Timeline Duke Ellington: Beyond Category

Duke Ellington: Beyond Category 19

• 1899 Duke Ellington born in Washington, D.C. Edward Kennedy Ellington Grows up in a middle-class family in Washington.
• 1914 Duke Ellington writes Soda Fountain Rag First composition Written while working as a soda jerk, aged 15.
• 1923 Duke Ellington moves to New York The Washingtonians Moves to Harlem with his band, the Washingtonians.
• 1927 – 1931 Duke Ellington's Cotton Club residency Harlem Radio broadcasts from the Cotton Club make his orchestra famous nationwide.
• 1930 Duke Ellington records Mood Indigo First big hit One of his best-known compositions.
• 1932 Duke Ellington records It Don't Mean a Thing If it ain't got that swing A title that gave the swing era its name.
• 1933 Duke Ellington's first European tour London Palladium Received as a serious composer in Britain and France.
• 1939 Billy Strayhorn joins Duke Ellington Composer and arranger The start of a nearly 30-year partnership.
• 1941 Duke Ellington records Take the A Train Signature tune Billy Strayhorn's song becomes the orchestra's theme.
• 1943 Duke Ellington premieres Black, Brown and Beige at Carnegie Hall Tone parallel A long-form portrait of Black American history.
• 1956 Duke Ellington's comeback at the Newport Jazz Festival Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue Paul Gonsalves' 27-chorus solo sets off a near-riot and revives his career.
• 1956 Duke Ellington on the cover of Time After Newport Time cover story after the Newport triumph.
• 1959 Duke Ellington scores Anatomy of a Murder Film score His score for Otto Preminger's film wins three Grammys.
• 1962 Duke Ellington records with John Coltrane Duke Ellington & John Coltrane A one-day session with In a Sentimental Mood.
• 1965 Duke Ellington's first Sacred Concert Grace Cathedral, San Francisco The first of three concerts of sacred music.
• 1967 Billy Strayhorn dies Ellington records And His Mother Called Him Bill The loss of his closest collaborator.
• 1969 Duke Ellington receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom 70th birthday at the White House Richard Nixon throws him a birthday party at the White House.
• 1974 Duke Ellington dies in New York Aged 75 Over 12,000 people attend his funeral.
• 1999 Duke Ellington awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Special Citation A Pulitzer that had been denied to him in 1965.