Duke Ellington (1899 - 1974)
Duke Ellington brought a level of style and
sophistication to Jazz that it hadn't seen before.
Although he was a gifted piano player, his
orchestra was his principal instrument. Like Jelly
Roll Morton before him, he considered himself to
be a composer and arranger, rather than just a
musician. Duke began playing music
professionally in Washington, D.C. in 1917. His
piano technique was influenced by stride piano
players like James P. Johnson, and Willie "The
Lion" Smith. He first visited New York in 1922
playing with Wilbur Sweatman, but the trip was
unsuccessful. He returned to New York again in
1923, but this time with a group of friends from
Washington D.C. They worked for a while with
banjoist Elmer Snowden until there was a disagreement over missing money. Ellington
then became became the leader. This group was called The Washingtonians. This
band worked at The Hollywood Club Club in Manhattan (which was later dubbed the
Kentucky Club). During this time Sidney Bechet played briefly with the band
(unfortunately he never recording with them), but more significantly the trumpet
player Bubber Miley joined the band, bringing with him his unique plunger mute style
of playing. This sound came to be called the "Jungle Sound", and it was largely
responsible for Ellington's early success. The song "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" is a
good example of this style of playing. The group recorded their first record in 1924
("Choo Choo" and "Rainy Nights"). The band hit the big time in 1927. They
re-recorded versions of "East St.Louis Toodle-Oo," debuted "Black and Tan
Fantasy" and "Creole Love Call", songs that would be associated with him the rest of
his career. But the thing that really put Ellington's band over the top was becoming
the house band at the Cotton Club after King Oliver unwisely turned down the job.
Radio broadcasts from the club made Ellington famous across America and also gave
him the financial security to assemble a top notch band that he could write music
specifically for. Musicians tended to stay with the band for long periods of time. For
example, saxophone player Harry Carney would remain with Duke nonstop from 1927
to Ellington's death in 1974. In 1928 clarinetist Barney Bigard left King Oliver and
joined the band. Ellington and Bigard would later co-write one of the orchestras'
signature pieces "Mood Indigo" in 1930. In 1929 Bubber Miley, was fired from the
band because of his alcoholism and replaced with Cootie Williams. Ellington also
appeared in his first film "Black and Tan" later that year. The Duke Ellington
Orchestra left the Cotton Club in 1931 (although he would return on an occasional
basis throughout the rest of the Thirties) and toured the U.S. and Europe. Duke who
had recorded Jazz music's' first two-sided, six-minute song in 1929 with his version of
The Original Dixieland Jass Bands' "Tiger
Rag" (part 1) and (part 2) in 1929 and began to
push the limits of 78 rpm records (three minutes
per side) and compose longer works including
"Creole Rhapsody" in 1931, and "Reminiscing
in Tempo" in 1935. Unlike most of their
contemporaries, The Ellington Orchestra was
able to make the change from the Hot Jazz of
the 1920s to the Swing music of the 1930s. The
song "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That
Swing," even came to define the era. This ability
to adapt and grow with the times keep the
Ellington Orchestra a major force in Jazz up until
Duke's death in the 1970s, only Louis
Armstrong managed to sustain such a career,
but Armstrong failed to be on the artistic
vanguard after the 1930s . Throughout the Forties and Fifties Ellington fame and
influence continued to grow. They continued to produce Jazz standards like "Take the
'A' Train", "Perdido", "The 'C' Jam Blues", and "Satin Doll". In the 1960s Duke
wrote several religious pieces, and composed "The Far East Suite". He also
collaborated with a very diverse group of musicians whose styles spanned the history
of Jazz. He played in a trio with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, sat in with both the
Louis Armstrong All-Stars and the John Coltrane Quartet, and he had a double
big-band date with Count Basie. In the 1970s many of Ellington's long time band
members had died, but the band continued to attract outstanding musicians even after
death from cancer in 1974, when his son Mercer Ellington took over the reigns of the
band.
|
