in Spades 00:00 Tools
Sloppy Joe - Take 2 00:00 Tools
Lover Man 00:00 Tools
A Little Max 00:00 Tools
Sophisticated Lady [Live] 00:00 Tools
Goin' Out the Back Way 00:00 Tools
Love Scene 00:00 Tools
Wig Wise - Remastered 00:00 Tools
That's the Blues, Old Man 00:00 Tools
Dance No. 4 00:00 Tools
Blue Tune 00:00 Tools
Dear Old Southland - Take 2 00:00 Tools
Caravan - Instrumental 04:37 Tools
Blue Is the Night 00:00 Tools
I Can't Give You Anything But Love - Take1 00:00 Tools
'Don't Mean A Thing' 00:00 Tools
Loco Madi 00:00 Tools
Almighty God 00:00 Tools
Sweet Chariot 00:00 Tools
Rockin' In Rythm 00:00 Tools
Skin Deep - Live 00:00 Tools
A Little Max (Parfait) - Alternate Take;24-Bit Mastering;2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
Tutti For Cootie 00:00 Tools
Strange Feeling 00:00 Tools
Money Jungle (24-Bit Mastering) (2002 Digital Remaster) 00:00 Tools
I'm so in Love With You 00:00 Tools
Anatomy of a Murder (Stereo Single) 00:00 Tools
Have You Changed 00:00 Tools
Rem Blues - Alternate Take;24-Bit Mastering;2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
You, You Darlin' - 1999 Remastered 00:00 Tools
Red Hot Band 00:00 Tools
Mood Indigo - 1990 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
Cherokee 00:00 Tools
Riot Prevention - Live 00:00 Tools
A Blue Mural from Two Perspectives, Pt. 1 00:00 Tools
Monologue (Pretty And The Wolf) 00:00 Tools
Switch Blade - Alternate Take;24-Bit Mastering;2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
In The Beginning God 00:00 Tools
Best Wishes 00:00 Tools
My Sunday Gal 00:00 Tools
Everything Goes 00:00 Tools
Almost Cried (Studio) 00:00 Tools
Sam and Delilah 00:00 Tools
Squaty Roo 00:00 Tools
Sentimental Journey 00:00 Tools
A Night At The Cotton Club, Part 1 Cotton Club Stomp Misty Mornin' 00:00 Tools
The New Birmingham Breakdown 00:00 Tools
No Papa No - Take 2 00:00 Tools
(Otto Make That) Riff Staccato 00:00 Tools
No Papa No - Take1 00:00 Tools
You Don't Love Me No More 00:00 Tools
Flaming Youth - Take 1 00:00 Tools
A Slip of the Lip 00:00 Tools
Jingle Bells - Alternate Version 00:00 Tools
Wig Wise (2002 - Remaster) 00:00 Tools
Tell Ya What I'm Gonna Do 00:00 Tools
(All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings 00:00 Tools
Chatterbox 00:00 Tools
What Can a Poor Fellow Do? 00:00 Tools
I Can't Give You Anything But Love - Take 2 00:00 Tools
Afro-Bossa 00:00 Tools
Body And Soul (Take 1) 00:00 Tools
Blue Mood 00:00 Tools
The River and Me 00:00 Tools
Troubled Waters 00:00 Tools
Moon Over Dixie 00:00 Tools
Backward Country Boy Blues - 24-Bit Mastering;2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
The Second Portrait Of The Lion 00:00 Tools
Blue Reverie 00:00 Tools
Buffet Flat 00:00 Tools
Creole Rhapsody, Part 1 00:00 Tools
Balcony Serenade 00:00 Tools
Mr. J.B. Blues (Take 1) 00:00 Tools
Freeze and Melt 00:00 Tools
Every Hour On the Hour 00:00 Tools
Frankie & Johnny (Part 1) 00:00 Tools
Doin' The Voom Voom - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Reminiscing in tempo 00:00 Tools
Some Saturday 00:00 Tools
House of Lords 00:00 Tools
Never No Lament (AKA "Don't Get Around Much More") 00:00 Tools
Creole Rhapsody - Part 1 00:00 Tools
Way Low 00:00 Tools
Azalea 00:00 Tools
Such Sweet Thunder (feat. Duke Ellington & Cootie Williams) 00:00 Tools
Song of the Cotton Field 00:00 Tools
U.M.M.G. (Upper Manhattan Medical Group) 00:00 Tools
Chile Bowl 00:00 Tools
Pt. I-Festival Junction 00:00 Tools
Isfahan - Take 2 00:00 Tools
Rocky Mountain Blues 03:09 Tools
Moonlight Fiesta 00:00 Tools
Diminuendo In Blue And Crescendo In Blue [Live] 00:00 Tools
Echos of Harlem (Cootie's Concerto) 00:00 Tools
Jack The Bear - 1999 Remastered 00:00 Tools
A Night At The Cotton Club, Part 2 Goin' To Town Untitled Interlude Freeze And Melt 00:00 Tools
My Mother, My Father And Love 00:00 Tools
Take The "A" Train (1969) (Live) 00:00 Tools
Flaming Youth - Take 2 00:00 Tools
Reminiscing in Tempo, pts 1,2,3,4 00:00 Tools
Duke Announces Soloists; Introduces Part Ii 00:00 Tools
Praise God and Dance 00:00 Tools
Minor 00:00 Tools
Blues to Be There 00:00 Tools
Bundle of Blues 00:00 Tools
That Rhytm Man 00:00 Tools
Echoes of Harlem (Cootie's Concerto) 00:00 Tools
Georgia Grind 00:00 Tools
Diminuendo and Crescendo In Blue (Live) 00:00 Tools
Solitude - Alternate Take;24-Bit Mastering;2002 Digital Remaster 00:00 Tools
Star dust 00:00 Tools
Trombone Blues 00:00 Tools
Rainy Nights 00:00 Tools
Part I- Festival Junction 00:00 Tools
I Can't Get Started With You 00:00 Tools
Animal Crackers 00:00 Tools
A Blues Serenade 00:00 Tools
Poor Bubber 00:00 Tools
Sweet Jazz O' Mine - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Wild Man (aka Wild Man Moore) 00:00 Tools
Bula 00:00 Tools
Who Knows 00:00 Tools
A Tone Parallel to Harlem (Harlem Suite) 00:00 Tools
Part IV - aka Come Sunday 00:00 Tools
I Don't Know Why I Love You So 00:00 Tools
Pt. II-Blues to Be There 00:00 Tools
Part Ii- Blues To Be There 00:00 Tools
Tell Me It's the Truth 00:00 Tools
Cop Out 00:00 Tools
Very Special (24-Bit Mastering) (2002 Digital Remaster) 00:00 Tools
Solid Old Man 00:00 Tools
Father Norman O'Connor Introduces Duke Ellington/Duke Introduces New Work, Part I, & Hamilton - Production 00:00 Tools
Tina 00:00 Tools
I Ain't Got Nothing but the Blues 00:00 Tools
Noir bleu 00:00 Tools
Medley: Toot Suite 00:00 Tools
Merry Go Round 00:00 Tools
Eque 00:00 Tools
Smada (Take 3) 00:00 Tools
Supreme Being 00:00 Tools
Chico Cuadradino 00:00 Tools
Jive Stomp 00:00 Tools
Drop Me Off In Harlem -Medley 2 (White House) [Live] 00:00 Tools
Layin' On Mellow 00:00 Tools
Isfahan (Alternate Take) 00:00 Tools
It's Freedom 00:00 Tools
Sweet Dreams Of Love - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Brown Suede 00:00 Tools
Ko-Ko - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Something About Believing 00:00 Tools
I Met My Waterloo 00:00 Tools
Half The Fun (Aka Lately) - Alternate Take 00:00 Tools
In A Mellow Tone - 1990 Remastered Version 00:00 Tools
The Single Petal of a Rose 00:00 Tools
Without a Song 00:00 Tools
Ellington Medley 00:00 Tools
Suburban Beauty - Alternate Take 00:00 Tools
Choo Choo (Gotta Hurry Home) 00:00 Tools
I Cover the Waterfront 00:00 Tools
The New East St. Louis Toodle-Oo 00:00 Tools
Harlem Suite 00:00 Tools
Half the Fun 00:00 Tools
T.G.T.T. 00:00 Tools
Father Norman O'Connor Introduces Duke Ellington / Duke Introduces New Work, Pt. I, & Hamilton 00:00 Tools
Mr. J.B. Blues (Take 2) 00:00 Tools
Prologue to Black and Tan Fantasy 00:00 Tools
Unbooted Character 00:00 Tools
The Mystery Song (French RCA) 00:00 Tools
Part I-Festival Junction - Production 00:00 Tools
Without a Song - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Blue Light 00:00 Tools
Part III- Newport Up 00:00 Tools
Never No Lament (Don't Get Around Much Anymore) 00:00 Tools
Pt. III-Newport Up 00:00 Tools
The Dicty Glide 00:00 Tools
What Good Am I Without You? 00:00 Tools
The Biggest And Busiest Intersection 00:00 Tools
Kinda Dukish & Rockin' In Rhythm 00:00 Tools
Piano Improvisation No. 2 00:00 Tools
Announcements, Pandemonium [live] 00:00 Tools
It Was a Sad Night in Harlem 00:00 Tools
I've Got To Be A Rug Cutter 00:00 Tools
Old Man Blues - Take 1 00:00 Tools
I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) (Live) 00:00 Tools
Hey, Baby 00:00 Tools
Happy Anatomy - P.I. Five 00:00 Tools
June 00:00 Tools
Sweet Jazz O' Mine - Take 2 00:00 Tools
(Back Home Again In) Indiana 00:00 Tools
Suburban Beauty 00:00 Tools
Body And Soul (Take 3) 00:00 Tools
Concerto for Cootie - 1999 Remastered 00:00 Tools
The Star-Crossed Lovers (Aka Pretty Girl) - Stereo LP Master 00:00 Tools
Delta Mood 00:00 Tools
Festival Junction 00:00 Tools
I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Latin American Sunshine 00:00 Tools
Lotus Blossom, Pt. 2 00:00 Tools
Part I - Festival Junction [Live] 00:00 Tools
The Shepherd 00:00 Tools
Mighty like the blues 00:00 Tools
Solitude - Alternate Take 00:00 Tools
Wings and Things 00:00 Tools
Without a Song - Take 2 00:00 Tools
See See Rider 00:00 Tools
Bonga 00:00 Tools
The Midnight Sun Will Never Set 00:00 Tools
Where or When: My Funny Valentine 00:00 Tools
Junior Hop - Take 2 00:00 Tools
Old Man Blues - Take 3 00:00 Tools
Doin' the Frog 00:00 Tools
Mood Indigo/Hot And Bothered, Creole Love Call 00:00 Tools
I Got It Bad 00:00 Tools
Part II - Blues To Be There [Live] 00:00 Tools
V.I.P.'s Boogie 00:00 Tools
Ring Dem Bells - Take 2 00:00 Tools
"C" Blues 00:00 Tools
Sweet Dreams Of Love - Take 2 00:00 Tools
A Mural From Two Perspectives 00:00 Tools
Father Norman O'Connor Introduces 00:00 Tools
Fast and furious 00:00 Tools
A Flat Minor - Outtakes 00:00 Tools
Rexatious 00:00 Tools
Take the "A" Train (Live) 00:00 Tools
Tough Truckin' 00:00 Tools
I Never Felt This Way Before - Take 2 00:00 Tools
Good Queen Bess (French RCA) 03:03 Tools
Hip Chic 00:00 Tools
Hayfoot, Strawfoot 00:00 Tools
The Volga Vouty 00:00 Tools
Happy Anatomy (Dixieland) 00:00 Tools
Junior Hop - Take 1 00:00 Tools
I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good) - production 00:00 Tools
Rugged Romeo 00:00 Tools
Happy Anatomy (P.I. Five) 00:00 Tools
Upper Manhattan Medical Group 00:00 Tools
9:20 Special 00:00 Tools
Body And Soul (Take 2) 00:00 Tools
Mobile Bay - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Part III - Newport Up [Live] 00:00 Tools
Tonight I Shall Sleep 00:00 Tools
Old Man Blues - Take 2 00:00 Tools
Uptown Downbeat 00:00 Tools
Old Man Blues - Take 6 00:00 Tools
Part II-Blues To Be There - Production 00:00 Tools
Twelfth Street Rag 00:00 Tools
Beggar's Blues 00:00 Tools
Come Rain or Come Shine 00:00 Tools
Hittin' The Bottle - Take 1 00:00 Tools
It Don't Mean A Thing (If I Ain't Got That Swing) 00:00 Tools
The Beautiful American 00:00 Tools
Jeep's Blues [Live] 00:00 Tools
Solitude - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Rude Interlude - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Hyde Park 00:00 Tools
Nutcracker Suite: Nutcracker Suite: Overture 00:00 Tools
Mississippi Moan 00:00 Tools
Sweet Mama (Papa's Getting Mad) 00:00 Tools
Pither Panther Patter (Take 1) 00:00 Tools
Mood Indigo, Hot And Bothered, Creole Love Call (Stereo Version) 00:00 Tools
The Lord's Prayer 00:00 Tools
Charlie the Chulo - Take 2 00:00 Tools
Jump For Joy - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Ko-Ko - Take 2 00:00 Tools
Polly 00:00 Tools
Mobile Bay - Take 2 00:00 Tools
I'm So In Love With You - Take 1 00:00 Tools
Part III-Newport Up - Production 00:00 Tools
Duke Announces Soloists / Introduces Pt. II 00:00 Tools
Mack The Knife 00:00 Tools
Charlie The Chulo (Breakdown) 00:00 Tools
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Duke Ellington (Edward Kennedy Ellington, April 29, 1899 - May 24, 1974) was an American jazz composer, pianist and bandleader, one of the most influential figures in jazz, if not in all American music. Duke Ellington composed over 3000 songs, including: "It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing", "Sophisticated Lady", "Mood Indigo", “Solitude", "In a Mellotone", and "Satin Doll". Through the ranks of Duke Ellington & His Orchestra passed some of the biggest names in jazz, including Billy Strayhorn, Johnny Hodges, Cootie Williams, Bubber Miley, Barney Bigard, Ben Webster, Harry Carney, Sonny Greer, Otto Hardwick, Clark Terry, Jimmy Blanton, Ray Nance, Paul Gonsalves, and Wellman Braud. Many musicians stayed with him for decades. And while all of them were remarkable in their own right, and they all would have probably made it into the annals of jazz history no matter who they played for, it was Ellington's genius as a composer, pianist, bandleader, celebrity personality, and, most importantly, arranger, that made them the most incredible orchestral unit in the history of jazz. His ability to write and arrange for personalities, rather than instruments, made every solo and every section of every arrangement breathe with character. A giant on the 20th century American cultural scene, Duke Ellington was widely regarded as a legend during his own lifetime. Early life Edward Kennedy Ellington was born on April 29, 1899 to James Edward Ellington and Daisy Kennedy Ellington. They lived with his maternal grandparents at 2129 Ward Place, NW in Washington, D.C., USA. James Edward Ellington was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina on April 15, 1879 and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1886 with his parents. Daisy Kennedy, was born in Washington, D.C. on January 4, 1879, and was the daughter of a former American slave. J.E. made blueprints for the United States Navy. He also worked as a butler for Dr. Middleton F. Cuthbert, a prominent white physician, and occasionally worked as a White House caterer. Daisy and J.E. were both piano players—she playing parlor songs and he operatic airs. At the age of seven, Ellington began taking piano lessons from Mrs. Marietta Clinkscales. Daisy surrounded her son with dignified women who reinforced his manners and taught him to live elegantly. From his father, he absorbed self-confidence. Ellington’s childhood friends noticed that "his casual, offhand manner, his easy grace, and his dapper dress gave him the bearing of a young nobleman", and began calling him Duke. Ellington credited his "chum" Edgar McEntree, "a sharp dresser himself," with the nickname. "I think he felt that in order for me to be eligible for his constant companionship, I should have a title. So he called me Duke." Though Ellington took piano lessons, he was more concerned with baseball. "President Roosevelt (Teddy) would come by on his horse sometimes, and stop and watch us play," he recalled. Ellington went to Armstrong Technical High School in Washington, D.C. He got his first job selling peanuts at Washington Senators’ baseball games where he conquered his stage fright. In the summer of 1914, while working as a soda jerk at the Poodle Dog Café, he wrote his first composition, "Soda Fountain Rag" (also known as the "Poodle Dog Rag"). Ellington created "Soda Fountain Rag" by ear, because he had not yet learned to read and write music. "I would play the 'Soda Fountain Rag' as a one-step, two-step, waltz, tango, and fox trot," Ellington has recalled. "Listeners never knew it was the same piece. I was established as having my own repertoire." In his autobiography, Music is my Mistress, (1973) Ellington comments he missed more lessons than he attended, feeling at the time that playing the piano was not his talent. Over time, this would change. Ellington started sneaking into Frank Holiday's Poolroom at age fourteen. Hearing the poolroom pianists play ignited Ellington's love for the instrument and he began to take his piano studies seriously. Ellington began listening to, watching, and imitating ragtime pianists, not only in Washington, D.C., but also in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, where he vacationed with his mother during the summer months.[citation needed] Dunbar High School music teacher Henry Lee Grant gave him private lessons in harmony. With the additional guidance of Washington pianist and band leader Oliver "Doc" Perry, Ellington learned to read sheet music, project a professional style, and improve his technique. Ellington was also inspired by his first encounters with James P. Johnson and Luckey Roberts, early jazz piano giants. Later in New York he took advice from Will Marion Cook, Fats Waller, and Sidney Bechet. Ellington started to play gigs in cafés and clubs in and around Washington, D.C. and began to realize his love for music. His attachment grew to be so strong that he turned down an art scholarship to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 1916. He dropped out of Armstrong Manual Training School, where he was studying commercial art, just three months shy of graduation. From 1917 through 1919, Ellington launched his musical career, painting commercial signs by day and playing piano by night. Duke's entrepreneurial side came out when if a customer would ask him to make a sign for a dance or party, he would ask them if they had musical entertainment, if not Ellington would ask if he could play for them. He also had a messenger job with the U.S. Navy and State Departments. Ellington moved out of his parents' home and into one which he bought for himself as he became a successful ragtime, jazz, and society pianist. At first, he played in other ensembles, and in late 1917 formed his first group, "The Duke’s Serenaders" ("Colored Syncopators", his telephone directory advertising proclaimed)[citation needed]. He was not only a member, but also the booking agent. His first play date was at the True Reformer's Hall where he took home 75 cents. Ellington played throughout the Washington, D.C. area and into Virginia for private society balls and embassy parties. The band included Otto Hardwick, who switched from bass to saxophone; Arthur Whetsol on trumpet; Elmer Snowden on banjo; and Sonny Greer on drums. The band thrived, performing for both African-American and white audiences, a rarity during the racially divided times.[citation needed] Marriage and family With his career taking off, Ellington felt secure enough to marry his high school sweetheart, Edna Thompson, on July 2, 1918 when he was 19. Shortly after their marriage, on March 11, 1919 Edna gave birth to their only son, Mercer Kennedy Ellington, who went on to play trumpet, lead his own band and work as the road manager of his father's band, eventually taking it over after Duke's death. He was an important archivist of his father's musical life. Ellington's sister, Ruth, later ran Tempo Music, Ellington's music publishing company. Ellington's granddaughter Mercedes is a dancer who has performed in network television productions. Grandson Paul Ellington is a pianist and composer who now leads the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Early career When his drummer Sonny Greer was invited to join the Wilber Sweatman Orchestra in New York City, Ellington made the fateful decision to leave behind his successful career in Washington, D.C. 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 African-American 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. The young band 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, D.C. feeling discouraged. But in June 1923, a gig in Atlantic City, New Jersey led to a play date at the prestigious Exclusive Club in Harlem, followed in September 1923 by a move to the Hollywood Club, 49th and Broadway, and a four-year engagement which gave Ellington a solid artistic base. The group was called Elmer Snowden and his Black Sox Orchestra and 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 hotter. 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. Ellington made eight records in 1924, receiving composing credit on three including Choo Choo. In 1925, Ellington contributed four songs to Chocolate Kiddies, an all-African-American revue which introduced European audiences to African-American styles and performers. "Duke Ellington and his Kentucky Club Orchestra" grew to a ten-piece organization, developing their distinct sound, displaying the non-traditional expression of Ellington’s arrangements, the street rhythms of Harlem, and the exotic-sounding trombone growls and wah-wahs, high-squealing trumpets, and sultry saxophone blues licks of the band members. For a short time, the great soprano saxophonist Sidney Bechet played with the group, imparting his propulsive swing and superior musicianship on the young band members. This helped attract the attention of some of the biggest names of jazz, including Paul Whiteman. 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 clientèle nightly pouring in to see them, Ellington and his band thrived in the period from 1932 to 1942, a "golden age" for the poor boys from Washington D.C. Trumpeter Bubber Miley was a member of the orchestra for only a short period but had a major influence on Ellington's sound.[citation needed] An early experimenter in jazz trumpet growling, Miley is credited with morphing the band's style from rigid dance instrumentation to a growling '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 fame. He died in 1932 at the age of twenty-nine. He was an important influence on Cootie Williams, who replaced him. 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.[citation needed] Ellington ended his association with Mills in 1937, although he continued to record under Mills' banner through 1940. At the Cotton Club, Ellington's group performed all the music for the revues, which mixed comedy, dance numbers, vaudeville, burlesque, hot music, and illegal alcohol. The musical numbers were composed by Jimmy McHugh and the lyrics by Dorothy Fields (later Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler), with some Ellington originals mixed in. Weekly radio broadcasts from the club gave Ellington national exposure. In 1929, Ellington appeared in his first movie, a nineteen-minute all-African-American RKO short, Black and Tan, in which he played the hero "Duke". In the same year, The Cotton Club Orchestra appeared on stage for several months in Florenz Ziegfeld's Show Girl, along with vaudeville stars Jimmy Durante, Eddie Foy, Jr., Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, and with music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Gus Kahn. That feverish period also included numerous recordings, under the pseudonyms "Whoopee Makers", "The Jungle Band", "Harlem Footwarmers", and the "Ten Black Berries". In 1930, Ellington and his Orchestra connected with a whole different audience in a concert with Maurice Chevalier and they also performed at the Roseland Ballroom, "America's foremost ballroom". Noted composer Percy Grainger was also an early admirer and supporter. In 1929, when Ellington conducted the orchestra for Show Girl, he met Will Vodery, Ziegfeld’s musical supervisor. In his 1946 biography, Duke Ellington, Barry Ulanov wrote: “From Vodery, as he (Ellington) says himself, he drew his chromatic convictions, his uses of the tones ordinarily extraneous to the diatonic scale, with the consequent alteration of the harmonic character of his music, its broadening, The deepening of his resources. It has become customary to ascribe the classical influences upon Duke - Delius and Debussy and Ravel - to direct contact with their music. Actually his serious appreciation of those and other modern composers, came after his meeting with Vodery.” Ulanov, Barry. Duke Ellington, Creative Age Press, 1946. As the Depression deepened, the recording industry took a dive, dropping over 90% by 1933. Ellington and his orchestra survived the hard times by taking to the road in a series of tours. Radio exposure also helped maintain his popularity. Ivie Anderson was hired as their vocalist (Sonny Greer had been providing occasional vocals). Normally, Ellington led the orchestra by conducting from the keyboard using piano cues and visual gestures; very rarely did he conduct using a baton. As a bandleader, Ellington was not a strict disciplinarian but he maintained control of his orchestra for decades to come with a crafty combination of charm, humor, flattery, and astute psychology. A complex, private person, he revealed his feelings to only his closest intimates and effectively used his public persona to deflect attention away from himself. While their United States audience remained mainly African-American in this period, the Cotton Club had a near exclusive white clientèle 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, which gave a boost to his aspirations to compose longer "serious" pieces. And for agent Mills, it was a publicity triumph, as Ellington was now "internationally famous". On their tour through the segregated South in 1934, they avoided some of the traveling difficulties of African-American musicians by touring in private railcars, which provided easy accommodations, dining, and storage for equipment, while avoiding the indignities of segregated facilities. The death of Ellington's mother in 1935 led to a temporary slump in his career. Competition was also intensifying[citation needed], as African-American and white "Swing Bands" began to rocket to popular attention, including those of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Carter, Earl Hines, Chick Webb, and Count Basie. Swing dancing became a youth phenomenon, particularly with white college audiences, and "danceability" drove record sales and bookings. Jukeboxes proliferated nationwide spreading the gospel of "swing". Ellington band could certainly "swing" with the best of them, but Ellington's strength was mood and nuance, and richness of composition, hence his statement "jazz is music; swing is business". The challenge for Ellington at that time was to create a workable balance between his ceaseless artistic exploration and the popular requirements of that era.[citation needed] Ellington countered with two innovations. He made recordings for smaller groups (sextets, octets, and nonets) drawn from his then 15-man orchestra and he composed pieces that were concerto-like and focused on a specific instrumentalist, as with Jeep's Blues for Johnny Hodges and Yearning for Love with Lawrence Brown. In 1937, Ellington returned to the Cotton Club which had relocated to the mid-town theater district. In the summer of that year, his father died, and due to many expenses Ellington's financial condition was tight. Things improved in 1938 and he met and moved in with Cotton Club employee Beatrice "Evie" Ellis. After splitting with agent Irving Mills, he signed on with William Morris. The 1930s ended with a very successful European tour just as World War II loomed. Ellington delivered some huge hits during the 1930s, 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. Following shortly were "Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me" in 1940 and "Take the "A" Train" (written by Billy Strayhorn) in 1941. The most important event of Ellington’s “golden age” was the arrival of Billy Strayhorn.[citation needed] Hired as a lyricist, Strayhorn , nicknamed "Swee' Pea" for his mild manner, eventually became a vital member of the Ellington Organization and as Ellington described him, "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine". Strayhorn, with his Classical music training, applied that knowledge to arrange and polish future Ellington works. Ellington came to rely on Strayhorn's harmonic judgment, discipline, and taste. Duke in the 1940s The band reached a creative peak in the early 1940s[citation needed], when Ellington wrote for an orchestra of distinctive voices and displayed tremendous creativity. In November 1943 Ellington debuted Black, Brown and Beige in Carnegie Hall which told the struggle of African-Americans, and began a series of concerts ideally suited to displaying Ellington's longer works. While some jazz musicians had played at Carnegie Hall before, few had performed anything as elaborate as Ellington’s work. 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, 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. "Cotton Tail", "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.[citation needed] He had composed and recorded Creole Rhapsody as early as 1931, and his tribute to his mother, "Reminiscing in Tempo," had filled four 10" record sides in 1935; however, 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. 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 generally 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 resulting increase in royalty payments to musicians. The financial viability of Ellington's Orchestra came under threat, though Ellington's income as a songwriter ultimately subsidized it. Ellington always spent lavishly and although he drew a respectable income from the Orchestra's operations, the band's income often just covered expenses. Meanwhile, the development of modern jazz, or bebop, the music industry's shift to solo vocalists such as the young Frank Sinatra as the Big Band age died out, and the diminishing popularity of ballroom and nightclub entertainment in the early television era all undermined Ellington's popularity and status as a trendsetter.[citation needed] Bebop rebelled against commercial jazz, dance jazz, and strict forms to become the music of jazz aficionados. Furthermore, by 1950 the emerging African-American popular music style known as Rhythm and Blues drew away the young African-American audience and soon Rock & Roll followed. In the face of these major social shifts, Ellington continued on his own course, but major defections soon affected his Orchestra and he started to retire earlier works composed for now departed members. For a time though Ellington continued to turn out major works, such as the Kay Davis vocal feature Transblucency and major extended compositions such as Harlem (1950), whose score he presented to music-loving President Harry Truman. In 1951, Ellington suffered a major loss of personnel, with Sonny Greer, Lawrence Brown, and most significantly, Johnny Hodges leaving to pursue other ventures. Lacking overseas opportunities and motion picture appearances, Ellington Orchestra survived on "one-nighters" and whatever else came their way. Even though he made many television appearances, Ellington's hope that television would provide a significant new venue for his type of jazz did not pan out. The introduction of the 33 1/3 rpm LP record and hi-fi phonograph did give new life to older compositions. However by 1955, after ten years of recording for Capitol, Ellington no longer had a regular recording affiliation. Ellington's appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 7, 1956 returned him to wider prominence and exposed him to new audiences. 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 amenable to the younger man. 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. A new record contract with Columbia produced Ellington's best-selling LP Ellington at Newport and yielded six years of recording stability under producer Irving Townsend, who coaxed both commercial and artistic productions from Ellington.[citation needed] In 1957, CBS (Columbia's parent corporation) aired a live television production of A Drum Is a Woman, an allegorical suite which received mixed reviews. Other festivals at Monterey and elsewhere provided new venues for live exposure, and a European tour in 1958 was wildly received. After a 25-year gap, Ellington and Strayhorn again wrote film scores, this time for Anatomy of a Murder and Paris Blues. Despite some personnel turnover, in 1960 Ellington still possessed a seasoned corps with Carney, Hodges, Williams, Brown, Nance, Hamilton, Procope, Anderson, and Gonsalves. Ellington and Strayhorn, always looking for new musical territory, produced adaptations of John Steinbeck's novel Sweet Thursday, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt. 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". Detroit Free Press music critic Mark Stryker concludes that the work of Billy Strayhorn and Ellington in Anatomy of a Murder is "indispensible, although too sketchy to rank in the top echelon among Ellington-Strayhorn masterpiece suites like Such Sweet Thunder and The Far East Suite, but its most inspired moments are their equal." Film historians have recognized the soundtrack "as a landmark — the first significant Hollywood film music by African Americans comprising non-diegetic music, that is, music whose source is not visible or implied by action in the film, like an on-screen band." The score avoided the cultural stereotypes which previously characterized jazz scores and rejected a strict adherence to visuals in ways that presaged the New Wave cinema of the ’60s." 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. The Ellington and Count Basie orchestras recorded together and he made a record with Coleman Hawkins, plus some work for Frank Sinatra's new Reprise label. 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. 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). His earlier hits were now established standards, earning Ellington impressive royalties. Ellington receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Nixon, 1969.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 the first of his Sacred Concerts‎, an attempt at fusing Christian liturgy with jazz, in September of the same year, and even though it received mixed reviews, Ellington was enormously proud of the composition and performed it dozens of times. 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." The piano upon which the Sacred Concerts were composed is part of the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Like Haydn and Mozart, Ellington conducted his orchestra from the piano - he always played the keyboard parts when the Sacred Concerts were performed. 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), much of it inspired by his world tours. It was during this time that Ellington recorded his only album with Frank Sinatra, entitled Francis A. & Edward K.. 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. Duke Ellington died in New York City on May 24, 1974, a month after his 75th birthday, and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York City. At his funeral attended by over 12,000 people at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Ella Fitzgerald summed up the occasion, "It's a very sad day. A genius has passed." Mercer Ellington picked up the reins of the orchestra immediately after Duke's death. Work in films and the theater Ellington's film work began in 1929 with the short film Black and Tan Fantasy. His Symphony In Black, which introduced Billie Holiday, was performed on film in 1935, winning an Academy Award as the best musical short subject. He also appeared in the 1930 Amos 'n' Andy film Check and Double Check. 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, and Belle Of The Nineties, (1934), and Cabin In The Sky (1943). 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 appeared fronting a roadhouse combo, and Paris Blues, (1961), which featured Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as jazz musicians. He wrote an original score for Shakespeare's 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 composed the score for the musical "Jump For Joy," which was performed in Los Angeles in 1941. 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. Numerous memorials have been dedicated to Duke Ellington, in cities from New York and Washington, DC to Los Angeles. In Ellington's birthplace of Washington, D.C., there is a school dedicated to his honor and memory as well as one of the bridges over Rock Creek Park. 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 Calvert Street Bridge was renamed the Duke Ellington Bridge; built in 1935, it connects Woodley Park to Adams Morgan. On February 24, 2009, the United States Mint launched a new coin featuring Duke Ellington, making him the first African-American to appear by himself on a circulating U.S. coin. Ellington appears on the reverse ("tails") side of the District of Columbia quarter. The coin is part of the U.S. Mint's 50 State Quarters Program and celebrates Ellington's birthplace in the District of Columbia. Ellington is depicted on the quarter seated at a piano, sheet music in hand, along with the inscription "Justice for All." 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.[citation needed] The hall was renamed the Duke Ellington Ballroom in 1980. A statue of Ellington at a piano is featured at the entrance to UCLA's Schoenberg Hall. According to UCLA magazine, "When UCLA students were entranced by Duke Ellington's provocative tunes at a Culver City club in 1937, they asked the budding musical great to play a free concert in Royce Hall. "I've been waiting for someone to ask us!" Ellington exclaimed. "On the day of the concert, Ellington accidentally mixed up the venues and drove to USC instead. He eventually arrived at the UCLA campus and, to apologize for his tardiness, played to the packed crowd for more than four hours. And so, "Sir Duke" and his group played the first-ever jazz performance in a concert venue." He is of only five jazz musicians ever to have been featured on the cover of Time (the other four being Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Wynton Marsalis, and Dave Brubeck). Tributes Sathima Bea Benjamin -- South African vocalist wrote "Gift of Love" in memory of Duke Ellington on her 1987 album Love Light. Dave Brubeck -- dedicated "The Duke" (1954) to Ellington and it became a standard covered by others, both during Ellington's lifetime (such as Miles Davis in 1957 on Miles Ahead) and posthumously (such as George Shearing in 1992 on I Hear a Rhapsody: Live at the Blue Note). Tony Bennett frequently altered the lyrics to "Lullaby of Broadway" in live performance, to sing, "You rock-a-bye your baby 'round/to Ellington or Basie," as a personal tribute to the two jazz giants. Judy Collins -- wrote "Song For Duke" in 1975, and included it on her album Judith. Miles Davis -- one month after Ellington's death, created his half-hour dedicated dirge "He Loved Him Madly" (1974) collected on Get Up with It. The jazz-influenced band Steely Dan recorded a note-for-note version of an early Ellington standard, "East St. Louis Toodle-oo," on their album Pretzel Logic, using treated slide guitars to re-create the plunger-muted "jungle sound" of the original Ellington horns. Mercer Ellington -- (1919–1996) led The Duke Ellington Orchestra after his father's death. Stevie Wonder -- wrote the song "Sir Duke" as a tribute to Ellington in 1976. Paul Ellington -- leads The Duke Ellington Orchestra (1996-?). Barrie Lee Hall, Jr -- often leads The Duke Ellington Orchestra in Paul Ellington's absence. Mr. Hall played in the orchestra under both the Duke and Mercer. Charles Mingus -- composed "Open Letter to Duke" Lorraine Feather -- has composed lyrics to many of Ellington's instrumental compositions,recorded on CD's including "Dooji Wooji" and "Such Sweet Thunder." The Modern Jazz Quartet composed two original Ellington tributes for their album "For Ellington." Homage from critics Gunther Schuller wrote, "Ellington composed incessantly to the very last days of his life. Music was indeed his mistress; it was his total life and his commitment to it was incomparable and unalterable. In jazz he was a giant among giants. And in twentieth century music, he may yet one day be recognized as one of the half-dozen greatest masters of our time." Martin Williams said "Duke Ellington lived long enough to hear himself named among our best composers. And since his death in 1974, it has become not at all uncommon to see him named, along with Charles Ives, as the greatest composer we have produced, regardless of category." In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Duke Ellington on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans. Grammy Awards Ellington earned 13 Grammy awards from 1959 to 2000, nine while he was alive. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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