35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION Super Hero EDWARD "DUKE" ELLINGTON

Edward "Duke" Ellington 

No one played like him. No one arranged music like him. No one loved life like him. And no one, absolutely no one, wrote songs like him. He was one of a kind. Though he was born at the turn of the century, Edward Kennedy Ellington enriched millions worldwide, earning him an eternal place among royalty. Long live the Duke! 

His dad, James Edward, was a well-heeled butler and caterer who lived like a king despite his meager means. His mother, Daisy, had the confidence of a queen, even though the family lived in segregated Washington, D.C., where separate was never equal. 

After hearing a terrific pianist named Harvey Brooks in Philadelphia during a summer trip with his parents, Edward decided the musician's life was for him. It was around this time that the well-mannered, fancy-dressing, popular piano-playing boy got his royal nickname—Duke. 

By the time he was 22, Duke was already a successful pianist and bandleader. He married Edna Thompson, a pianist who schooled him in piano and music theory when they were both still in high school. They had a son, Mercer, in 1919, who followed in his dad's footsteps. 

Duke's big break came in the 1920s when he auditioned for Harlem's Cotton Club. During the Cotton Club era, the flamboyant Duke Ellington Orchestra made nationwide radio broadcasts from the club and recorded "Black and Tan I Fantasy." The Duke Ellington Orchestra soon became the first Black musicians featured at Carnegie Hall and among the first prominently featured in major motion pictures. Duke's band became a magnet for the most talented musicians in the country. Chicago bassist Ernest Outlaw talked about how there was no one else who did what Ellington did, that he was "beyond category." He was always looking to do something different and unique. 

Historian Dempsey Travis said: "Duke's creative abilities reached into classical, gospel, and even African areas of music, in addition to the jazz that he popularized." Travis was interviewed on jazz station WNUA FM in Chicago, where he discussed his book, The Duke Ellington Primer. "No other American composer had the depth and the production of Duke, which is why he is without question America's greatest composer." 

Inspired by his fellow musicians and the high life he lived off the bandstand, Duke wrote more than 1,000 compositions. These include "It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Swing," "Satin Doll," "Sophisticated Lady," and his trademark tune written in collaboration with Billy Strayhorn, "Take the A Train." 

Duke, as a person and as a composer, responded to the times. The Civil Rights Movement did not escape his perceptive eye. His contribution, while less vocal than others, was nevertheless very significant. In 1963, he wrote an ambitious show called My People. He dedicated it to the immense contributions of many African Americans. The show received rave reviews when it played in Chicago that same year. 

Two years later, the Pulitzer committee recommended that Ellington receive the famous prize, which is an honor given only to the most accomplished people. The selection board made the unusual decision to ignore the committee's recommendation. Many felt racial bias was the motivation behind the board's decision. Ellington was hurt that he didn't receive the Pulitzer. He mused, "Fate is being very kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be too famous, too young." He was 66 years old. 

That same year, Ellington opened San Francisco's Grace Cathedral with the first of three sets of religious music that he called the Sacred Concerts. They consisted of both vocal and instrumental music composed for performance in large churches, synagogues, cathedrals, and mosques. 

In 1967, Billy Strayhorn, Duke's friend and collaborator for almost three decades, died. The death of his best friend moved Ellington in ways few could predict. Later that year, he recorded And His Mother Called Him Bill, which featured all Strayhorn tunes. "Sweet Pea" Strayhorn's death inspired Duke in other ways, too. Ellington composed, recorded, and toured at a hectic pace. In 1968, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences finally honored him at age 69 with not one but two Grammy awards. 

The Duke Ellington Orchestra continued to play their exciting brand of jazz, classical, African, spiritual, and ballet music. Ellington wrote the ballet The River for Alvin Ailey's dance company. Meanwhile, the orchestra performed before Queen Elizabeth of England and President Richard Nixon, who gave Duke the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor a civilian can receive. 

Duke Ellington, a chain smoker all his life, died of lung cancer in 1974. Yet, he lives on in the thousands of songs he left behind. Grammy Award-winning composer and musician Wynton Marsalis hails Duke Ellington as "America's greatest composer."

From Great African Americans.  Copyright, Publications International, Ltd.