Ellington, Duke (EN)

Ellington Duke, born Edward Kennedy Ellington, *29 April 1899 Washington, †24 May 1974 New York, American composer, pianist and leader of a famous jazz orchestra. He began learning the piano at the age of seven but did not study composition formally. He attended Armstrong High School in Washington, D.C. He was particularly gifted artistically and received a scholarship to study at the Pratt Institute of Fine Arts in Brooklyn (New York), which he eventually declined. For a period of time, he made a living by sign painting and giving occasional music performances. Between 1922 and 1926, he performed with a five-piece group called The Washingtonians in New York clubs. In 1924, he made his first recordings with his Duke Ellington Kentucky Club Orchestra. In 1927, he secured a five-year engagement at the exclusive Harlem club “Cotton Club,” where he formed a 12-piece orchestra; in 1932, his group grew to 14 members. In 1933, Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra toured Europe. Ellington’s orchestra featured outstanding musicians, including trumpeters – B. Miley, Cootie Williams, Freddie Jenkins, C. Anderson, C. Terry; trombonists – J. Tizol, L. Brown, Joe “Tricky Sam” Nanton; saxophonists – Johnny Hodges, H. Camey, Ben Webster, P. Gonsalves, W. Smith; clarinettists – B. Bigard, J. Hamilton; double bassists – J. Blanton, O. Pettiford; percussionists – L. Bellson, S. Woodyard. Between 1938 and 1967, pianist B. Strayhorn regularly collaborated with Ellington, serving as arranger and co-composer for most of the orchestra’s repertoire. In 1943, Ellington began a series of his own concerts at Carnegie Hall; in 1951, he performed for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera House; and in 1957, at Town Hall. From 1958, the premieres of Ellington’s concert works took place mainly at jazz festivals. He toured extensively in Europe, South America and Asia; in 1970, he was a guest at the Warsaw “Jazz Jamboree”.

Ellington’s artistic achievements have become an enduring part of jazz history. As the leader of his orchestra, Ellington created a universal yet distinctly individual orchestral jazz style. In Washington Wooble (1927), abandoning stereotypical formulas and conventions of instrumentation, he employed for the first time the method of literally transcribing his own piano improvisation for orchestra. The final form of the composition was determined by details worked out during rehearsals, where at times entire sections of the piece were improvised by individual musicians and groups of instrumentalists, and written down later. Such a collective working method resulted in a fusion of written and improvised parts, and of the orchestral style and the performing styles of individual musicians. Collaboration with outstanding musicians, who functioned within the ensemble not merely as performers but as genuine co-creators, enriched the orchestra’s palette of timbral resources with a range of new technical effects (“jungle style effects,” “growl technique”). In his orchestration, Ellington introduced innovations that have endured to this day: the separation of the saxophone section from the brass section, the use of saxophones in unison, the first use in jazz of the human voice as one of the orchestra’s instruments (Creole Love Call, 1927), the use of the double bass as a melodic instrument (J. Blanton), the introduction of elements of Latin American folklore (so-called Latin rhythms), and the first use of artificial reverb in the orchestra’s recordings.

Ellington’s compositional work played a pioneering role in the history of jazz. Ellington was the first jazz composer in the fullest sense of the term. Focusing his attention primarily on the issue of form, he was 20 years ahead of the symmetry breaking and formal regularity; he employed unusual measures such as 20-, 10- and 14-bar phrases (Birmingham Breakdown, Reminiscin’ in Tempo), and even introduced asymmetry (Old Man Blues). In the 1940s, Ellington’s explorations centred on complex, elaborate orchestral forms, although it seemed that the cyclical form had little chance of developing within jazz genre, both due to the improvised nature of the music and technical constraints (including the time limitations of sound recording on gramophone records of the time). From the point of view of structure and performance techniques, these are highly diverse compositions: ranging from so-called “miniature concerto forms” (Echoes of Harlem, Clarinet Lament, A Portrait of Bert Williams, Concerto for Cootie) through orchestral suites – a term encompassing many different formal genres – to almost monumental vocal-instrumental forms (A Drum is a Woman). In addition, Ellington composed, particularly in his early career, a considerable number of short instrumental pieces and songs that achieved a popularity rivalling that of his famous hits. Most of them are characterised by a distinctive, lyrical, and at times even sentimental expressiveness, coupled with communicative, unpretentious melodies (e.g. Solitude, Prelude to a Kiss, Sophisticated Lady, Mood Indigo). Ellington developed his piano style in the 1920s under the influence of the so-called Harlem pianists [or Harlem stride pianists] (Willie “The Lion” Smith, J.P. Johnson, T. “Fats” Waller), to whom he himself belonged. He performed primarily with his own orchestra, remaining completely detached from the prevailing trends in jazz piano.

Ellington was one of the leading figures in the history of jazz, and following Armstrong’s death he undoubtedly became the foremost authority in the field, appreciated and popular not only amongst a wide audience; this is evidenced by his academic honours – honorary degrees from eight universities – and the highest state honours, including the Medal of Freedom. The exceptionally grand celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of his birth, combined with celebrations at the White House, grew into a national event in America. The aura of widespread recognition, admiration, and respect that Duke Ellington gained in the final years before his death proves that he had become an officially recognized icon of American musical culture.

Literature: D. Ellington Music is My Mistress, Garden City (New York) 1973, German edition, Munich 1974 (includes a list of D. Ellington’s compositions); L. Massagli, L. Pusateri and G.M. Volonté Duke Ellington’s Story on Records, 5 vols., Milan 1966–69; B. Ulanov Duke Ellington, New York 1946; N. Arnaud Duke Ellington, Paris 1950; A. Hodeir Hommes et problèmes du jazz, Paris 1954, Polish edition Ludzie i problemy jazzu, translation by A. Kolasiński, J. Tyszkowski, Krakow 1961; G.E. Lambert Duke Ellington, London 1958; R. Greene Duke Ellington, Zurych 1961; J. Radliński Obywatel Jazz, Krakow 1967; E.R. Montgomery Duke Ellington. King of Jazz, Champaign 1972; J.E. Berendt Das Jazzbuch. Von Rag bis Rock, Frankfurt am Main 1973, Polish edition Od raga do rocka – wszystko o jazzie, translation by S. Haraschin, I. Panek, W. Panek, Krakow 1979.