Duke Ellington Research Paper

Duke Ellington was born on April 25, 1899 in Washington, D.C. Dukes parents were James Ellington and Daisey Ellington. They were both pianists. Duke Ellington’s inspiration was probably his parents because he was playing piano as a child and focused more on music than his education. Since his parents played piano he was playing piano.
What made him famous was that he was pretty much the first one to conduct and make a big-band jazz group. He also led his band for more than a century. Every in the U-S of A loved his band. Duke Ellington had written a lot of really good original songs. Some of his popular songs were, “Sophisticated Lady”, “ Rocks in My Bed”, and “Satin Doll”. Some other really good songs were “Don’t Get Around Much Any More,” “Prelude to a Kiss,” “Solitude,” and “I Let a Song Go out of My Heart,” he made wide interval leaps an Ellington trademark.
At the age of 19, Ellington married Edna Thompson, who had been his girlfriend since high school, and soon after their marriage, she gave birth to their only child, Mercer Kennedy …show more content…
He wrote and played great jazz for about 50 years!He was one of the greatest jazz artists of the swing era (1930s–early 1940s). [Swing jazz uses big bands and has a strong beat. It is often very fast as well.]His real first name was Edward. He was a piano player. He was very charming and polite. He was very loyal to the musicians who worked for him. He also wrote his music to make each of his musicians sound as good as they possibly could. Over 12,000 people went to his funeral.His last words were, “Music is how I live, why I live and how I will be remembered. ”He led an orchestra from 1923 until 1974. This orchestra is still going today and is called the Duke Ellington Orchestra. In the later 1950s and 1960s he made recording with many other great jazz artists, such as Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, Count Basie, and Louis