Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington greatly influenced jazz music and music in general. With his great musicianship and compositions, his legacy is very much alive today. Duke Ellington was born Edward Kennedy Ellington on April 29, 1899 in Washington, D.C. He was called "Duke" because he had a love of fancy clothes and an elegant style. Duke attended Armstrong Manual Training School to study commercial art and in his free time checked out ragtime pianists in Washington D.C. His mentor was Harvey Brooks, who really helped Duke continue with his piano lessons he had as a small child. Later on Duke had the assistance of Oliver "Doc" Perry and Louis Brown to help improve his musical skills. Duke dropped out of high school his senior year to pursue a music career. In late 1917, Duke formed his first group called The Duke's Serenaders. Duke married Edna Thompson and
It was replaced by an array of musical sounds with varieties of tones but still with that incise pulse that is jazz music. Even though he turned away Billie Holiday his vocalists are also very much alive today. Beginning out most of his audiences were mostly white. Duke was presented with the Presidential Award of Freedom. People of all different walks of life celebrated his birth centennial in 1999 worldwide. Duke was an inspiration to many African Americans because he brought together whites and blacks in a time when that was rare. His efforts brought together all the people. Stevie Wonder's song "Sir Duke " is in honor of Duke Ellington. The older unprofessional chugging sound of the years before was gone. They were ingenious and incomparable to the music before him. This was during a time when most mainstream jazz recordings all sounded the same. His audience included Queen Elizabeth II and President Nixon. In 2000, he won the best historical album and traditional pop vocal performance.
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