"It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing", may be one of Duke Ellington's most popular mottos in song, but the man born on April 29, 1899, in Washington, D.C., surpassed this dictum. "In the century since his birth, there has been no greater composer, American or otherwise, than Edward Kennedy Ellington," wrote the journalist Bob Blumenthal, encompassing "Duke's" over a thousand compositions worth of Blues, popular songs, religious and classical suites, film-scores, ballet-music, and Jazz tunes, of course, but still omitting his seminal accomplishments as a pianist and band-leader. Duke Ellington was an American icon, if ever there was one, a charismatic and charming, hip and sophisticated human being, who preferred the name "American music" to jazz, and confessed in the title of his autobiography: "Music is my mistress." Having been called Duke by his friends even before teen-age on account of his elegant, graceful and noble manner, his main interests as a youngster were baseball and art. Still, as the son of piano-playing parents, he learned to play the instrument from age 7, and began studying stridepianists, even writing his first composition at the age of 15. He was just 18 years old, when he turned down an art scholarship and left school just three months short of graduating, in order to begin his musical career. When a member of his successful band left for a more prestigious engagement, Duke fatefully decided to move from D.C. to Harlem, in the Twenties, where he soon became an active and important part of the "Harlem Renaissance." From the moment Duke and his orchestra debuted at the Cotton Club in 1927 all through the 40s, where he befriended his "writing and arranging companion" Billy Strayhorn, on to his "comeback" at Newport in the mid- 50s, even in the differently swingin' 60s, and all the way up until his death on May 24, 1974, Duke Ellington continued to invent and inspire, surprise and surpass everything musically imaginable. Perfecting his ingenious way of composing with individual band-members in mind always the best musicians available, from Johnny Hodges or Ben Webster to Paul Gonsalves and branching out stylistically and globally, the Duke elevated the popular perception of Jazz to a respected and "serious" art form. He truly was musical royalty.
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