7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

Duke Ellington

(b. April 29, 1899, Washington, D.C., U.S.—d. May 24, 1974, New
York, N.Y.)

A

merican pianist Duke Ellington (born Edward
Kennedy Ellington) was one of the most influential
jazz composers and bandleaders of the 20th century. One
of the originators of big-band jazz, Ellington led his band
for more than 50 years, composed thousands of scores,
and created one of the most distinctive ensemble sounds
in all of Western music.
Ellington grew up in a secure, middle-class family in
Washington, D.C. His family encouraged his interests in the
fine arts, and he began studying piano at age seven. Inspired
by ragtime performers, he began to perform professionally
at age 17. On July 2, 1918, a 19 -year-old Ellington married
Edna Thompson, who had grown up across the street from
him. Their son Mercer was born March 11, 1919. (Another
child, born the following year, died in infancy.) Ellington first
played in New York City in 1923. Later that year he moved
there and, in Broadway nightclubs, led a sextet that grew in
time into a 10-piece ensemble. The singular blues-based mel-
odies, the harsh, vocalized sounds of his trumpeter, Bubber
Miley (who used a plunger [“wa-wa”] mute), and the sonor-
ities of the distinctive trombonist Joe (“Tricky Sam”) Nanton
(who played muted “growl” sounds) all influenced Ellington’s
early “jungle style,” as seen in such masterpieces as “East St.
Louis Toodle-oo” (1926) and “Black and Tan Fantasy” (1927).
Extended residencies at the Cotton Club in Harlem
(1927–32, 1937–38) stimulated Ellington to enlarge his band
to 14 musicians and to expand his compositional scope.
He selected his musicians for their expressive individuality,
and several members of his ensemble—including trumpeter
Cootie Williams (who replaced Miley), cornetist Rex Stewart,
trombonist Lawrence Brown, baritone saxophonist Harry