The Duke! He is one of the most prolific composers in American history. And he staged a 20 piece ...

... orchestra nightly so he could hear his new music!

Click The pic of Duke to open "The Duke!" You Tube playlist of 17 vids. (All songs by the Duke except "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin.)

Driven by self-confidence that a doting mother instilled (it is said his feet never touched the ground before he was five!), he reportedly would come down the stairs in their upper middle-class Washington DC home, announcing, "Get ready, world! Here comes Edward Kennedy Ellington!"

By the mid 50s the Ellington band had fallen on hard times. A musical upstart called rock and roll and high costs were making it tough for Duke to keep a band on the road. The date at Newport held promise, but the band's set started off blandly. Audience members were leaving their seats. Duke called for "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue," [last track in the Playlist] music from 1936. And who cares?!

But tenor sax man Paul Gonsalves was inspired! He launched into what became 27 choruses of some of the most driving jams in jazz history. The audience came back to their seats. Duke Ellington's career was revitalized.

Thereafter, when anyone asked Duke when he was born, he said, Newport, July 7, 1956.

"Ladies and Gentlemen:

When all our pulses

beat ensemble [awn-sahm]

we're a swinging chart of fake

but one tailgate and false alarm

does not togetherness make

"So take it from the top and bop

and blow down through the bottom

let not the jamming ever stop

until you know you've got 'em."

Duke Ellington's intro comments to "It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got that Swing."

To read the definitive biography of Duke, check out Terry Teachout's 

Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington.

https://www.amazon.com/Duke-Life-Ellington-Terry-Teachout/dp/1592407498