Daisy primarily played parlor songs, and James preferred operatic arias. 2.5 Ellington in the early to mid-1940sĮllington was born on April 29, 1899, to James Edward Ellington and Daisy (Kennedy) Ellington in Washington, D.C.He was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize Special Award for music in 1999. Ellington was known for his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, as well as for his eloquence and charisma. Ellington recorded for most American record companies of his era, performed in and scored several films, and composed a handful of stage musicals.Īlthough a pivotal figure in the history of jazz, in the opinion of Gunther Schuller and Barry Kernfeld, 'the most significant composer of the genre', Ellington himself embraced the phrase 'beyond category', considering it a liberating principle, and referring to his music as part of the more general category of American Music. Following a low-profile period (Hodges temporarily left), an appearance by Ellington and his orchestra at the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1956 led to a major revival and regular world tours. For a few years at the beginning of Strayhorn's involvement, Ellington's orchestra is considered to have been at its peak, with bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster briefly members. With Strayhorn, he composed multiple extended compositions, or suites, as well as many short pieces. At the end of the 1930s, Ellington began a nearly thirty-year collaboration with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his writing and arranging companion. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's ' Caravan', which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington wrote or collaborated on more than one thousand compositions his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, and many of his pieces have become standards. Some members stayed with the orchestra for several decades.

Ellington melded them into the best-regarded orchestral unit in the history of jazz. Some of the jazz musicians who were members of Ellington's orchestra, such as saxophonist Johnny Hodges, are considered among the best players in the idiom. In the 1930s, his orchestra toured Europe several times. īorn in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. Edward Kennedy ' Duke' Ellington (Ap– May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and leader of a jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life.

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