Biography of Duke Ellington

One of the greatest composers of the 20th Century and leader for 50 years of a band that became the greatest of all jazz orchestras, Ellington is, alongside Louis Armstrong, the dominant figure in jazz history. He began his career in his native Washington, D.C., and came to New York in 1924. His first group was a sextet; by the time his became the resident band at New York's Cotton Club in late 1927, it had grown to 11 pieces; by 1933, when it made its first visit to Europe, it had stabilized at 14 men. By that year, Ellington had reached his first peak as creator of the most original and personal big-band music in jazz. Throughout the 30s and into the first two years of the next decade the band enjoyed remarkable stability of personnel, enabling Ellington to use it as his "instrument." A remarkable group of soloists interpreted the music he wrote for them: trumpeter Cootie Williams; cornetist Rex Stewart; trombonists Lawrence Brown and "Tricky Sam" Nanton; clarinetist Barney Bigard; alto saxist Johnny Hodges; baritone saxist Harry Carney; and Duke himself at the piano. In 1939, tenorist Ben Webster and the sensational young bassist Jimmy Blanton joined. The 1940-1942 band is considered by some to have been Ellington's greatest; co-arranger and composer (and sometime pianist) Billy Strayhorn had also come on board by then. But Ellington continued to write great music and lead great bands until the final days. Such works as, for example, the suite Such Sweet Thunder (1957) equal anything in Ellingtonia. Among the musicians who starred in later editions of the band, trumpeter Clark Terry, cornetist and violinist Ray Nance, tenorist Paul Gonsalves, and clarinetist, arranger, and sometime tenorist Jimmy Hamilton must be noted. Key rhythm section players included pioneers Sonny Greer (drums) and Wellman Braud (bass), and, later Louis Bellson and Sam Woodyard (drums) and Oscar Pettiford (bass). Ellington's output was extraordinary, ranging from short pieces to suites, film scores, so-called "Sacred Concerts," and all-time hits like "Mood Indigo," "Solitude," "Sophisticated Lady," and "Satin Doll." Ellington made more records, including wonderful small-group things and piano features, than any other single performer in jazz, and treasures continue to be uncovered. ~ Dan Morgenstern