7 Duke Ellington 7television production; Such Sweet Thunder (1957), impres-
sions of William Shakespeare’s scenes and characters; a
recomposed, reorchestrated version of Nutcracker Suite
(1960; after Peter Tchaikovsky); Far East Suite (1964); and
Togo Brava Suite (1971). Ellington’s symphonic A Rhapsody
of Negro Life was the basis for the film short Symphony in
Black (1935). Ellington wrote motion-picture scores for
The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
and composed for the ballet and theatre—including, at
the height of the civil rights movement, the show My
People (1964), a celebration of African American life. In his
last decade he composed several pieces of sacred music.
Although Ellington’s compositional interests and
ambitions changed over the decades, his melodic, harmonic,
and rhythmic characteristics were for the most part fixed
by the late 1930s, when he was a star of the swing era.
Ellington’s stylistic qualities were shared by Strayhorn, who
increasingly participated in composing and orchestrating
music for the Ellington band. During 1939 – 67 Strayhorn
collaborated so closely with Ellington that jazz scholars
may never determine how much the gifted deputy influ-
enced or even composed works attributed to Ellington.
The Ellington band toured Europe often after World
War II; it also played in Asia (1963– 64, 1970), West Africa
(1966), South America (1968), and Australia (1970) and fre-
quently toured North America. Despite this grueling
schedule, some of Ellington’s musicians stayed with him
for decades; Carney, for example, was a band member for
47 years. For the most part, later replacements fit into roles
that had been created by their distinguished predecessors.
Not least of the band’s musicians was Ellington himself,
a pianist whose style originated in ragtime and the stride
piano idiom of James P. Johnson and Willie “The Lion”
Smith. He adapted his style for orchestral purposes,
accompanying with vivid harmonic colours and, especially