Duke Ellington Research Paper

Said to be the father of jazz, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, born on April 29, 1899, was an American composer, pianist, and leader of a jazz orchestra. Duke Ellington was known and is remembered for his unique and profound style of jazz music. His development in jazz was one of the most spectacular in the history of music, as demonstrated by more than fifty years of sustained achievement as an artist which led him to be known as one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. Duke’s music was so original, he called it “American Music” rather than jazz. Based on his success, it’s unlikely to think that he was not even attracted to music in his younger years, however music clearly became a very important part of his life, as he still reigns

as one of the most major figures in jazz history today.
Duke Ellington was raised by two very talented pianists, Daisy Kennedy Ellington and James Edward Ellington, in the middle class neighborhood of Washington, D.C..

When he was seven, Duke Ellington began piano lessons with Marietta Clinkscales. His mother wanted to surround him with respectable women to strengthen his manners, and teach him how to be a gentleman. Thus, he earned the nickname, “Duke”. During his younger years, Duke Ellington preferred to play baseball over piano, but he later developed his love for music by sneaking into pool rooms to listen to the pool room pianists play. He then began listening and imitating ragtime pianists in Washington D.C, Atlantic City, and Philadelphia with private lessons from Henry Lee Grant, a music teacher at Dunbar High School. He also got additional guidance from the numerous pianists of his hometown as well as the band leader, Oliver "Doc" Perry, one of his many musical influences. Some of his other influences include Lester Dishman, Louis Brown, Turner Layton, Gertie Wells, Clarence Bowser, Sticky Mack, Blind Johnny, Cliff Jackson, Claude Hopkins, Phil Wurd, Caroline Thornton, Luckey Roberts, Eubie Blake, Joe Rochester, and Harvey Brooks. Duke worked hard on perfecting his music all through high school as he attended Armstrong Technical High in Washington D.C. In February 1917, three months before graduating, Ellington left high school to kickstart his career as a professional musician. To make money during the day, he made use of his artistic abilities by painting signs and posters at a sign painting business. Then at night, he lived a double life as a musician. This was just the start of his grand musical career and

legacy.
Duke Ellington’s life is filled with many highlights that he was able to achieve through hard work and perseverance. When he was at the young age of 15 years old Duke Ellington was working in a cafe serving soda. Duke Ellington composed his first song, Soda Fountain Rag, even though he could neither read nor write music. Duke Ellington meant for the song to be a piece for anybody to enjoy, saying it could be played as a one-step, two-step, waltz, tango, & foxtrot. In 1973, he wrote an autobiography called Music is My Mistress. This song was the first piece in the start of a great career. Music was so important to him that he chose it over a scholarship to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. After forming his first band, The Duke’s Serenaders, he began to compose music, some of his most popular songs including "It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Swing," "Sophisticated Lady," "Prelude to a Kiss," "Solitude," and "Satin Doll." Duke Ellington’s music earned him 9 Grammy Awards during his lifetime. His music stayed popular even after his death, earning him 12 Grammy Awards between 1959 and 2000. President Lyndon Johnson presented Duke Ellington with the President’s Gold Medal in 1966. In 1971, he was entered into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Duke Ellington was the first jazz musician to be awarded the French Legion of Honor and was presented with the award in 1973 by French ambassador, Jacques Kosciusko-Morizet. In 1969, Richard Nixon presented Duke Ellington with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1986, 12 years after his death, Duke Ellington had a commemorative 22¢ stamp, with his image on it, made in his honor. Duke Ellington’s life was filled with many momentous achievements that promoted his fame in the Harlem Renaissance more than ever before.
From 1918 to the mid-1930s, the Harlem Renaissance grew as a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that captured a new black cultural identity. Duke Ellington took a major role in this development and the popularization of jazz by influencing millions of people around the world. In his fifty-plus year career, he played over 20,000 performances in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East as well as Asia. Aside from these live performances, Ellington also composed thousands of songs for Broadway musicals, for other performers, screens, contemporary songbook, and for tours taken by his band, The Washingtonians. Ellington’s music took America by storm with its astonishingly varied and colorful combinations of a kind never before heard in jazz; thus the birth of what he called, American Music.
Duke Ellington’s life ended on May 24, 1974, when he succumbed to lung cancer and pneumonia in New York, New York. His last words were, "Music is how I live, why I live and how I will be remembered."