Duke Ellington

Biographical Information

Introduction:

Imagine that the year is 1916. You’re going out for a night on the town in Washington D.C., and you stop for a drink at a random club on U Street. If you were lucky, you would have seen a brilliant Black teenager playing jazz tunes and ragtime music on the piano. This young man was a high school drop out and he was a regular performer at clubs in Washington. People called him Duke because of the elegant clothes that he wore, but this was no ordinary duke. This was Duke Ellington and ten years later he would become one of America’s most legendary composers. “America’s Greatest Composer” never went to college or a conservatory. He was accepted to well-known schools, and invited to attend prestigious programs, but he turned them down. Duke educated himself through experimentation and collaboration with other musicians. He would brain-storm new musical ideas with the phenomenal musicians in his ensembles. And he would eventually compose pop songs, tone poems, and suites that enthralled the world. Ellington was a super star. He made hundreds of recordings with his bands, he appeared in films, and he even won the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He would also tour Europe, West Africa, North America and Asia with his band: The Ellington Band. Duke Ellington is an imposing figure in the world of American Jazz and he is seen as a founding father of swing music. On this subject he said, “a friend asked me why I thought American Jazz was the vogue in other countries. I said, ‘I thought the reason was freedom and that today, freedom is the big word around the world.’ Well, if jazz means freedom, then jazz means peace because peace can only come to mankind only when man is free.”

Early Life:

Duke Ellington was born with the name Edward Kennedy Ellington. He was raised in a Black, middle-class family in Washington D.C. At that time, Washington was home to a thriving Black middle-class. There was a bustling neighborhood called U-Street with hundreds of Black-owned hotels, banks, and other businesses. It was home to the largest community of Black professionals in the United States and Ellington was raised in this environment. His father was a coachman and butler who often worked at the White House. And Ellington’s mother was devoted to his success. She would start taking him to piano lessons when he was only 7 years old. And importantly, she would make sure that he actually practiced. The young Ellington didn’t dream of becoming a famous pianist, he dreamt of becoming a famous baseball player.

By the time Ellington was a teenager he had dropped out of high school, and was a regular performer at clubs in Washington. He began giving public performances when he was 17 years old. And it was during these years that he started connecting with many of the musicians that would join his first jazz band. He was offered a scholarship to attend the prestigious Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, but he decided to turn it down. Instead, Duke would continue experimenting and brain-storming with the other musicians in his early band, which would become an important part of his success as a composer. However, Ellington would get married when he was 19 years old, and his first child was born soon after. Duke Ellington would journey to New York City with his jazz band to pursue a career that could support his new family.

Career:

When Duke Ellington first arrived in New York City, he didn’t really perform in downtown Manhattan that much. He performed at clubs in a neighborhood to the north of Manhattan, a place called Harlem. Harlem had been a majority Black neighborhood for decades, but it had recently become an important center for Black cultural life in New York. There was a time when many Black Americans felt comfortable living in downtown Manhattan. But that era ended with the Anti-Draft Riots in 1863. During the Civil War, mobs of impoverished Irish-American immigrants were angry about the first military draft in American history. Violent riots at draft stations evolved into violent attacks against Black Americans and wealthy white Americans, who could avoid the draft by paying a large sum of money. After five days of death and destruction, the riots were forcibly ended by Union troops who had returned from the Battle of Gettysburg. But the damage was already done. Black Americans felt unsafe in downtown Manhattan and fled to neighborhoods where they did feel safe. One of these neighborhoods was Harlem. Over the next 50 years, Black Americans from all over the United States would move to Northern cities. Historians call this the Great Migration. Many of these migrants were fleeing violence and discriminatory laws in the Jim Crow South, and many others were seeking better job opportunities in Northern cities. Most Black Americans that moved to New York City would move to Harlem. And the massive population increase would lead to an era called the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem became an important place for Black musicians, artists, and entrepreneurs. And Duke Ellington’s iconic career would be an important part of this renaissance.

Duke Ellington was performing at clubs in New York City with his band called The Washingtonians. One evening, he had a fateful meeting with Irving Mills, the man who would become his manager. After watching one of their shows, Mills offered to represent Duke’s band with the promise that he would make them famous. He was an important part of Duke Ellington’s success. However, his role as Duke’s manager is somewhat controversial. On one hand, Irving Mills demanded that clubs and organizations should put racist assumptions aside and respect Duke’s musicianship. He insisted that Duke Ellington be seen as a maestro, and a musical genius. But Mills also took a large portion of Duke’s profits. He took a percentage that was higher than the typical rate. And he also insisted on sharing credit for music that was composed by Ellington alone. Some people have described this manager-client relationship as as predatory. However, Duke Ellington never expressed frustrations with his manager. Instead, he would often express gratitude for everything that Mills had done to launch his career.

Duke Ellington’s reputation was growing. He added more musicians to his band, and this band had an extended residency at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem. Over the next decade he would make hundreds of recordings with this band. They would also make appearances in films, and go on tour in Europe twice. People from all walks of life loved Duke’s music. And his popularity only grew as he continued to develop his musical style. Duke Ellington started composing longer tone poems, like Mood Indigo and Creole Rhapsody. They were more adventurous than a lot of his famous pop songs like Take the A Train and If it Ain’t Got That Swing. Ellington would also start to experiment with classical forms, and he even composed music for symphonic orchestras like Sophisticated Lady. His career was now in full swing, and The Ellington Band would go on tour all over the world. He would leave behind a great legacy. He had made jazz popular throughout the United States and all over the world. He also kickstarted the careers of other jazz giants like Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. But ultimately Duke Ellington was a man who loved performing and composing music. He famously said, “Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.”

Resources:

Current, Gloster B. “Duke Ellington.” The Black Perspective in Music, vol. 2, no. 2, 1974, pp.

173–78. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1214233. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

George, Luvenia A. “Duke Ellington the Man and His Music.” Music Educators Journal, vol. 85,

no. 6, 1999, pp. 15–21. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3399516. Accessed 29 Apr. 2024.

Britannica Biography:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Duke-Ellington

Anti-Draft Riots, History Article:

https://www.history.com/news/four-days-of-fire-the-new-york-city-draft-riots

Britannica, Harlem Renaissance:

https://www.britannica.com/event/Harlem-Renaissance-American-literature-and-art