Duke Ellington conducted honorable life in jazz history

Editor's note: In honor of Black History Month, The Daily Collegian will publish a series of biographies of several great black Americans. Thanks to Black Caucus for providing the text.

Duke Ellington (1899-1974) an American composer, conductor and pianist, was one of the most respected figures in the history of jazz. He is acknowledged as the man who brought jazz into concert halls and religious services.

Ellington was born Edward Kennedy Ellington in Washington, D.C., and played professionally from age 17. In 1923, he moved to New York City and organized a 10-piece band.

Through the 1930s and 1940s Ellington and his band, greatly enlarged, appeared in theaters and nightclubs, on the radio and in foreign tours. In 1943 he conducted the first of nine annual concerts at Carnegie Hall.

Ellington's compositions are in a kind of modified concerto form as they are constructed around solo instrumental performances. They also frequently introduce vocal passages without words.

His style is eclectic, combining blues, various forms of jazz and the big-band sound of swing music. Among his most famous songs are "Mood Indigo" (1931), "Sophisticated Lady" (1933) and "Solitude" (1934). His large-scale works include "Black, Brown and Beige" (1943), "Liberian Suite" (1948), "A Concert of Sacred Music" (1965) and a "Far East Suite" (1967). He also wrote scores for the films Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and Paris Blues (1961), and for the musical comedies Beggar's Opera (1947) and Pousse-Café (1966).

The theme song of Ellington's band after 1941 was "Take the 'A' Train," written by his longtime associate, the lyricist and arranger Billy Strayhorn. Ellington's autobiography is Music is My Mistress (1973).