Duke Ellington
A Legendary Big-Band Jazz Originator
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader.
Below is a short timeline of Duke Ellington's life:
- 1899 - Born in Washington, DC.
- 1914 - Wrote his first composition "Soda Fountain Rag".
- 1916 - He opted out of an art scholarship to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn for the sake of music.
- 1917 - He formed his own group “The Duke's Serenaders".
- 1924 - Ellington made eight records among three of which received composing credit, which included, ‘ChooChoo’.
- 1930s - The band's audience in America was mainly the African-American community but it had a huge following overseas, exemplified by the success of their trip to England and Scotland in 1933 and their 1934 visit to the European mainland.
- 1940s - His fame rose higher when he composed some of his masterworks, including "Concerto for Cootie," "Cotton Tail" and "Ko-Ko."
- 1956 - Ellington's career got a revival after his band’s performance at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 7. It returned him to wider prominence and introduced him to a new generation of jazz fans.
- 1974 - Died on May 24, 1974, due to pneumonia and lung cancer.
"I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues."