Duke Ellington (1899–1974) was an American pianist, composer, and bandleader, one of the chief creators of jazz as an art in its own right. For more than half a century he led his own big band, for which he wrote thousands of compositions, raising the jazz orchestra to the level of a “sound palette” of symphonic scale.
Ellington masterfully wrote music for the individual timbre of each of his musicians, so that his orchestra sounded utterly distinctive. Among his well-known works are “It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing),” “Mood Indigo,” and “Take the 'A' Train” (written by his collaborator Billy Strayhorn). He created not only songs and dance numbers but also large-scale suites and sacred concerts. Duke Ellington proved to the world that jazz is a great, deep, and refined art.
