Happy Birthday Duke Ellington

Artwork by Richard Duardo

Happy Birthday to Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974). He was an American composer, pianist and bandleader of jazz orchestras. His career spanned over 50 years, leading his orchestra from 1923 until he died.

Though widely considered to have been a pivotal figure in the history of jazz, Ellington himself embraced the phrase "beyond category" as a "liberating principle", and referred his music to the more general category of "American Music", rather than to a musical genre such as "jazz".

Artwork by Richard Duardo

Watch Duke Ellington - "It Don't Mean A Thing" live in 1943