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The Duke Plays Ellington is an album by American pianist, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington featuring trio sessions recorded for the Capitol label in 1953. [1] The album was rereleased with additional tracks on CD as Piano Reflections in 1989.
Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington, also known as Thelonious Monk Plays the Music of Duke Ellington, is an album by American jazz pianist Thelonious Monk which was recorded in July 1955 and released on Riverside later that year. The album contains Monk's versions of songs by Duke Ellington.
Explore the tracklist, credits, statistics, and more for The Duke Plays Ellington by Duke Ellington. Compare versions and buy on Discogs
- (66)
- Jazz
- 83
- 1954
Apr 13, 2024 · A veritable giant in the history of jazz and the early years of popular music, Duke Ellington is rightly revered for his abilities as a composer and bandleader, but the fact that he was also a...
- Charles Waring
- 2 min
- Early Life and Education
- Career
- Personal Life
- Death
- Legacy
- Awards and Honors
- Bibliography
- Further Reading
- External Links
Ellington was born on April 29, 1899, to James Edward Ellington and Daisy (née Kennedy) Ellington in Washington, D.C. Both his parents were pianists. Daisy primarily played parlor songs, and James preferred operatic arias. They lived with Daisy's parents at 2129 Ida Place (now Ward Place) NW, in D.C.'s West End neighborhood. Duke's father was born ...
Early career
Working as a freelance sign painter from 1917, Ellington began assembling groups to play for dances. In 1919, he met drummer Sonny Greerfrom New Jersey, who encouraged Ellington's ambition to become a professional musician. Ellington built his music business through his day job. When a customer asked him to make a sign for a dance or party, he would ask if they had musical entertainment; if not, Ellington would offer to play for the occasion. He also had a messenger job with the U.S. Navy and...
Cotton Club engagement
In October 1926, Ellington made an agreement with agent-publisher Irving Mills, giving Mills a 45% interest in Ellington's future. Mills had an eye for new talent and published compositions by Hoagy Carmichael, Dorothy Fields, and Harold Arlen early in their careers. After recording a handful of acoustic sides during 1924–26, Ellington's signing with Mills allowed him to record prolifically. However, sometimes he recorded different versions of the same tune. Mills regularly took a co-composer...
Early 1930s
Ellington led the orchestra by conducting from the keyboard using piano cues and visual gestures; very rarely did he conduct using a baton. By 1932 his orchestra consisted of six brass instruments, four reeds, and a rhythm section of four players.As the leader, Ellington was not a strict disciplinarian; he maintained control of his orchestra with a combination of charm, humor, flattery, and astute psychology. A complex, private person, he revealed his feelings to only his closest intimates. H...
Ellington married his high school sweetheart, Edna Thompson (d. 1967), on July 2, 1918, when he was 19. The next spring, on March 11, 1919, Edna gave birth to their only son, Mercer Kennedy Ellington. Ellington was joined in New York City by his wife and son in the late 1920s, but the couple soon permanently separated. According to her obituary in ...
Ellington died on May 24, 1974, of complications from lung cancer and pneumonia, a few weeks after his 75th birthday. At his funeral, attended by over 12,000 people at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Ella Fitzgeraldsummed up the occasion: "It's a very sad day. A genius has passed." He was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, the Bronx, New York...
Memorialized
Numerous memorials have been dedicated to Duke Ellington in cities from New York and Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles. In Ellington's birthplace, Washington, D.C., the Duke Ellington School of the Arts educates talented students who are considering careers in the arts by providing art instruction and academic programs to prepare students for post-secondary education and professional careers. In 1974, the District renamed the Calvert Street Bridge, originally built in 1935, as the Duke Ellingto...
Tributes
After Duke died, his son Mercer took over leadership of the orchestra, continuing until he died in 1996. Like the Count Basie Orchestra, this "ghost band" continued to release albums for many years. Digital Duke, credited to The Duke Ellington Orchestra, won the 1988 Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. Mercer Ellington had been handling all administrative aspects of his father's business for several decades. Mercer's children continue a connection with their grandfather's work. G...
1960, Hollywood Walk of Fame, contribution to recording industry1964, Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Milton College1966, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.1969, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the USAfricville Genealogy Society, ed. (2010) [1992]. The Spirit of Africville. Halifax: Formac Publishing. ISBN 978-0887809255.Büchmann-Møller, Frank (2006). Someone to Watch Over Me: The Life and Music of Ben Webster. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0472114702.Cohen, Harvey G. (2010). Duke Ellington's America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226112633.Ellington, Duke (1976). Music Is My Mistress. New York: Da Capo. ISBN 0704330903.Brothers, Thomas (2018). Help!: The Beatles, Duke Ellington, and the Magic of Collaboration. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0393246230.Crouch, Stanley (June 2009). "The Electric Company: how technology revived Ellington's career". Harper's Magazine. Vol. 318, no. 1909. pp. 73–77.Ellington, Mercer (1978). Duke Ellington in Person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0395257115.Morton, John Fass. Backstory in Blue: Ellington at Newport '56. Rutgers University Press.Apr 2, 2004 · Ironically, in the attempt to make Monk more accessible, Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington only obscures what makes Monk so captivating in the first place.
Aug 21, 2024 · Duke Ellington, American pianist who was the greatest jazz composer and bandleader of his time. One of the originators of big-band jazz, Ellington led his band for more than half a century, composed thousands of scores, and created one of the most distinctive ensemble sounds in all of Western music.
