Duke Ellington Starring in

Duke Ellington Starring in The Evolution of Jazz				people in a band ever to use the bari sax as a solo
Duke Ellington is considered to be one of the greatest				instrument.
figures in the history of American music. Edward				While Duke's band was performing at the Cotton Club,
Kennedy 'Duke' Ellington was born in Washington D.C.				his band participated in more than sixty-four recording
on April 29, 1899.				sessions.
His parents were James Edward and Daisy Kennedy				In 1931 Duke grew so tired of the show-business
Ellington. They raised Duke as an only child, until his				routines that he decided to try his luck again on his
sister, Ruth, was born when Duke was sixteen years				own. When he arrived in New York his band grew to
old.				almost three times what it originally had been at the
Duke, even as a teenager had a great talent for music.				Cotton Club. Duke feared that this would become a
In the beginning of his musical life, Duke began to take				very serious problem considering how the stock
a promising interest in a new type of music that would				market crashed in late 1929 and millions of people
later be called jazz. Choosing to base his career on a				across the United States were out of work.
new idea may not have been smart, but Duke did take				Somehow, though, most of the entertainment business
this chance and in turn became one of the most				survived the economic hardships. Ellington's band had
famous musicians in America.				appeared on Broadway and had even gone to
Duke's first job was at a government office. He was a				Hollywood to make a movie. Duke's band was having
clerk who received the minimum wage and was				a hard time performing in the south because of the
barely getting by. He would arrange dance bands for				segregation laws not allowing blacks to eat in white
weddings and parties for extra money. His mother				restaurants or finding accommodations that would
taught him how to play the piano. Sometimes he put				allow blacks and whites to stay together in a
this knowledge to use and played at a few of the				half-decent room.
dance parties and weddings.				In 1932 Duke added a trombonist named Lawrence
After Duke's first job, he became more interested in				Brown. In the same year, most of the other big bands
painting and the arts. For a few years he painted public				were adding vocalists to their ensemble and thus Duke
posters. Duke then decided to put together his own				felt pressured to do so too. Duke then hired a woman
band. At this point in his life things started to change for				named Ivie Anderson and quickly proved that he had
the better for Duke, but not for long. In those days, this				done the right thing.
new music was just beginning to develop and would				Then in 1933 his band got a chance to play in Europe.
later be given the name of jazz. In that time it was				At first Duke was very skeptical of how his music
considered to be low and vulgar because it was music				would be reacted to just because jazz had its roots in
that grew directly out of the Black culture. In those				America and the Europeans had a very contrasting
early years, segregation was at one of its all time				style of music. The band managed to talk Duke into
worst points in history. I think that is why Duke Ellington				believing the idea was a good one. The band's first
was one of the most important individuals to the				stop was England. The band was amazed at how
growth and development of jazz.				well informed they were about their entire past. Even
During Duke's long career, the new music slowly				the Prince of Wales came to hear the band play. At
spread out of bars and saloons, to dance and night				the time the prince was an amateur drummer and
clubs and then eventually onto the concert stage.				Sonny Greer Showed the prince how to work the
In time, jazz became a universally recognized form of				drum set and they played together and in the end
art and has been said that it is the only real form that				were calling each other 'Sonny' and 'The Wale'. All the
has originated from the American soul.				concerts held in England were sellouts. The band then
By the 1960's Duke traveled the globe so many times				moved on to Scotland, and then Paris, France where
that he became known as the unofficial ambassador				their music was greeted with open arms.
to the United States. Duke's band had played in Russia,				When Duke's band returned to America the band
Japan, Latin America, the Far East, the Middle East,				really began feeling the hardship and sorrow of
and Africa.				traveling on the road, being separated from loved
Duke, himself, was an elegant man. When the white				ones. Also, many of the band members, including Duke,
people looked down on the black man and his music,				began developing drinking problems and started
Duke managed to bring dignity to every one of his				making some of the musicians lives miserable. What
performances. Once, the jazz historian Leonard				made things worse was the fact that Duke's mother,
Feather described Duke as, 'an inch over six feet tall,				Daisy, died in May of 1935 that set Duke into a deep
sturdily built, he had an innate grandeur that would have				depression and he used to sit and stare into space
enabled him to step with unquenched dignity out of a				while he talked to himself. Fortunately though, those
mud puddle.'				long pep-talks with himself seem to snap Duke out of
Duke's private life was something of an enigma.				his depression.
Although he had many friends he never really told				But despite everything the band survived and in 1946 a
them everything about himself. He would often guard				saxophonist/clarinetist named Russell Procope joined
his privacy probably because he had so little of it.				the band and brought everyone up to a new point of
When he was alone though, he would almost always				view about traveling on the road. Around the time that
be arranging the next tune for the band to play, and				Procope joined the band Duke invented a new song
was always thinking or preparing something for the				called 'Reminiscing in Tempo' and was not looked upon
band to do in the next performance.				favorably by critics but it did seem to sum everything
Duke attracted some of the greatest musicians to join				up that was written by Ellington from 1931 to 1939 in a
his band. Because of this it has been said that many of				combination of gladness, sadness, triumph, and tragedy.
Duke's pieces are almost impossible to exactly				But then Duke's friend Arthur Whetsol became and
duplicate without the personal style of the original				had to leave the band.
musicians. One of the strange things that was known				Then the future of the band seemed uncertain as the
about Duke was that his school music teacher, Mrs.				depression continued and millions of people were still
Clinkscales, who played the piano, was always the				out of work. Until around 1935 when the 'Swing Era' hit
inspiration for him to just sit down and start tinkering				the U.S. Irving Mills had then formed his own record
around with a few notes that usually became big hits.				company in 1936 that boomed with popularity as the
In his band the two, probably most famous musicians				demand for big bands playing this new swing music
were the trumpeter Whetsol and the saxophonist				was in intense demand.
Hodges. As the band became more and more popular,				Later on Duke hired a lyrical writer named Billy
saxophonist Hodges became the highest paid				Strayhorn that led a premature death in 1967. But
performer in the United States.				when Strayhorn was with the band he wrote many
The 1920's became known as 'the Jazz Age' because				compositions that often went into the band's book of
jazz had hit its first great burst of popularity. At that				music. Then in 1942 Duke hired one of the best tenor
time Duke then added a young drummer named				saxophonists ever and let him play the first tenor sax
Sonny Greer. A few years after Greer was hired,				solo ever arranged by Duke Ellington.
Duke's band hit a very rough spot. They were often				In 1951 Saxophonist Johnny Hodges, trombonist
stuck in the street with no money and nowhere to go.				Lawrence Brown, and Sonny Greer left the band
Duke and his band often were stuck doing crude				together and formed their own band but then in 1955
recordings just for a few dollars to buy a meal.				Sonny Greer returned to the band and stayed with
In the autumn of 1927, luck had crossed paths with				Duke until his death in 1970. And then by the 1950's the
Duke again. The manager of Duke's band, Irving Mills,				Ellington band was carrying on almost alone.
had heard that the prestigious cotton club was looking				By 1972 the times and styles of the world no longer fit
for a new band and immediately Irving began				the old time style of Duke's band. The band was not
campaigning for Duke. Duke and his band opened on				known like it used to be and that could be the point in
December 4, 1927 to meet a mad rush of spectators				time I suppose you could say that the band broke up.
who eagerly awaited to hear Dukes newest pieces.				Duke Ellington's career spanned the whole history of
Duke's band became very prosperous and they had				the birth of the music called jazz. And nowhere in that
their own spot on the Cotton Club floor with special				glorious history is there a man who had more love for
lighting and accommodations.				music, more respect for his art, than the man they
At the year of 1928 the band consisted of Bubber				called the Duke.
Miley, Freddy Jenkins, and Arthur Whetsol on trumpet,				David Kunstek writes for — Display Cases for
joined with Tricky Sam Nanton, and Juan Tizol on				the Shot Glass Collector, and — Every day
trombone. Johnny Hodges, now on alto sax, with				discounts on Brand Name Merchandise
Barney Bigard doubled on tenor sax and clarinet, and				Please feel free to use this article in your Newsletter
finally Harry Carney at seventeen years old joined on				or on your website.
bari sax. Carney was known as one of the first

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Duke Ellington Starring in