One of America's greatest composers and an icon in the jazz world was born on April 29, 1899. Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was born to Edward, Sr. and Daisy Ellington of Washington, D.C., who had young Edward taking piano lessons at the age of 7.  By his teens he was more interested in baseball than music but was fascinated by the pianists he heard playing ragtime in Frank Holiday's Poolroom.  Those pianists inspired young Duke to take the piano more seriously. His music teacher at Dunbar High School gave him lessons in theory and harmony, and in 1914, while working as a soda jerk, Ellington composed his first piece "Soda Fountain Rag."

By 1917 Ellington put together a small group called "The Duke's Serenaders" who played for dances, balls and private parties around Washington.  In 1919 Sonny Greer, one of Ellington's longtime collaborators, joined the group on drums.  When Greer was offered a gig playing in New York City with Wilber Sweatman's ensemble, Duke moved there, too.  Living in Harlem in the 1920s, Ellington was very much a part of the artistic explosion that was the Harlen Renaissance.  In 1923 his group, now known as "The Washingtonians," was hired to be the house band at the Hollywood Club on West 49th Street just off Broadway.  They made their first recordings in 1924, and in 1925, after closing for repairs due to a fire, the club reopened as the Club Kentucky and the house band's new name was "Duke Ellington and his Kentucky Club Orchestra."

In 1927, after "KIng" Oliver had turned down the same offer, Ellington and his band were asked to become the house band at Harlem's prestigious Cotton Club.  The club's clientele was exclusively white and well-to-do, and a night at the Cotton Club with Duke and the band providing the music for floor shows as well as playing their own tunes, became the thing to do.  Ellington's Cotton Club Orchestra also appeared on the weekly radio broadcast from the club.  In 1929 the band appeared on Broadway, and Ellington appeared on film for the first time in the RKO movie "Black and Tan."

Ellington's band ended their stay at the Cotton Club in 1931 and spent the better part of the next 40 years touring the world and playing such masterpieces as "Mood Indigo," "It Don't Mean a Thing," "Cottontail," "Sophisticated Lady" and "Take the A Train" which was composed by close collaborator Billy Strayhorn.  Great musicians like Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Ben Webster, Juan Tizol, Cootie Williams, Lawrence Brown and Rex Stewart graced his bandstand, and Ellington knew how to write for each of them.

Musical tastes began to change in America after the end of World War II and it became more difficult for the Ellington band to find consistent work.  This was true for all of the big bands that had dominated the music scene in the 1930s and during the war.  However, The Ellington Orchestra's appearance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival and the live recording that was made of that performance re-energized the group and their popularity grew again.  The group continued to tour until Duke Ellington's death in May of 1974 at the age of 75.  Ellington was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969 and received a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1999.

It is impossible to discuss the entirety of Ellington's life, career and influence in so short a piece, but suffice it to say that many in the music world consider him America's greatest composer.  Ellington's innovative compositions and his sense of style made him one of the great ambassadors of jazz, famous throughout the world.

Here is a link to the 1941 short subject "Hot Chocolate" with Arthur White's Lindy Hoppers and Jitterbugs dancing and the Ellington Orchestra playing "Cottontail" featuring tenor saxophonist Ben Webster:

"HOT CHOCOLATE"