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Duke Ellington
Frankfurt am Main, February 6, 1965
Background information
Birth name Edward Kennady Ellington
Born April 29, 1899(1899-04-29)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Died May 24, 1974 (aged 75)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Genres Orchestral jazz, swing, Big band
Occupations Bandleader, pianist, composer
Instruments Piano
Years active 1914–1974
Labels (see below)
Website Duke Ellington Legacy
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader.
Duke Ellington became one of the most influential artists in the history of recorded music, and is largely recognized as one of the greatest figures in the history of jazz, though his music stretched into various other genres, including blues, gospel, film scores, popular, and classical. His career spanned 50 years and included leading his orchestra, composing an inexhaustible songbook, scoring for movies, and world tours. Due to his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, and thanks to his refined public manner and extraordinary charisma, he is generally considered[by whom?] to have elevated the perception of jazz to an artistic level on par with that of classical music. His reputation increased after his death, and he received a special award citation from the Pulitzer Prize Board in 1999.[1]
Ellington called his music "American Music" rather than jazz, and liked to describe those who impressed him as "beyond category."[2] These included many of the musicians who were members of his orchestra, some of whom are considered among the best in jazz in their own right, but it was Ellington who melded them into one of the most well-known jazz orchestral units in the history of jazz. He often composed specifically for the style and skills of these individuals, such as "Jeep's Blues" for Johnny Hodges, "Concerto for Cootie" for Cootie Williams, which later became "Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me" with Bob Russell's lyrics, and "The Mooche" for Tricky Sam Nanton and Bubber Miley. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan" and "Perdido" which brought the 'Spanish Tinge' to big-band jazz. Several members of the orchestra remained there for several decades. After 1941, he frequently collaborated with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his "writing and arranging companion."[3] Ellington recorded for many American record companies, and appeared in several films.
Ellington led his band from 1923 until his death in 1974. His son Mercer Ellington, who had already been handling all administrative aspects of his father's business for several decades, led the band until his own death from cancer in 1996. At that point, the band dissolved. Paul Ellington, Mercer's youngest son and executor of the Duke Ellington estate,[4] kept "The Duke Ellington Orchestra." going from Mercer's death onwards.[5]
Contents [hide]
1 Biography
1.1 Early life
1.2 Early career
1.3 Duke in the 1940s
1.4 Career revival
1.5 Last years
2 Work in films and the theater
3 Private life
4 Discography
5 Awards, honors and recognitions
5.1 Memorials
5.2 Tributes
5.3 Homage from critics
6 Awards
6.1 Grammy Awards
6.2 Grammy Hall of Fame
6.3 Honors and inductions
7 Notes
8 Bibliography (further reading)
8.1 Reference works (discographies, filmographies, etc.)
9 External links
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Edward Kennedy Ellington was born on April 29, 1899 to James Edward Ellington and Daisy Kennedy Ellington. They lived with his maternal grandparents at 2129 Ida Place (now Ward Place), NW in in the West End neighborhood of Washington, D.C.[6] His father, James Edward Ellington was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina on April 15, 1879 and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1886 with his parents.[7] Daisy Kennedy, was born in Washington, D.C. on January 4, 1879, and was the daughter of a former American slave.[8][9] J.E. made blueprints for the United States Navy. He also worked as a butler for Dr. Middleton F. Cuthbert, a prominent white physician, and occasionally worked as a White House caterer.[10] Daisy and J.E. were both pianists. She primarily played parlor songs and he operatic airs.
At the age of seven, Ellington began taking piano lessons from Marietta Clinkscales.[11] Daisy surrounded her son with dignified women to reinforce his manners and teach him to live elegantly. Ellington’s childhood friends noticed that "his casual, offhand manner, his easy grace, and his dapper dress gave him the bearing of a young nobleman",[12] and began calling him Duke. Ellington credited his "chum" Edgar McEntree for the nickname. "I think he felt that in order for me to be eligible for his constant companionship, I should have a title. So he called me Duke."[13]
Though Ellington took piano lessons, he was more interested in baseball. "President Roosevelt (Teddy) would come by on his horse sometimes, and stop and watch us play," he recalled.[14] Ellington went to Armstrong Technical High School in Washington, D.C. He got his first job selling peanuts at Washington Senators baseball games.
In the summer of 1914, while working as a soda jerk at the Poodle Dog Cafe, he wrote his first composition, "Soda Fountain Rag" (also known as the "Poodle Dog Rag"). Ellington created "Soda Fountain Rag" by ear, because he had not yet learned to read and write music. "I would play the 'Soda Fountain Rag' as a one-step, two-step, waltz, tango, and fox trot," Ellington recalled. "Listeners never knew it was the same piece. I was established as having my own repertoire."[15] In his autobiography, Music is my Mistress (1973), Ellington said he missed more lessons than he attended, feeling at the time that playing the piano was not his talent. Ellington started sneaking into Frank Holiday's Poolroom at the age of fourteen. Hearing the poolroom pianists play ignited Ellington's love for the instrument and he began to take his piano studies seriously.
Ellington began listening to, watching, and imitating ragtime pianists, not only in Washington, D.C., but in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, where he vacationed with his mother during the summer months.[15] Dunbar High School music teacher Henry Lee Grant gave him private lessons in harmony. With the additional guidance of Washington pianist and band leader Oliver "Doc" Perry, Ellington learned to read sheet music, project a professional style, and improve his technique. Ellington was also inspired by his first encounters with stride pianists James P. Johnson and Luckey Roberts. Later in New York he took advice from Will Marion Cook, Fats Waller, and Sidney Bechet. Ellington started to play gigs in cafés and clubs in and around Washington, D.C. and began to realize his love for music. His attachment grew to be so strong that he turned down an art scholarship to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 1916. Three months before his graduation he dropped out of Armstrong Manual Training School, where he was studying commercial art.[16]
From 1917 through 1919, Ellington launched his musical career, painting commercial signs by day and playing piano by night. Through his day job, Duke's entrepreneurial side came out: when a customer would ask him to make a sign for a dance or party, he would ask them if they had musical entertainment; if not, Ellington would ask if he could play for them. He also had a messenger job with the U.S. Navy and State Departments. Ellington moved out of his parents' home and bought his own as he became a successful pianist. At first, he played in other ensembles, and in late 1917 formed his first group, "The Duke’s Serenaders" ("Colored Syncopators", his telephone directory advertising proclaimed).[16] He was not only a member, but also the booking agent. His first play date was at the True Reformer's Hall, where he took home 75 cents.[17]
Ellington played throughout the Washington, D.C. area and into Virginia for private society balls and embassy parties. The band included Otto Hardwick, who switched from bass to saxophone; Arthur Whetsol on trumpet; Elmer Snowden on banjo; and Sonny Greer on drums. The band thrived, performing for both African-American and white audiences, a rarity during the racially divided times.[18]
[edit] Early career
Left: Duke Ellington circa 1950When his drummer Sonny Greer was invited to join the Wilber Sweatman Orchestra in New York City, Ellington made the fateful decision to leave behind his successful career in Washington, D.C. and move to Harlem, becoming one of the figures of the Harlem Renaissance. New dance crazes like the Charleston emerged in Harlem, as well as African-American musical theater, including Eubie Blake's Shuffle Along. After the young musicians left the Sweatman Orchestra to strike out on their own, they found an emerging jazz scene that was highly competitive and hard to crack. They hustled pool by day and played whatever gig they could find. The young band met Willie "The Lion" Smith who introduced them to the scene and gave them some money. They played at rent-house parties for income. After a few months though, the young musicians returned to Washington, D.C. feeling discouraged.
In June 1923, a gig in Atlantic City, New Jersey led to a play date at the prestigious Exclusive Club in Harlem, followed in September 1923 by a move to the Hollywood Club, 49th and Broadway, and a four-year engagement, which gave Ellington a solid artistic base. He was known to play the bugle at the end each performance. The group was called Elmer Snowden and his Black Sox Orchestra and had seven members, including James "Bubber" Miley. They renamed themselves "The Washingtonians". When Snowden left the group in early 1924, Ellington took over as bandleader. After a fire, the club was re-opened as the Club Kentucky (often referred to as the "Kentucky Club"), an engagement which set the stage for the biggest opportunities in Ellington's life.
Ellington made eight records in 1924, receiving composing credit on three including Choo Choo.[19] In 1925, Ellington contributed four songs to Chocolate Kiddies, an all-African-American revue which introduced European audiences to African-American styles and performers. "Duke Ellington and his Kentucky Club Orchestra" grew to a ten-piece organization, developing their distinct sound, displaying the non-traditional expression of Ellington’s arrangements, the street rhythms of Harlem, and the exotic-sounding trombone growls and wah-wahs, high-squealing trumpets, and sultry saxophone blues licks of the band members. For a short time, the great soprano saxophonist Sidney Bechet played with the group, imparting his propulsive swing and superior musicianship on the young band members. This helped attract the attention of some of the biggest names of jazz, including Paul Whiteman.
In 1927, King Oliver turned down a regular booking for his group as the house band at Harlem's Cotton Club; the offer passed to Ellington. With a weekly radio broadcast and famous white clientèle nightly pouring in to see them, Ellington and his band thrived in the period from 1932 to 1942, a "golden age" for the band.
Although trumpeter Bubber Miley was a member of the orchestra for only a short period, he had a major influence on Ellington's sound.[20] An early experimenter of growl trumpet, his style changed the "sweet" dance band sound of the group to one that was hotter, which contemporaries termed 'jungle' style. He also composed most of "Black and Tan Fantasy" and "Creole Love Call". An alcoholic, Miley had to leave the band before they gained wider fame. He died in 1932 at the age of twenty-nine. He was an important influence on Cootie Williams, who replaced him.
In 1927, Ellington made a career-advancing agreement with agent-publisher Irving Mills giving Mills a 45% interest in Ellington's future.[21] Mills had an eye for new talent and early on published compositions by Hoagy Carmichael, Dorothy Fields, and Harold Arlen. During the 1930s, Ellington's popularity continued to increase, largely as a result of the promotional skills of Mills, who got more than his fair share of co-composer credits. Mills arranged recording sessions on the Brunswick, Victor, and Columbia labels which gave Ellington popular recognition. Mills took the management burden off of Ellington's shoulders, allowing him to focus on his band's sound and his compositions.[citation needed] Ellington ended his association with Mills in 1937, although he continued to record under Mills' banner through to 1940.
At the Cotton Club, Ellington's group performed all the music for the revues, which mixed comedy, dance numbers, vaudeville, burlesque, music, and illegal alcohol. The musical numbers were composed by Jimmy McHugh and the lyrics by Dorothy Fields (later Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler), with some Ellington originals mixed in. Weekly radio broadcasts from the club gave Ellington national exposure. In 1929, Ellington appeared in his first movie, a nineteen-minute all-African-American RKO short, Black and Tan, in which he played the hero "Duke". In the same year, The Cotton Club Orchestra appeared on stage for several months in Florenz Ziegfeld's Show Girl, along with vaudeville stars Jimmy Durante, Eddie Foy, Jr., Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, and with music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Gus Kahn. That feverish period also included numerous recordings, under the pseudonyms "Whoopee Makers", "The Jungle Band", "Harlem Footwarmers", and the "Ten Black Berries". In 1930, Ellington and his Orchestra connected with a whole different audience in a concert with Maurice Chevalier and they also performed at the Roseland Ballroom, "America's foremost ballroom". Noted composer Percy Grainger was also an early admirer and supporter.
In 1929, when Ellington conducted the orchestra for Show Girl, he met Will Vodery, Ziegfeld’s musical supervisor. In his 1946 biography, Duke Ellington, Barry Ulanov wrote:
From Vodery, as he (Ellington) says himself, he drew his chromatic convictions, his uses of the tones ordinarily extraneous to the diatonic scale, with the consequent alteration of the harmonic character of his music, its broadening, The deepening of his resources. It has become customary to ascribe the classical influences upon Duke - Delius, Debussy and Ravel - to direct contact with their music. Actually his serious appreciation of those and other modern composers, came after his meeting with Vodery.[22]
As the Depression worsened, the recording industry was in crisis, dropping over 90% of its artists by 1933.[23] Ellington and his orchestra survived the hard times by taking to the road in a series of tours. Radio exposure also helped maintain popularity. Ivie Anderson was hired as their featured vocalist. Sonny Greer had been providing occasional vocals and continued to do in a cross-talk feature with Anderson.
Ellington led the orchestra by conducting from the keyboard using piano cues and visual gestures; very rarely did he conduct using a baton. As a bandleader, Ellington was not a strict disciplinarian but he maintained control of his orchestra with a crafty combination of charm, humor, flattery, and astute psychology. A complex, private person, he revealed his feelings to only his closest intimates and effectively used his public persona to deflect attention away from himself.
While their United States audience remained mainly African-American in this period, the Cotton Club had a near exclusive white clientèle and the band had a huge following overseas, demonstrated both in a trip to England in 1933 and a 1934 visit to the European mainland. The English visit saw Ellington win praise from members of the 'serious' music community, including composer Constant Lambert, which gave a boost to Ellington's aspiration to compose longer works. For agent Mills, it was a publicity triumph, as Ellington was now internationally known. On their tour through the segregated South in 1934, they avoided some of the traveling difficulties of African-Americans by touring in private railcars, which provided easy accommodations, dining, and storage for equipment, while avoiding the indignities of segregated facilities.
The death of Ellington's mother in 1935 led to a temporary hiatus in his career. Competition was also intensifying, as African-American and white swing bands began to receive popular attention, including those of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Carter, Earl Hines, Chick Webb, and Count Basie. Swing dancing became a youth phenomenon, particularly with white college audiences, and "danceability" drove record sales and bookings. Jukeboxes proliferated nationwide spreading the gospel of "swing". Ellington band could certainly "swing", but Ellington's strength was mood and nuance, and richness of composition, hence his statement "jazz is music; swing is business".[24] Ellington countered with two developments. He made recordings of smaller groups (sextets, octets, and nonets) drawn from his then 15-man orchestra and he composed pieces intended to feature specific instrumentalist, as with "Jeep's Blues" for Johnny Hodges, "Yearning for Love" for Lawrence Brown, "Trumpet in Spades" for Rex Stewart, "Echoes of Harlem" for Cootie Williams and "Clarinet Lament" for Barney Bigard.
In 1937, Ellington returned to the Cotton Club which had relocated to the mid-town theater district. In the summer of that year, his father died, and due to many expenses Ellington's finances were tight. Things improved in 1938 and he met and moved in with Cotton Club employee Beatrice "Evie" Ellis. After splitting with agent Irving Mills, he signed on with the William Morris Agency. The 1930s ended with a very successful European tour just as World War II loomed.
Ellington delivered some huge hits during the 1930s, which greatly helped to build his overall reputation. Some of them include: "Mood Indigo" (1930), "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" (1932), "Sophisticated Lady" (1933), "Solitude" (1934), "In a Sentimental Mood" (1935), "Caravan" (1937), "I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart" (1938). "Take the "A" Train" which hit big in 1941, was written by Billy Strayhorn.
Strayhorn, originally hired as a lyricist, began his association with Ellington in 1939.[25] Nicknamed "Swee' Pea" for his mild manner, Strayhorn soon became a vital member of the Ellington Organization. Ellington showed great fondness for Strayhorn and never failed to speak glowingly of the man and their collaborative working relationship, "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine".[26] Strayhorn, with his training in classical music, not only contributed his original lyrics and music, but also arranged and polished many of Ellington's works, becoming, in essence, a second Ellington or "Duke's doppelganger". It was not uncommon for Strayhorn to fill in for Duke, whether in conducting or rehearsing the band, or in playing the piano, on stage and in the recording studio.[27]
[edit] Duke in the 1940s
Duke Ellington at the Hurricane Club in New York, May 1943The band reached a creative peak in the early 1940s, when Ellington wrote for an orchestra of distinctive voices and displayed tremendous creativity.[28] Some of the musicians created a sensation in their own right. The short-lived Jimmy Blanton transformed the use of double bass in jazz, allowing it to function as a solo rather than a rhythm instrument alone. Ben Webster, the Orchestra's first regular tenor saxophonist, started a rivalry with Johnny Hodges as the Orchestra's foremost voice in the sax section. Ray Nance joined, replacing Cootie Williams (who had "defected", contemporary wags claimed, to Benny Goodman). Nance, however, added violin to the instrumental colors Ellington had at his disposal. Three-minute masterpieces flowed from the minds of Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Ellington's son Mercer Ellington, and members of the Orchestra. "Cotton Tail", "Main Stem", "Harlem Airshaft", "Sidewalks of New York (East Side, West Side)" and dozens of others date from this period. Privately made recordings of Nance's first concert date, at Fargo, North Dakota, on November 7, 1940 by Jack Towers and Dick Burris, are probably the most effective display of the band during this period. These recordings are among the first of innumerable live performances which survive, made by enthusiasts or broadcasters, significantly expanding the Ellington discography.
Ellington's long-term aim became to extend the jazz form from the three-minute limit of the 78 rpm record side, of which he was an acknowledged master.[29] He had composed and recorded Creole Rhapsody as early as 1931 (issued as both sides of 12" record for Victor and both sides of a 10" record for Brunswick), and his tribute to his mother, "Reminiscing in Tempo," had filled four 10" record sides in 1935; however, it was not until the 1940s that this became a regular feature of Ellington's work. In this, he was helped by Strayhorn, who had enjoyed a more thorough training in the forms associated with classical music than Ellington. The first of these, "Black, Brown, and Beige" (1943), was dedicated to telling the story of African-Americans, and the place of slavery and the church in their history. Ellington debuted Black, Brown and Beige in Carnegie Hall on January 23, 1943, beginning a series of concerts there suited to displaying Ellington's longer works. While some jazz musicians had played at Carnegie Hall before, few had performed anything as elaborate as Ellington’s work. Unfortunately, starting a regular pattern, Ellington's longer works were generally not well-received; Jump for Joy, a musical which debuted in 1941, closed after only six performances .
The settlement of the first recording ban of 1942–43 had a serious effect on all the big bands because of the increase in royalty payments to musicians which resulted from it. The financial viability of Ellington's Orchestra came under threat, though Ellington's income as a songwriter ultimately subsidized it. Ellington always spent lavishly and although he drew a respectable income from the Orchestra's operations, the band's income often just covered expenses.[30]
Meanwhile, the development of modern jazz, or bebop, the music industry's shift to solo vocalists such as the young Frank Sinatra as the Big Band era receded. Bebop rebelled against commercial jazz, dancing to jazz, and strict forms to become the music of jazz aficionados. Furthermore, by 1950 the emerging African-American popular music style known as Rhythm and Blues drew away the young African-American audience and Rock & Roll soon followed. In the face of these major social shifts, Ellington continued on his own course. For a time though Ellington continued to turn out major works, such as the Kay Davis vocal feature "Transblucency" and major extended compositions such as Harlem (1950), whose score he presented to music-loving President Harry Truman.
In 1951, Ellington suffered a major loss of personnel, with Sonny Greer, Lawrence Brown, and most significantly Johnny Hodges, leaving to pursue other ventures. Lacking overseas opportunities and motion picture appearances, Ellington Orchestra survived on "one-nighters" and whatever else came their way, even six weeks in the summer of 1955 as the band for the Aquacade in Flushing, New York, where Ellington is supposed to have "invented" a drink known as "The Tornado," the only alcoholic concoction that features his signature Coca-Cola and sugar.[citation needed] Even though he made many television appearances, Ellington's hope that television would provide a significant new outlet for his type of jazz was not fulfilled. The introduction of the 33 1/3 rpm LP record and hi-fi phonograph did give new life to older compositions. However by 1955, after three years of recording for Capitol, Ellington no longer had a regular recording affiliation.
The August 20, 1956 cover of Time featured Ellington.[edit] Career revival
Ellington's appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 7, 1956 returned him to wider prominence and exposed him to new audiences. The feature "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue", with saxophonist Paul Gonsalves's six-minute saxophone solo, had been in the band's book since 1937, but on this occasion nearly created a riot. The revived attention should not have surprised anyone – Hodges had returned to the fold the previous year, and Ellington's collaboration with Strayhorn had been renewed around the same time, under terms more amenable to the younger man. Such Sweet Thunder (1957), based on Shakespeare's plays and characters, and The Queen's Suite, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II, were products of the renewed impetus which the Newport appearance helped to create.
A new record contract with Columbia produced Ellington's best-selling LP Ellington at Newport and yielded six years of recording stability under producer Irving Townsend, who coaxed both commercial and artistic productions from Ellington.[31] In 1957, CBS (Columbia's parent corporation) aired a live television production of A Drum Is a Woman, an allegorical suite which received mixed reviews. Festival appearances at the new Monterey Jazz Festival and elsewhere provided venues for live exposure, and a European tour in 1958 was wildly received. After a 25-year gap, Ellington (with Strayhorn) returned to work on film scores, this time for Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and Paris Blues (1961). Ellington and Strayhorn, always looking for new musical territory, produced adaptations of John Steinbeck's novel Sweet Thursday, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt. The late 1950s also saw Ella Fitzgerald record her Duke Ellington Songbook with Ellington and his orchestra—a recognition that Ellington's songs had now become part of the cultural canon known as the "Great American Songbook".
Ellington in 1973Detroit Free Press music critic Mark Stryker concludes that the work of Billy Strayhorn and Ellington in Anatomy of a Murder, the trial court drama film directed by Otto Preminger in 1959, is "indispensable, [although] . . . too sketchy to rank in the top echelon among Ellington-Strayhorn masterpiece suites like Such Sweet Thunder and The Far East Suite, but its most inspired moments are their equal."[32] Film historians have recognized the soundtrack "as a landmark – the first significant Hollywood film music by African Americans comprising non-diegetic music, that is, music whose source is not visible or implied by action in the film, like an on-screen band." The score avoided the cultural stereotypes which previously characterized jazz scores and rejected a strict adherence to visuals in ways that presaged the New Wave cinema of the ’60s".[33]
In the early 1960s, Ellington was between recording contracts, which allowed him to record with a variety of artists not previously associated with him. The Ellington and Count Basie orchestras recorded together and he made a record with Coleman Hawkins, another with Louis Armstrong, plus a sequence of albums for Frank Sinatra's new Reprise label. In 1962, he participated in a session which produced the Money Jungle (United Artists) album with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, and also recorded with John Coltrane for Impulse. Musicians who had previously worked with Ellington returned to the Orchestra as members: Lawrence Brown in 1960 and Cootie Williams in 1962. Ellington was by now performing all over the world (a significant part of each year was now spent making overseas tours), and he formed notable new working relationships, among which included the Swedish vocalist Alice Babs, and South African musicians Dollar Brand and Sathima Bea Benjamin (A Morning in Paris, 1963/1997). His earlier hits were now established standards, earning Ellington impressive royalties. "The writing and playing of music is a matter of intent.... You can't just throw a paint brush against the wall and call whatever happens art. My music fits the tonal personality of the player. I think too strongly in terms of altering my music to fit the performer to be impressed by accidental music. You can't take doodling seriously."[15]
[edit] Last years
Ellington was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1965, but was turned down.[34] His reaction at 67 years old: "Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young."[35] In September of the same year, the first of his Sacred Concerts was given its premiere. It was an attempt to fuse Christian liturgy with jazz, and even though it received mixed reviews, Ellington was proud of the composition and performed it dozens of times. This concert was followed by two others of the same type in 1968 and 1973, known as the Second and Third Sacred Concerts. This caused controversy in what was already a tumultuous time in the United States. Many saw the Sacred Music suites as an attempt to reinforce commercial support for organized religion, though Ellington simply said it was, "the most important thing I've done."[36] The Steinway piano upon which the Sacred Concerts were composed is part of the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Like Haydn and Mozart, Ellington conducted his orchestra from the piano - he always played the keyboard parts when the Sacred Concerts were performed.[37]
Ellington receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Nixon, 1969.Ellington continued to make vital and innovative recordings, including The Far East Suite (1966), the New Orleans Suite (1970), and The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (1971), much of it inspired by his world tours. It was during this time that Ellington recorded his only album with Frank Sinatra, entitled Francis A. & Edward K. (1967).
Ellington was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1966. He was later awarded several other prizes, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, an Honorary PhD from the Berklee College of Music in 1971, and the Legion of Honor by France in 1973, the highest civilian honors in each country.[1] He died of lung cancer and pneumonia on May 24, 1974, a month after his 75th birthday, and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York City.[38] At his funeral attended by over 12,000 people at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Ella Fitzgerald summed up the occasion, "It's a very sad day. A genius has passed."[39] Mercer Ellington picked up the reins of the orchestra immediately after Duke's death. Ellington's last words were, "Music is how I live, why I live and how I will be remembered."[citation needed]
[edit] Work in films and the theater
Ellington's film work began in 1929 with the short film Black and Tan [40]. Symphony in Black (1935) featured his extended piece 'A Rhapsody of Negro Life'. It introduced Billie Holiday, and won an Academy Award as the best musical short subject. He also appeared in the Amos 'n' Andy film Check and Double Check (1930). Ellington and his Orchestra continued to appear in films through the 1930s and 1940s, both in short films and in features such as Murder at the Vanities and Belle of the Nineties (1934), and Cabin in the Sky (1943). In the late 1950s, his work in films took the shape of scoring for soundtracks, notably Anatomy of a Murder (1959), with James Stewart, in which he appeared fronting a roadhouse combo, and Paris Blues (1961), which featured Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as jazz musicians.
He wrote an original score for director Michael Langham's production of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada which opened on July 29, 1963. Langham has used it for several subsequent productions, most recently in an adaptation by Stanley Silverman which expands the score with some of Ellington's best-known works.
Ellington composed the score for the musical Jump For Joy, which was performed in Los Angeles during 1941. Ellington's sole book musical, Beggar's Holiday, was staged on Broadway in 1946. Sophisticated Ladies, an award-winning 1981 musical revue, incorporated many tunes from his repertoire.
[edit] Private life
Ellington married his high school sweetheart, Edna Thompson, on July 2, 1918, when he was 19. Shortly after their marriage, on March 11, 1919 Edna gave birth to their only son, Mercer Kennedy Ellington. Mercer played trumpet, led his own band and worked as his father's business manager, eventually taking full control of the band after Duke's death. He was an important archivist of his father's musical life.
Ellington's sister Ruth (1915–2004) later ran Tempo Music, Ellington' music publishing company. Ruth's second husband was the bass-baritone McHenry Boatwright, whom she met when he sang at her brother's funeral.
Ellington's grandson Edward Ellington is a musician and maintains a small salaried band known as the Duke Ellington Legacy, which frequently comprises the core of the big band operated by The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts.
[edit] Discography
Main article: Duke Ellington discography
[edit] Awards, honors and recognitions
[edit] Memorials
The grave of Duke EllingtonNumerous memorials have been dedicated to Duke Ellington, in cities from New York and Washington, DC to Los Angeles.
In Ellington's birthplace of Washington, D.C., there is a school dedicated to his honor and memory as well as one of the bridges over Rock Creek Park. The Duke Ellington School of the Arts educates talented students, who are considering careers in the arts, by providing intensive arts instruction and strong academic programs that prepare students for post-secondary education and professional careers. The Calvert Street Bridge was renamed the Duke Ellington Bridge; built in 1935, it connects Woodley Park to Adams Morgan.
On February 24, 2009, the United States Mint launched a new coin featuring Duke Ellington, making him the first African-American to appear by himself on a circulating U.S. coin.[41] Ellington appears on the reverse ("tails") side of the District of Columbia quarter.[41] The coin is part of the U.S. Mint's program honoring the District and the U.S. territories[42] and celebrates Ellington's birthplace in the District of Columbia.[41] Ellington is depicted on the quarter seated at a piano, sheet music in hand, along with the inscription "Justice for All", which is the District's motto.[42]
Ellington lived for years in a townhouse on the corner of Manhattan's Riverside Drive and West 106th Street. After his death, West 106th Street was officially renamed Duke Ellington Boulevard. A large memorial to Ellington, created by sculptor Robert Graham, was dedicated in 1997 in New York's Central Park, near Fifth Avenue and 110th Street, an intersection named Duke Ellington Circle.
Although he made two more stage appearances before his death, Ellington performed what is considered his final "full" concert in a ballroom at Northern Illinois University on March 20, 1974.[43] The hall was renamed the Duke Ellington Ballroom in 1980.
A statue of Ellington at a piano is featured at the entrance to UCLA's Schoenberg Hall. According to UCLA magazine, "When UCLA students were entranced by Duke Ellington's provocative tunes at a Culver City club in 1937, they asked the budding musical great to play a free concert in Royce Hall. 'I've been waiting for someone to ask us!' Ellington exclaimed".
"On the day of the concert, Ellington accidentally mixed up the venues and drove to USC instead. He eventually arrived at the UCLA campus and, to apologize for his tardiness, played to the packed crowd for more than four hours. And so, "Sir Duke" and his group played the first-ever jazz performance in a concert venue."[44]
He is one of only five jazz musicians ever to have been featured on the cover of Time (the other four being Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Wynton Marsalis, and Dave Brubeck).[45]
The Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival is a nationally renowned annual competition for prestigious high school bands. Started in 1996 at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the festival is named after Ellington because of the large focus that the festival places on his works.
[edit] Tributes
Sathima Bea Benjamin - the South African vocalist wrote "Gift of Love", in memory of Duke Ellington, for her 1987 album Love Light.
Dave Brubeck - dedicated "The Duke" (1954) to Ellington and it became a standard covered by others,[46] both during Ellington's lifetime (such as by Miles Davis on Miles Ahead, 1957) and posthumously (such as George Shearing on I Hear a Rhapsody: Live at the Blue Note, 1992). The album The Real Ambassadors has a vocal version of this piece, You Swing Baby (The Duke), with lyrics by Iola Brubeck, Dave's wife. It is performed as a duet between Louis Armstrong and Carmen McRae. It is also dedicated to Duke Ellington.
Tony Bennett frequently altered the lyrics to "Lullaby of Broadway" in live performance, to sing, "You rock-a-bye your baby 'round/to Ellington or Basie," as a personal tribute to the two jazz masters.
Judy Collins - wrote "Song For Duke" in 1975, and included it on her album Judith.
Miles Davis - one month after Ellington's death, created his half-hour dedicated dirge "He Loved Him Madly" (1974) collected on Get Up with It.
The jazz-influenced band Steely Dan recorded a note-for-note version of an early Ellington standard, "East St. Louis Toodle-oo," on their album Pretzel Logic, released in 1974, using treated slide guitars to re-create the plunger-muted "jungle sound" of the original Ellington horns.
Stevie Wonder - wrote the song "Sir Duke" as a tribute to Ellington in 1976.
Charles Mingus - composed "Open Letter to Duke" and "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love"
Lorraine Feather - has composed lyrics to many of Ellington's instrumental compositions,recorded on CD's including "Dooji Wooji" and "Such Sweet Thunder."
The Modern Jazz Quartet composed two original Ellington tributes for their album For Ellington.
There are hundreds of albums dedicated to the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn by artists famous and obscure. The more notable artists include Sonny Stitt, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Tony Bennett, Claude Bolling, Oscar Peterson, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Dick Hyman, Joe Pass, Milt Jackson, Earl Hines, André Previn, World Saxophone Quartet, Ben Webster, Zoot Sims, Kenny Burrell, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, Martial Solal, Clark Terry and Randy Weston.
[edit] Homage from critics
Gunther Schuller wrote, "Ellington composed incessantly to the very last days of his life. Music was indeed his mistress; it was his total life and his commitment to it was incomparable and unalterable. In jazz he was a giant among giants. And in twentieth century music, he may yet one day be recognized as one of the half-dozen greatest masters of our time."[47]
Martin Williams said "Duke Ellington lived long enough to hear himself named among our best composers. And since his death in 1974, it has become not at all uncommon to see him named, along with Charles Ives, as the greatest composer we have produced, regardless of category."[48]
In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Duke Ellington on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.[49]
Andre Previn said, "You know, Stan Kenton can stand in front of a thousand fiddles and a thousand brass and make a dramatic gesture and every studio arranger can nod his head and say, ‘‘Oh, yes, that’s done like this.’’ But Duke merely lifts his finger, three horns make a sound, and I don’t know what it is!" [50]
[edit] Awards
[edit] Grammy Awards
Ellington earned 13 Grammy awards from 1959 to 2000, nine while he was alive.
Duke Ellington Grammy Award History[51]
Year Category Title Genre Result
1999 Historical Album The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition
RCA Victor Recordings (1927–1973) Jazz Winner
1979 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band Duke Ellington At Fargo, 1940 Live Jazz Winner
1976 Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band The Ellington Suites Jazz Winner
1972 Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band Toga Brava Suite Jazz Winner
1971 Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band New Orleans Suite Jazz Winner
1968 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance - Large Group
Or Soloist With Large Group ...And His Mother Called Him Bill Jazz Winner
1967 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Large Group
Or Soloist With Large Group Far East Suite Jazz Winner
1966 Best Original Jazz Composition In The Beginning God Jazz Winner
1965 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance -
Large Group Or Soloist With Large Group Ellington '66 Jazz Winner
1959 Best Performance By A Dance Band Anatomy of a Murder Pop Winner
1959 Best Musical Composition First Recorded
And Released In 1959
(More Than 5 Minutes Duration) Anatomy of a Murder Composing Winner
1959 Best Sound Track Album - Background Score
From A Motion Picture Or Television Anatomy of a Murder Composing Winner
[edit] Grammy Hall of Fame
Recordings of Duke Ellington were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."
Duke Ellington: Grammy Hall of Fame Award[52][53]
Year Recorded Title Genre Label Year Inducted
1932 It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) Jazz (Single) Brunswick 2008
1934 Cocktails for Two Jazz (Single) Victor 2007
1957 Ellington at Newport Jazz (Album) Columbia 2004
1956 Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue Jazz (Single) Columbia 1999
1967 Far East Suite Jazz (Album) RCA 1999
1944 Black, Brown and Beige Jazz (Single) RCA Victor 1990
1928 Black and Tan Fantasy Jazz (Single) Victor 1981
1941 Take the "A" Train Jazz (Single) Victor 1976
1931 Mood Indigo Jazz (Single) Brunswick 1975
[edit] Honors and inductions
Ellington on the Washington, D.C. quarter released in 2009.Year Category Notes
2009 Commemorative U.S. quarter D.C. and U.S. Territories Quarters Program.[54][55]
2008 Gennett Records Walk of Fame
2004 Nesuhi Ertegün Jazz Hall of Fame
at Jazz at Lincoln Center
1999 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation[1]
1986 22¢ commemorative U.S. stamp Issued April 29, 1986[56]
1978 Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame
1973 French Legion of Honor[57] July 6, 1973
1973 Honorary Degree in Music from Columbia University May 16, 1973
1971 Songwriters Hall of Fame
1969 Presidential Medal of Freedom
1956 Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame inductee
1968 Grammy Trustees Award Special Merit Award
1966 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
1959 NAACP Spingarn Medal
[edit] Notes
^ a b c 1999 Pulitzer Prize Winners Special Awards and Citations
^ Tucker 1995, p. 6 writes "He tried to avoid the word 'jazz' preferring 'Negro' or 'American' music. He claimed there were only two types of music, 'good' and 'bad' ... And he embraced a phrase coined by his colleague Billy Strayhorn – 'beyond category' – as a liberating principle."
^ Hajdu, David (1996), Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn, New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, ISBN 9780865475120, page 170
^ DukeEllington.com "Paul Ellington." Retrieved on September 18, 2009.
^ Entertainment Booking Agency "The Duke Ellington Orchestra." Retrieved on September 18, 2009.
^ name="Lawrence-1">Lawrence 2001, p. 1[
^ Lawrence 2001, p. 2.
^ Lawrence 2001, p. 1.
^ Hasse 1995, p. 21.
^ Hasse 1993, p. 23.
^ Clinkscales lived at 1212 T Street NW, an address erroneously given as, Ellington childhood home.well he was known for eating hot dogs.[citation needed]
^ Terkel 2002
^ Ellington 1976, p. 20.
^ Ellington 1976, p. 10.
^ a b c "Ellington, Duke". Current Biography. H.W. Wilson Company, 1970.
^ a b Simmonds, Yussuf (09-11-2008). "Duke Ellington". Los Angeles Sentinel. http://www.lasentinel.net/Duke-Ellington.html. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
^ Hasse 1993, p. 45.
^ Cohen, Harvey G. (Autumn 2004). "The Marketing of Duke Ellington: Setting the Strategy for an African American Maestro". The Journal of African-American History (Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, Inc.) 89 (4): 291–315. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4134056. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
^ Hasse 1993, p. 79.
^ Schuller, Gunther (October 1992). "Jazz and Composition: The Many Sides of Duke Ellington, the Music's Greatest Composer". Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (American Academy of Arts & Sciences) 46 (1): 36–51. doi:10.2307/3824163.
^ Hasse 1993, p. 90.
^ Ulanov, Barry. Duke Ellington, Creative Age Press, 1946.
^ Hasse 1993, p. 166.
^ Hasse 1993, p. 203.
^ Stone, Sonjia (ed) (1983). "WILLIAM THOMAS STRAYHORN". Billy Strayhorn Songs. University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. http://www.billystrayhorn.com/biography.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
^ Ellington 1976, p. 156.
^ http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article_print.php?id=31974
^ "Jazz Musicians - Duke Ellington". Theory Jazz. http://theoryjazz.com/artists/ellington.html. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
^ Crawford, Richard (1993). The American Musical Landscape. Berkeley: University of California Press.
^ Hasse 1993, p. 274.
^ Wein, George (2003). Myself Among Others: A Life in Music. Da Capo Press.
^ Stryker, Mark, Music Critic, Ellington's score still celebrated, January 20, 2009 Detroit Free Press.
^ Mark Stryker "Ellington's score still celebrated", Detroit Free Press, 20 January 2009; Mervyn Cooke History of Film Music, 2008, Cambridge University Press
^ Gary Giddins, "How Come Jazz Isn't Dead", p. 39–55 in Weisbard 2004, pp. 41–42. Giddins remarks that in 1965, Ellington was denied the Pulitzer because the Pulitzer jury commended him for his body of work rather than for a particular composition, but his posthumous Pulitzer was granted precisely for that life-long body of work.
^ Tucker, Mark; Duke Ellington (1995). The Duke Ellington reader. Oxford University Press.
^ Ellington 1976, p. 269.
^ "Ellington's Steinway Grand". National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. http://www.piano300.si.edu/collectn.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
^ Duke Ellington at Find a Grave
^ Hasse 1993, p. 385.
^ Stratemann, Dr. Klaus. Duke Ellington: Day by Day and Film by Film, 1992. ISBN 87-88043-34-7
^ a b c Staff reporter (2009-02-24). "Jazz man is first African-American to solo on U.S. circulating coin". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/24/duke.ellington.coin/index.html. Retrieved 2009-10-03. "The United States Mint launched a new coin Tuesday featuring jazz legend Duke Ellington, making him the first African American to appear by himself on a circulating U.S. coin. [...] The coin was issued to celebrate Ellington's birthplace, the District of Columbia." (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5kGOH7EZS)
^ a b United States Mint. Coins and Medals. District of Columbia.
^ McGowan, Mark (November 3, 2003). "NIU to rededicate Duke Ellington Ballroom during Nov. 6 NIU Jazz Ensemble concert". Northern Illinois University. http://www.niu.edu/PubAffairs/RELEASES/2003/nov/ellington.shtml. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
^ Maya Parmer,Curtain Up: Two Days of the Duke, UCLA Magazine, April 1, 2009
^ Time.com
^ ""The Duke" by Dave Brubeck: song review, recordings, covers". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:n0xvadok48wo. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
^ Schuller, Gunther, The Swing Era, Oxford University Press, 1989, ISBN 0-19-504312-X. p. 157.
^ Martin Williams, liner notes, Duke Ellington's Symphony in Black,The Smithsonian Jazz Repertory Ensemble conducted by Gunther Schuller, The Smithsonian Collections recording, 1980.
^ Asante, Molefi Kete (2002). 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Amherst, New York. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-963-8.
^ Ralph J. Gleason, ‘‘Duke Excites, Mystifies Without Any Pretension,’’ Down Beat, November 5, l952, reprinted in Jazz Perspectives Vol. 2, No. 2, July 2008, pp. 215–49.
^ Grammy Awards Database
^ Grammy Hall of Fame Award Database
^ 2008 Grammy Hall of Fame List
^ 2009 D.C. and U.S. Territories Quarters Program from the United States Mint website
^ Sheridan, Mary Beth (2008-06-20). "Ellington Comes Out Ahead in Coin Tossup". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/19/AR2008061904090.html. Retrieved 2009-10-03.
^ Duke Ellington: 22 cents Commemorative stamp from the Center for Jazz Arts website
^ American History: Duke Ellington
[edit] Bibliography (further reading)
Cohen, Harvey G. Duke Ellington's America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. ISBN 9780226112633
Collier, James Lincoln. Duke Ellington. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. ISBN 0-19-503770-7
Dailey, Raleigh. "Ellington as a Composer for the Piano," in Jazz Research Proceedings Yearbook, #31 (Jan.2001), pp. 151–156.
Dance, Stanley. The World Of Duke Ellington. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1970. ISBN 0-306-80136-1
Ellington, Duke. Music Is My Mistress. New York: Da Capo, 1976 ISBN 0-7043-3090-3
Ellington, Mercer. Duke Ellington In Person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978. ISBN 0-395-27511-5.
Hajdu, David, Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1996. ISBN 9780865475120.
Hasse, John Edward. Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington. New York: Da Capo, 1995. ISBN 0306806142
Lawrence, A. H. Duke Ellington and His World: A Biography. New York: Routledge, 2001. ISBN 041593012X
Schuller, Gunther. Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. ISBN 9780195040432. Especially pp. 318–357.
Schuller, Gunther. The Swing Era: The Development Of Jazz, 1930-1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 9780195072405. Esp. pp. 46–157.
(French) Gilles Tordjman, François Billard, Duke Ellington, Le Seuil, Paris, 1994. ISBN 978-2020137003
Terkel, Studs (2002), Giants of Jazz (2nd ed.), New York: The New Press, ISBN 978-1-56584-769-9.
Tucker, Mark. Ellington, The Early Years, University of Illinois Press, 1991. ISBN 0-252-01425-1
Tucker, Mark. The Duke Ellington Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993 ISBN 9780195093919 .
Ulanov, Barry. Duke Ellington, Creative Age Press, 1946.
Weisbard, Eric, ed.. This Is Pop: In Search of the Elusive at Experience Music Project. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN 0674013441.
[edit] Reference works (discographies, filmographies, etc.)
Massagli, Luciano and Volonté, Giovanni. The New Desor: Duke Ellington's Story on Records Parts One and Two, 1999, Milan, Italy. Privately published two part discography with no ISBN number. The most comprehensive Ellington discography for sessions and record issues.
Stratemann, Dr. Klaus. Duke Ellington: Day by Day and Film by Film. Copenhagen: JazzMedia, 1992. ISBN 87-88043-34-7 Covers all of Duke's travels and films from the 1929 short film Black and Tan onwards
Timner, W.E.. Ellingtonia: The Recorded Music of Duke Ellington and His Sidemen. 5th ed. Lanham, Md. & Toronto: Scarecrow Press, 2007. ISBN 0-8108-5889-4 Has a unique discography of Ellington's sidemen.
[edit] External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Duke Ellington
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Duke Ellington
Official website
Official family website
Duke Ellington at the Internet Movie Database
Duke Ellington at the Internet Broadway Database
Duke Ellington Biography, in Down Beat Magazine.
Duke Ellington Collection: Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Archive Center.
A Duke Ellington Panorama; including detailed discography.
The Duke Ellington Society, TDES, Inc
Duke Ellington: 20th International Conference. May 2008, London.
Duke Ellington Orchestra at Wenig-LaMonica Associates
Duke Ellington at Find a Grave
[hide]v • d • eDuke Ellington
Discography The Blanton–Webster Band · Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band · Ellington at Newport · The Complete Porgy and Bess · Such Sweet Thunder · Ellington Indigos · Newport 1958 · Black, Brown and Beige · Jazz Party · Anatomy of a Murder · Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins · Money Jungle · The Great Paris Concert · Duke Ellington & John Coltrane · Ella at Duke's Place · Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur · The Far East Suite · The Stockholm Concert, 1966 · ...And His Mother Called Him Bill · Francis A. & Edward K.
Compositions "All Too Soon" · "Azure" · "Black, Brown and Beige" · "C Jam Blues" · "Cotton Tail" · "Day Dream" · "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" · "Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me" · "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" · "Drop Me Off in Harlem" · "Everything But You" · "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues" · "I Didn't Know About You" · "I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)" · "I'm Beginning to See the Light" · "I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So" · "In a Mellow Tone" · "In a Sentimental Mood" · "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" · "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'" · "Just Squeeze Me (But Please Don't Tease Me)" · "Mood Indigo" · " Prelude to a Kiss" · "Rocks in My Bed" · "(In My) Solitude" · "Sophisticated Lady" · Billy Strayhorn Compositions Associated With Ellington: "Take the "A" Train" · "Lush Life" · "Chelsea Bridge" · "Something to Live For" · "Satin Doll" · Juan Tizol Compositions Associated With Ellington: "Caravan" · "Perdido"
Orchestra
members Hayes Alvis · Cat Anderson · Ivie Anderson · Harold Ashby · Alice Babs · Shorty Baker · Butch Ballard · Art Baron · Aaron Bell · Louie Bellson · Joe Benjamin · Barney Bigard · Lou Blackburn · Jimmy Blanton · Wellman Braud · Lawrence Brown · Harry Carney · Johnny Coles · Willie Cook · Buster Cooper · Kay Davis · Wild Bill Davis · Wilbur De Paris · Bobby Durham · Mercer Ellington · Rolf Ericson · Jimmy Forrest · Victor Gaskin · Peter Giger · Tyree Glenn · Paul Gonsalves · Sonny Greer · Fred Guy · Jimmy Hamilton · Otto Hardwick · Rick Henderson · Al Hibbler · Johnny Hodges · Major Holley · Quentin Jackson · Hilton Jefferson · Herb Jeffries · Freddie Jenkins · Money Johnson · Herbie Jones · Taft Jordan · Al Killian · Queen Esther Marrow · Wendell Marshall · Murray McEachern · Louis Metcalf · James "Bubber" Miley · Harold "Geezil" Minerve · Ray Nance · Tricky Sam Nanton · Oscar Pettiford · Eddie Preston · Russell Procope · Junior Raglin · Betty Roché · Ernie Royal · Al Sears · Joya Sherrill · Willie Smith · Rex Stewart · Billy Strayhorn · Billy Taylor (jazz bassist) · Clark Terry · Juan Tizol · Norris Turney · Ben Webster · Arthur Whetsol · Cootie Williams · Nelson Williams · Skippy Williams · Booty Wood · Jimmy Woode · Britt Woodman · Sam Woodyard
Filmography Black and Tan (The Movie) · Belle of the Nineties · Murder at the Vanities · Cabin in the Sky · Paris Blues · Assault on a Queen · Change of Mind
Related Duke Ellington Bridge · Duke Ellington House · Duke Ellington School of the Arts · Irving Mills · Sophisticated Ladies · Sacred Concerts
Discography
Persondata
NAME Ellington, Duke
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ellington, Edward Kennedy; The Duke
SHORT DESCRIPTION Bandleader, composer, pianist
DATE OF BIRTH April 29, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Washington, D.C., United States
DATE OF DEATH May 24, 1974
PLACE OF DEATH New York City
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Ellington"
Background information
Birth name Edward Kennady Ellington
Born April 29, 1899(1899-04-29)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Died May 24, 1974 (aged 75)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Genres Orchestral jazz, swing, Big band
Occupations Bandleader, pianist, composer
Instruments Piano
Years active 1914–1974
Labels (see below)
Website Duke Ellington Legacy
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader.
Duke Ellington became one of the most influential artists in the history of recorded music, and is largely recognized as one of the greatest figures in the history of jazz, though his music stretched into various other genres, including blues, gospel, film scores, popular, and classical. His career spanned 50 years and included leading his orchestra, composing an inexhaustible songbook, scoring for movies, and world tours. Due to his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, and thanks to his refined public manner and extraordinary charisma, he is generally considered[by whom?] to have elevated the perception of jazz to an artistic level on par with that of classical music. His reputation increased after his death, and he received a special award citation from the Pulitzer Prize Board in 1999.[1]
Ellington called his music "American Music" rather than jazz, and liked to describe those who impressed him as "beyond category."[2] These included many of the musicians who were members of his orchestra, some of whom are considered among the best in jazz in their own right, but it was Ellington who melded them into one of the most well-known jazz orchestral units in the history of jazz. He often composed specifically for the style and skills of these individuals, such as "Jeep's Blues" for Johnny Hodges, "Concerto for Cootie" for Cootie Williams, which later became "Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me" with Bob Russell's lyrics, and "The Mooche" for Tricky Sam Nanton and Bubber Miley. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan" and "Perdido" which brought the 'Spanish Tinge' to big-band jazz. Several members of the orchestra remained there for several decades. After 1941, he frequently collaborated with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his "writing and arranging companion."[3] Ellington recorded for many American record companies, and appeared in several films.
Ellington led his band from 1923 until his death in 1974. His son Mercer Ellington, who had already been handling all administrative aspects of his father's business for several decades, led the band until his own death from cancer in 1996. At that point, the band dissolved. Paul Ellington, Mercer's youngest son and executor of the Duke Ellington estate,[4] kept "The Duke Ellington Orchestra." going from Mercer's death onwards.[5]
Contents [hide]
1 Biography
1.1 Early life
1.2 Early career
1.3 Duke in the 1940s
1.4 Career revival
1.5 Last years
2 Work in films and the theater
3 Private life
4 Discography
5 Awards, honors and recognitions
5.1 Memorials
5.2 Tributes
5.3 Homage from critics
6 Awards
6.1 Grammy Awards
6.2 Grammy Hall of Fame
6.3 Honors and inductions
7 Notes
8 Bibliography (further reading)
8.1 Reference works (discographies, filmographies, etc.)
9 External links
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Edward Kennedy Ellington was born on April 29, 1899 to James Edward Ellington and Daisy Kennedy Ellington. They lived with his maternal grandparents at 2129 Ida Place (now Ward Place), NW in in the West End neighborhood of Washington, D.C.[6] His father, James Edward Ellington was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina on April 15, 1879 and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1886 with his parents.[7] Daisy Kennedy, was born in Washington, D.C. on January 4, 1879, and was the daughter of a former American slave.[8][9] J.E. made blueprints for the United States Navy. He also worked as a butler for Dr. Middleton F. Cuthbert, a prominent white physician, and occasionally worked as a White House caterer.[10] Daisy and J.E. were both pianists. She primarily played parlor songs and he operatic airs.
At the age of seven, Ellington began taking piano lessons from Marietta Clinkscales.[11] Daisy surrounded her son with dignified women to reinforce his manners and teach him to live elegantly. Ellington’s childhood friends noticed that "his casual, offhand manner, his easy grace, and his dapper dress gave him the bearing of a young nobleman",[12] and began calling him Duke. Ellington credited his "chum" Edgar McEntree for the nickname. "I think he felt that in order for me to be eligible for his constant companionship, I should have a title. So he called me Duke."[13]
Though Ellington took piano lessons, he was more interested in baseball. "President Roosevelt (Teddy) would come by on his horse sometimes, and stop and watch us play," he recalled.[14] Ellington went to Armstrong Technical High School in Washington, D.C. He got his first job selling peanuts at Washington Senators baseball games.
In the summer of 1914, while working as a soda jerk at the Poodle Dog Cafe, he wrote his first composition, "Soda Fountain Rag" (also known as the "Poodle Dog Rag"). Ellington created "Soda Fountain Rag" by ear, because he had not yet learned to read and write music. "I would play the 'Soda Fountain Rag' as a one-step, two-step, waltz, tango, and fox trot," Ellington recalled. "Listeners never knew it was the same piece. I was established as having my own repertoire."[15] In his autobiography, Music is my Mistress (1973), Ellington said he missed more lessons than he attended, feeling at the time that playing the piano was not his talent. Ellington started sneaking into Frank Holiday's Poolroom at the age of fourteen. Hearing the poolroom pianists play ignited Ellington's love for the instrument and he began to take his piano studies seriously.
Ellington began listening to, watching, and imitating ragtime pianists, not only in Washington, D.C., but in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, where he vacationed with his mother during the summer months.[15] Dunbar High School music teacher Henry Lee Grant gave him private lessons in harmony. With the additional guidance of Washington pianist and band leader Oliver "Doc" Perry, Ellington learned to read sheet music, project a professional style, and improve his technique. Ellington was also inspired by his first encounters with stride pianists James P. Johnson and Luckey Roberts. Later in New York he took advice from Will Marion Cook, Fats Waller, and Sidney Bechet. Ellington started to play gigs in cafés and clubs in and around Washington, D.C. and began to realize his love for music. His attachment grew to be so strong that he turned down an art scholarship to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 1916. Three months before his graduation he dropped out of Armstrong Manual Training School, where he was studying commercial art.[16]
From 1917 through 1919, Ellington launched his musical career, painting commercial signs by day and playing piano by night. Through his day job, Duke's entrepreneurial side came out: when a customer would ask him to make a sign for a dance or party, he would ask them if they had musical entertainment; if not, Ellington would ask if he could play for them. He also had a messenger job with the U.S. Navy and State Departments. Ellington moved out of his parents' home and bought his own as he became a successful pianist. At first, he played in other ensembles, and in late 1917 formed his first group, "The Duke’s Serenaders" ("Colored Syncopators", his telephone directory advertising proclaimed).[16] He was not only a member, but also the booking agent. His first play date was at the True Reformer's Hall, where he took home 75 cents.[17]
Ellington played throughout the Washington, D.C. area and into Virginia for private society balls and embassy parties. The band included Otto Hardwick, who switched from bass to saxophone; Arthur Whetsol on trumpet; Elmer Snowden on banjo; and Sonny Greer on drums. The band thrived, performing for both African-American and white audiences, a rarity during the racially divided times.[18]
[edit] Early career
Left: Duke Ellington circa 1950When his drummer Sonny Greer was invited to join the Wilber Sweatman Orchestra in New York City, Ellington made the fateful decision to leave behind his successful career in Washington, D.C. and move to Harlem, becoming one of the figures of the Harlem Renaissance. New dance crazes like the Charleston emerged in Harlem, as well as African-American musical theater, including Eubie Blake's Shuffle Along. After the young musicians left the Sweatman Orchestra to strike out on their own, they found an emerging jazz scene that was highly competitive and hard to crack. They hustled pool by day and played whatever gig they could find. The young band met Willie "The Lion" Smith who introduced them to the scene and gave them some money. They played at rent-house parties for income. After a few months though, the young musicians returned to Washington, D.C. feeling discouraged.
In June 1923, a gig in Atlantic City, New Jersey led to a play date at the prestigious Exclusive Club in Harlem, followed in September 1923 by a move to the Hollywood Club, 49th and Broadway, and a four-year engagement, which gave Ellington a solid artistic base. He was known to play the bugle at the end each performance. The group was called Elmer Snowden and his Black Sox Orchestra and had seven members, including James "Bubber" Miley. They renamed themselves "The Washingtonians". When Snowden left the group in early 1924, Ellington took over as bandleader. After a fire, the club was re-opened as the Club Kentucky (often referred to as the "Kentucky Club"), an engagement which set the stage for the biggest opportunities in Ellington's life.
Ellington made eight records in 1924, receiving composing credit on three including Choo Choo.[19] In 1925, Ellington contributed four songs to Chocolate Kiddies, an all-African-American revue which introduced European audiences to African-American styles and performers. "Duke Ellington and his Kentucky Club Orchestra" grew to a ten-piece organization, developing their distinct sound, displaying the non-traditional expression of Ellington’s arrangements, the street rhythms of Harlem, and the exotic-sounding trombone growls and wah-wahs, high-squealing trumpets, and sultry saxophone blues licks of the band members. For a short time, the great soprano saxophonist Sidney Bechet played with the group, imparting his propulsive swing and superior musicianship on the young band members. This helped attract the attention of some of the biggest names of jazz, including Paul Whiteman.
In 1927, King Oliver turned down a regular booking for his group as the house band at Harlem's Cotton Club; the offer passed to Ellington. With a weekly radio broadcast and famous white clientèle nightly pouring in to see them, Ellington and his band thrived in the period from 1932 to 1942, a "golden age" for the band.
Although trumpeter Bubber Miley was a member of the orchestra for only a short period, he had a major influence on Ellington's sound.[20] An early experimenter of growl trumpet, his style changed the "sweet" dance band sound of the group to one that was hotter, which contemporaries termed 'jungle' style. He also composed most of "Black and Tan Fantasy" and "Creole Love Call". An alcoholic, Miley had to leave the band before they gained wider fame. He died in 1932 at the age of twenty-nine. He was an important influence on Cootie Williams, who replaced him.
In 1927, Ellington made a career-advancing agreement with agent-publisher Irving Mills giving Mills a 45% interest in Ellington's future.[21] Mills had an eye for new talent and early on published compositions by Hoagy Carmichael, Dorothy Fields, and Harold Arlen. During the 1930s, Ellington's popularity continued to increase, largely as a result of the promotional skills of Mills, who got more than his fair share of co-composer credits. Mills arranged recording sessions on the Brunswick, Victor, and Columbia labels which gave Ellington popular recognition. Mills took the management burden off of Ellington's shoulders, allowing him to focus on his band's sound and his compositions.[citation needed] Ellington ended his association with Mills in 1937, although he continued to record under Mills' banner through to 1940.
At the Cotton Club, Ellington's group performed all the music for the revues, which mixed comedy, dance numbers, vaudeville, burlesque, music, and illegal alcohol. The musical numbers were composed by Jimmy McHugh and the lyrics by Dorothy Fields (later Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler), with some Ellington originals mixed in. Weekly radio broadcasts from the club gave Ellington national exposure. In 1929, Ellington appeared in his first movie, a nineteen-minute all-African-American RKO short, Black and Tan, in which he played the hero "Duke". In the same year, The Cotton Club Orchestra appeared on stage for several months in Florenz Ziegfeld's Show Girl, along with vaudeville stars Jimmy Durante, Eddie Foy, Jr., Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, and with music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Gus Kahn. That feverish period also included numerous recordings, under the pseudonyms "Whoopee Makers", "The Jungle Band", "Harlem Footwarmers", and the "Ten Black Berries". In 1930, Ellington and his Orchestra connected with a whole different audience in a concert with Maurice Chevalier and they also performed at the Roseland Ballroom, "America's foremost ballroom". Noted composer Percy Grainger was also an early admirer and supporter.
In 1929, when Ellington conducted the orchestra for Show Girl, he met Will Vodery, Ziegfeld’s musical supervisor. In his 1946 biography, Duke Ellington, Barry Ulanov wrote:
From Vodery, as he (Ellington) says himself, he drew his chromatic convictions, his uses of the tones ordinarily extraneous to the diatonic scale, with the consequent alteration of the harmonic character of his music, its broadening, The deepening of his resources. It has become customary to ascribe the classical influences upon Duke - Delius, Debussy and Ravel - to direct contact with their music. Actually his serious appreciation of those and other modern composers, came after his meeting with Vodery.[22]
As the Depression worsened, the recording industry was in crisis, dropping over 90% of its artists by 1933.[23] Ellington and his orchestra survived the hard times by taking to the road in a series of tours. Radio exposure also helped maintain popularity. Ivie Anderson was hired as their featured vocalist. Sonny Greer had been providing occasional vocals and continued to do in a cross-talk feature with Anderson.
Ellington led the orchestra by conducting from the keyboard using piano cues and visual gestures; very rarely did he conduct using a baton. As a bandleader, Ellington was not a strict disciplinarian but he maintained control of his orchestra with a crafty combination of charm, humor, flattery, and astute psychology. A complex, private person, he revealed his feelings to only his closest intimates and effectively used his public persona to deflect attention away from himself.
While their United States audience remained mainly African-American in this period, the Cotton Club had a near exclusive white clientèle and the band had a huge following overseas, demonstrated both in a trip to England in 1933 and a 1934 visit to the European mainland. The English visit saw Ellington win praise from members of the 'serious' music community, including composer Constant Lambert, which gave a boost to Ellington's aspiration to compose longer works. For agent Mills, it was a publicity triumph, as Ellington was now internationally known. On their tour through the segregated South in 1934, they avoided some of the traveling difficulties of African-Americans by touring in private railcars, which provided easy accommodations, dining, and storage for equipment, while avoiding the indignities of segregated facilities.
The death of Ellington's mother in 1935 led to a temporary hiatus in his career. Competition was also intensifying, as African-American and white swing bands began to receive popular attention, including those of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Carter, Earl Hines, Chick Webb, and Count Basie. Swing dancing became a youth phenomenon, particularly with white college audiences, and "danceability" drove record sales and bookings. Jukeboxes proliferated nationwide spreading the gospel of "swing". Ellington band could certainly "swing", but Ellington's strength was mood and nuance, and richness of composition, hence his statement "jazz is music; swing is business".[24] Ellington countered with two developments. He made recordings of smaller groups (sextets, octets, and nonets) drawn from his then 15-man orchestra and he composed pieces intended to feature specific instrumentalist, as with "Jeep's Blues" for Johnny Hodges, "Yearning for Love" for Lawrence Brown, "Trumpet in Spades" for Rex Stewart, "Echoes of Harlem" for Cootie Williams and "Clarinet Lament" for Barney Bigard.
In 1937, Ellington returned to the Cotton Club which had relocated to the mid-town theater district. In the summer of that year, his father died, and due to many expenses Ellington's finances were tight. Things improved in 1938 and he met and moved in with Cotton Club employee Beatrice "Evie" Ellis. After splitting with agent Irving Mills, he signed on with the William Morris Agency. The 1930s ended with a very successful European tour just as World War II loomed.
Ellington delivered some huge hits during the 1930s, which greatly helped to build his overall reputation. Some of them include: "Mood Indigo" (1930), "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" (1932), "Sophisticated Lady" (1933), "Solitude" (1934), "In a Sentimental Mood" (1935), "Caravan" (1937), "I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart" (1938). "Take the "A" Train" which hit big in 1941, was written by Billy Strayhorn.
Strayhorn, originally hired as a lyricist, began his association with Ellington in 1939.[25] Nicknamed "Swee' Pea" for his mild manner, Strayhorn soon became a vital member of the Ellington Organization. Ellington showed great fondness for Strayhorn and never failed to speak glowingly of the man and their collaborative working relationship, "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine".[26] Strayhorn, with his training in classical music, not only contributed his original lyrics and music, but also arranged and polished many of Ellington's works, becoming, in essence, a second Ellington or "Duke's doppelganger". It was not uncommon for Strayhorn to fill in for Duke, whether in conducting or rehearsing the band, or in playing the piano, on stage and in the recording studio.[27]
[edit] Duke in the 1940s
Duke Ellington at the Hurricane Club in New York, May 1943The band reached a creative peak in the early 1940s, when Ellington wrote for an orchestra of distinctive voices and displayed tremendous creativity.[28] Some of the musicians created a sensation in their own right. The short-lived Jimmy Blanton transformed the use of double bass in jazz, allowing it to function as a solo rather than a rhythm instrument alone. Ben Webster, the Orchestra's first regular tenor saxophonist, started a rivalry with Johnny Hodges as the Orchestra's foremost voice in the sax section. Ray Nance joined, replacing Cootie Williams (who had "defected", contemporary wags claimed, to Benny Goodman). Nance, however, added violin to the instrumental colors Ellington had at his disposal. Three-minute masterpieces flowed from the minds of Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Ellington's son Mercer Ellington, and members of the Orchestra. "Cotton Tail", "Main Stem", "Harlem Airshaft", "Sidewalks of New York (East Side, West Side)" and dozens of others date from this period. Privately made recordings of Nance's first concert date, at Fargo, North Dakota, on November 7, 1940 by Jack Towers and Dick Burris, are probably the most effective display of the band during this period. These recordings are among the first of innumerable live performances which survive, made by enthusiasts or broadcasters, significantly expanding the Ellington discography.
Ellington's long-term aim became to extend the jazz form from the three-minute limit of the 78 rpm record side, of which he was an acknowledged master.[29] He had composed and recorded Creole Rhapsody as early as 1931 (issued as both sides of 12" record for Victor and both sides of a 10" record for Brunswick), and his tribute to his mother, "Reminiscing in Tempo," had filled four 10" record sides in 1935; however, it was not until the 1940s that this became a regular feature of Ellington's work. In this, he was helped by Strayhorn, who had enjoyed a more thorough training in the forms associated with classical music than Ellington. The first of these, "Black, Brown, and Beige" (1943), was dedicated to telling the story of African-Americans, and the place of slavery and the church in their history. Ellington debuted Black, Brown and Beige in Carnegie Hall on January 23, 1943, beginning a series of concerts there suited to displaying Ellington's longer works. While some jazz musicians had played at Carnegie Hall before, few had performed anything as elaborate as Ellington’s work. Unfortunately, starting a regular pattern, Ellington's longer works were generally not well-received; Jump for Joy, a musical which debuted in 1941, closed after only six performances .
The settlement of the first recording ban of 1942–43 had a serious effect on all the big bands because of the increase in royalty payments to musicians which resulted from it. The financial viability of Ellington's Orchestra came under threat, though Ellington's income as a songwriter ultimately subsidized it. Ellington always spent lavishly and although he drew a respectable income from the Orchestra's operations, the band's income often just covered expenses.[30]
Meanwhile, the development of modern jazz, or bebop, the music industry's shift to solo vocalists such as the young Frank Sinatra as the Big Band era receded. Bebop rebelled against commercial jazz, dancing to jazz, and strict forms to become the music of jazz aficionados. Furthermore, by 1950 the emerging African-American popular music style known as Rhythm and Blues drew away the young African-American audience and Rock & Roll soon followed. In the face of these major social shifts, Ellington continued on his own course. For a time though Ellington continued to turn out major works, such as the Kay Davis vocal feature "Transblucency" and major extended compositions such as Harlem (1950), whose score he presented to music-loving President Harry Truman.
In 1951, Ellington suffered a major loss of personnel, with Sonny Greer, Lawrence Brown, and most significantly Johnny Hodges, leaving to pursue other ventures. Lacking overseas opportunities and motion picture appearances, Ellington Orchestra survived on "one-nighters" and whatever else came their way, even six weeks in the summer of 1955 as the band for the Aquacade in Flushing, New York, where Ellington is supposed to have "invented" a drink known as "The Tornado," the only alcoholic concoction that features his signature Coca-Cola and sugar.[citation needed] Even though he made many television appearances, Ellington's hope that television would provide a significant new outlet for his type of jazz was not fulfilled. The introduction of the 33 1/3 rpm LP record and hi-fi phonograph did give new life to older compositions. However by 1955, after three years of recording for Capitol, Ellington no longer had a regular recording affiliation.
The August 20, 1956 cover of Time featured Ellington.[edit] Career revival
Ellington's appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 7, 1956 returned him to wider prominence and exposed him to new audiences. The feature "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue", with saxophonist Paul Gonsalves's six-minute saxophone solo, had been in the band's book since 1937, but on this occasion nearly created a riot. The revived attention should not have surprised anyone – Hodges had returned to the fold the previous year, and Ellington's collaboration with Strayhorn had been renewed around the same time, under terms more amenable to the younger man. Such Sweet Thunder (1957), based on Shakespeare's plays and characters, and The Queen's Suite, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II, were products of the renewed impetus which the Newport appearance helped to create.
A new record contract with Columbia produced Ellington's best-selling LP Ellington at Newport and yielded six years of recording stability under producer Irving Townsend, who coaxed both commercial and artistic productions from Ellington.[31] In 1957, CBS (Columbia's parent corporation) aired a live television production of A Drum Is a Woman, an allegorical suite which received mixed reviews. Festival appearances at the new Monterey Jazz Festival and elsewhere provided venues for live exposure, and a European tour in 1958 was wildly received. After a 25-year gap, Ellington (with Strayhorn) returned to work on film scores, this time for Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and Paris Blues (1961). Ellington and Strayhorn, always looking for new musical territory, produced adaptations of John Steinbeck's novel Sweet Thursday, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt. The late 1950s also saw Ella Fitzgerald record her Duke Ellington Songbook with Ellington and his orchestra—a recognition that Ellington's songs had now become part of the cultural canon known as the "Great American Songbook".
Ellington in 1973Detroit Free Press music critic Mark Stryker concludes that the work of Billy Strayhorn and Ellington in Anatomy of a Murder, the trial court drama film directed by Otto Preminger in 1959, is "indispensable, [although] . . . too sketchy to rank in the top echelon among Ellington-Strayhorn masterpiece suites like Such Sweet Thunder and The Far East Suite, but its most inspired moments are their equal."[32] Film historians have recognized the soundtrack "as a landmark – the first significant Hollywood film music by African Americans comprising non-diegetic music, that is, music whose source is not visible or implied by action in the film, like an on-screen band." The score avoided the cultural stereotypes which previously characterized jazz scores and rejected a strict adherence to visuals in ways that presaged the New Wave cinema of the ’60s".[33]
In the early 1960s, Ellington was between recording contracts, which allowed him to record with a variety of artists not previously associated with him. The Ellington and Count Basie orchestras recorded together and he made a record with Coleman Hawkins, another with Louis Armstrong, plus a sequence of albums for Frank Sinatra's new Reprise label. In 1962, he participated in a session which produced the Money Jungle (United Artists) album with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, and also recorded with John Coltrane for Impulse. Musicians who had previously worked with Ellington returned to the Orchestra as members: Lawrence Brown in 1960 and Cootie Williams in 1962. Ellington was by now performing all over the world (a significant part of each year was now spent making overseas tours), and he formed notable new working relationships, among which included the Swedish vocalist Alice Babs, and South African musicians Dollar Brand and Sathima Bea Benjamin (A Morning in Paris, 1963/1997). His earlier hits were now established standards, earning Ellington impressive royalties. "The writing and playing of music is a matter of intent.... You can't just throw a paint brush against the wall and call whatever happens art. My music fits the tonal personality of the player. I think too strongly in terms of altering my music to fit the performer to be impressed by accidental music. You can't take doodling seriously."[15]
[edit] Last years
Ellington was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1965, but was turned down.[34] His reaction at 67 years old: "Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young."[35] In September of the same year, the first of his Sacred Concerts was given its premiere. It was an attempt to fuse Christian liturgy with jazz, and even though it received mixed reviews, Ellington was proud of the composition and performed it dozens of times. This concert was followed by two others of the same type in 1968 and 1973, known as the Second and Third Sacred Concerts. This caused controversy in what was already a tumultuous time in the United States. Many saw the Sacred Music suites as an attempt to reinforce commercial support for organized religion, though Ellington simply said it was, "the most important thing I've done."[36] The Steinway piano upon which the Sacred Concerts were composed is part of the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Like Haydn and Mozart, Ellington conducted his orchestra from the piano - he always played the keyboard parts when the Sacred Concerts were performed.[37]
Ellington receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Nixon, 1969.Ellington continued to make vital and innovative recordings, including The Far East Suite (1966), the New Orleans Suite (1970), and The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (1971), much of it inspired by his world tours. It was during this time that Ellington recorded his only album with Frank Sinatra, entitled Francis A. & Edward K. (1967).
Ellington was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1966. He was later awarded several other prizes, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, an Honorary PhD from the Berklee College of Music in 1971, and the Legion of Honor by France in 1973, the highest civilian honors in each country.[1] He died of lung cancer and pneumonia on May 24, 1974, a month after his 75th birthday, and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York City.[38] At his funeral attended by over 12,000 people at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Ella Fitzgerald summed up the occasion, "It's a very sad day. A genius has passed."[39] Mercer Ellington picked up the reins of the orchestra immediately after Duke's death. Ellington's last words were, "Music is how I live, why I live and how I will be remembered."[citation needed]
[edit] Work in films and the theater
Ellington's film work began in 1929 with the short film Black and Tan [40]. Symphony in Black (1935) featured his extended piece 'A Rhapsody of Negro Life'. It introduced Billie Holiday, and won an Academy Award as the best musical short subject. He also appeared in the Amos 'n' Andy film Check and Double Check (1930). Ellington and his Orchestra continued to appear in films through the 1930s and 1940s, both in short films and in features such as Murder at the Vanities and Belle of the Nineties (1934), and Cabin in the Sky (1943). In the late 1950s, his work in films took the shape of scoring for soundtracks, notably Anatomy of a Murder (1959), with James Stewart, in which he appeared fronting a roadhouse combo, and Paris Blues (1961), which featured Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as jazz musicians.
He wrote an original score for director Michael Langham's production of Shakespeare's Timon of Athens at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada which opened on July 29, 1963. Langham has used it for several subsequent productions, most recently in an adaptation by Stanley Silverman which expands the score with some of Ellington's best-known works.
Ellington composed the score for the musical Jump For Joy, which was performed in Los Angeles during 1941. Ellington's sole book musical, Beggar's Holiday, was staged on Broadway in 1946. Sophisticated Ladies, an award-winning 1981 musical revue, incorporated many tunes from his repertoire.
[edit] Private life
Ellington married his high school sweetheart, Edna Thompson, on July 2, 1918, when he was 19. Shortly after their marriage, on March 11, 1919 Edna gave birth to their only son, Mercer Kennedy Ellington. Mercer played trumpet, led his own band and worked as his father's business manager, eventually taking full control of the band after Duke's death. He was an important archivist of his father's musical life.
Ellington's sister Ruth (1915–2004) later ran Tempo Music, Ellington' music publishing company. Ruth's second husband was the bass-baritone McHenry Boatwright, whom she met when he sang at her brother's funeral.
Ellington's grandson Edward Ellington is a musician and maintains a small salaried band known as the Duke Ellington Legacy, which frequently comprises the core of the big band operated by The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts.
[edit] Discography
Main article: Duke Ellington discography
[edit] Awards, honors and recognitions
[edit] Memorials
The grave of Duke EllingtonNumerous memorials have been dedicated to Duke Ellington, in cities from New York and Washington, DC to Los Angeles.
In Ellington's birthplace of Washington, D.C., there is a school dedicated to his honor and memory as well as one of the bridges over Rock Creek Park. The Duke Ellington School of the Arts educates talented students, who are considering careers in the arts, by providing intensive arts instruction and strong academic programs that prepare students for post-secondary education and professional careers. The Calvert Street Bridge was renamed the Duke Ellington Bridge; built in 1935, it connects Woodley Park to Adams Morgan.
On February 24, 2009, the United States Mint launched a new coin featuring Duke Ellington, making him the first African-American to appear by himself on a circulating U.S. coin.[41] Ellington appears on the reverse ("tails") side of the District of Columbia quarter.[41] The coin is part of the U.S. Mint's program honoring the District and the U.S. territories[42] and celebrates Ellington's birthplace in the District of Columbia.[41] Ellington is depicted on the quarter seated at a piano, sheet music in hand, along with the inscription "Justice for All", which is the District's motto.[42]
Ellington lived for years in a townhouse on the corner of Manhattan's Riverside Drive and West 106th Street. After his death, West 106th Street was officially renamed Duke Ellington Boulevard. A large memorial to Ellington, created by sculptor Robert Graham, was dedicated in 1997 in New York's Central Park, near Fifth Avenue and 110th Street, an intersection named Duke Ellington Circle.
Although he made two more stage appearances before his death, Ellington performed what is considered his final "full" concert in a ballroom at Northern Illinois University on March 20, 1974.[43] The hall was renamed the Duke Ellington Ballroom in 1980.
A statue of Ellington at a piano is featured at the entrance to UCLA's Schoenberg Hall. According to UCLA magazine, "When UCLA students were entranced by Duke Ellington's provocative tunes at a Culver City club in 1937, they asked the budding musical great to play a free concert in Royce Hall. 'I've been waiting for someone to ask us!' Ellington exclaimed".
"On the day of the concert, Ellington accidentally mixed up the venues and drove to USC instead. He eventually arrived at the UCLA campus and, to apologize for his tardiness, played to the packed crowd for more than four hours. And so, "Sir Duke" and his group played the first-ever jazz performance in a concert venue."[44]
He is one of only five jazz musicians ever to have been featured on the cover of Time (the other four being Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Wynton Marsalis, and Dave Brubeck).[45]
The Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival is a nationally renowned annual competition for prestigious high school bands. Started in 1996 at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the festival is named after Ellington because of the large focus that the festival places on his works.
[edit] Tributes
Sathima Bea Benjamin - the South African vocalist wrote "Gift of Love", in memory of Duke Ellington, for her 1987 album Love Light.
Dave Brubeck - dedicated "The Duke" (1954) to Ellington and it became a standard covered by others,[46] both during Ellington's lifetime (such as by Miles Davis on Miles Ahead, 1957) and posthumously (such as George Shearing on I Hear a Rhapsody: Live at the Blue Note, 1992). The album The Real Ambassadors has a vocal version of this piece, You Swing Baby (The Duke), with lyrics by Iola Brubeck, Dave's wife. It is performed as a duet between Louis Armstrong and Carmen McRae. It is also dedicated to Duke Ellington.
Tony Bennett frequently altered the lyrics to "Lullaby of Broadway" in live performance, to sing, "You rock-a-bye your baby 'round/to Ellington or Basie," as a personal tribute to the two jazz masters.
Judy Collins - wrote "Song For Duke" in 1975, and included it on her album Judith.
Miles Davis - one month after Ellington's death, created his half-hour dedicated dirge "He Loved Him Madly" (1974) collected on Get Up with It.
The jazz-influenced band Steely Dan recorded a note-for-note version of an early Ellington standard, "East St. Louis Toodle-oo," on their album Pretzel Logic, released in 1974, using treated slide guitars to re-create the plunger-muted "jungle sound" of the original Ellington horns.
Stevie Wonder - wrote the song "Sir Duke" as a tribute to Ellington in 1976.
Charles Mingus - composed "Open Letter to Duke" and "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love"
Lorraine Feather - has composed lyrics to many of Ellington's instrumental compositions,recorded on CD's including "Dooji Wooji" and "Such Sweet Thunder."
The Modern Jazz Quartet composed two original Ellington tributes for their album For Ellington.
There are hundreds of albums dedicated to the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn by artists famous and obscure. The more notable artists include Sonny Stitt, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Tony Bennett, Claude Bolling, Oscar Peterson, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Dick Hyman, Joe Pass, Milt Jackson, Earl Hines, André Previn, World Saxophone Quartet, Ben Webster, Zoot Sims, Kenny Burrell, Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, Martial Solal, Clark Terry and Randy Weston.
[edit] Homage from critics
Gunther Schuller wrote, "Ellington composed incessantly to the very last days of his life. Music was indeed his mistress; it was his total life and his commitment to it was incomparable and unalterable. In jazz he was a giant among giants. And in twentieth century music, he may yet one day be recognized as one of the half-dozen greatest masters of our time."[47]
Martin Williams said "Duke Ellington lived long enough to hear himself named among our best composers. And since his death in 1974, it has become not at all uncommon to see him named, along with Charles Ives, as the greatest composer we have produced, regardless of category."[48]
In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Duke Ellington on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.[49]
Andre Previn said, "You know, Stan Kenton can stand in front of a thousand fiddles and a thousand brass and make a dramatic gesture and every studio arranger can nod his head and say, ‘‘Oh, yes, that’s done like this.’’ But Duke merely lifts his finger, three horns make a sound, and I don’t know what it is!" [50]
[edit] Awards
[edit] Grammy Awards
Ellington earned 13 Grammy awards from 1959 to 2000, nine while he was alive.
Duke Ellington Grammy Award History[51]
Year Category Title Genre Result
1999 Historical Album The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition
RCA Victor Recordings (1927–1973) Jazz Winner
1979 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band Duke Ellington At Fargo, 1940 Live Jazz Winner
1976 Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band The Ellington Suites Jazz Winner
1972 Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band Toga Brava Suite Jazz Winner
1971 Best Jazz Performance By A Big Band New Orleans Suite Jazz Winner
1968 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance - Large Group
Or Soloist With Large Group ...And His Mother Called Him Bill Jazz Winner
1967 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Large Group
Or Soloist With Large Group Far East Suite Jazz Winner
1966 Best Original Jazz Composition In The Beginning God Jazz Winner
1965 Best Instrumental Jazz Performance -
Large Group Or Soloist With Large Group Ellington '66 Jazz Winner
1959 Best Performance By A Dance Band Anatomy of a Murder Pop Winner
1959 Best Musical Composition First Recorded
And Released In 1959
(More Than 5 Minutes Duration) Anatomy of a Murder Composing Winner
1959 Best Sound Track Album - Background Score
From A Motion Picture Or Television Anatomy of a Murder Composing Winner
[edit] Grammy Hall of Fame
Recordings of Duke Ellington were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."
Duke Ellington: Grammy Hall of Fame Award[52][53]
Year Recorded Title Genre Label Year Inducted
1932 It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) Jazz (Single) Brunswick 2008
1934 Cocktails for Two Jazz (Single) Victor 2007
1957 Ellington at Newport Jazz (Album) Columbia 2004
1956 Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue Jazz (Single) Columbia 1999
1967 Far East Suite Jazz (Album) RCA 1999
1944 Black, Brown and Beige Jazz (Single) RCA Victor 1990
1928 Black and Tan Fantasy Jazz (Single) Victor 1981
1941 Take the "A" Train Jazz (Single) Victor 1976
1931 Mood Indigo Jazz (Single) Brunswick 1975
[edit] Honors and inductions
Ellington on the Washington, D.C. quarter released in 2009.Year Category Notes
2009 Commemorative U.S. quarter D.C. and U.S. Territories Quarters Program.[54][55]
2008 Gennett Records Walk of Fame
2004 Nesuhi Ertegün Jazz Hall of Fame
at Jazz at Lincoln Center
1999 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation[1]
1986 22¢ commemorative U.S. stamp Issued April 29, 1986[56]
1978 Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame
1973 French Legion of Honor[57] July 6, 1973
1973 Honorary Degree in Music from Columbia University May 16, 1973
1971 Songwriters Hall of Fame
1969 Presidential Medal of Freedom
1956 Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame inductee
1968 Grammy Trustees Award Special Merit Award
1966 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
1959 NAACP Spingarn Medal
[edit] Notes
^ a b c 1999 Pulitzer Prize Winners Special Awards and Citations
^ Tucker 1995, p. 6 writes "He tried to avoid the word 'jazz' preferring 'Negro' or 'American' music. He claimed there were only two types of music, 'good' and 'bad' ... And he embraced a phrase coined by his colleague Billy Strayhorn – 'beyond category' – as a liberating principle."
^ Hajdu, David (1996), Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn, New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, ISBN 9780865475120, page 170
^ DukeEllington.com "Paul Ellington." Retrieved on September 18, 2009.
^ Entertainment Booking Agency "The Duke Ellington Orchestra." Retrieved on September 18, 2009.
^ name="Lawrence-1">Lawrence 2001, p. 1[
^ Lawrence 2001, p. 2.
^ Lawrence 2001, p. 1.
^ Hasse 1995, p. 21.
^ Hasse 1993, p. 23.
^ Clinkscales lived at 1212 T Street NW, an address erroneously given as, Ellington childhood home.well he was known for eating hot dogs.[citation needed]
^ Terkel 2002
^ Ellington 1976, p. 20.
^ Ellington 1976, p. 10.
^ a b c "Ellington, Duke". Current Biography. H.W. Wilson Company, 1970.
^ a b Simmonds, Yussuf (09-11-2008). "Duke Ellington". Los Angeles Sentinel. http://www.lasentinel.net/Duke-Ellington.html. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
^ Hasse 1993, p. 45.
^ Cohen, Harvey G. (Autumn 2004). "The Marketing of Duke Ellington: Setting the Strategy for an African American Maestro". The Journal of African-American History (Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, Inc.) 89 (4): 291–315. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4134056. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
^ Hasse 1993, p. 79.
^ Schuller, Gunther (October 1992). "Jazz and Composition: The Many Sides of Duke Ellington, the Music's Greatest Composer". Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (American Academy of Arts & Sciences) 46 (1): 36–51. doi:10.2307/3824163.
^ Hasse 1993, p. 90.
^ Ulanov, Barry. Duke Ellington, Creative Age Press, 1946.
^ Hasse 1993, p. 166.
^ Hasse 1993, p. 203.
^ Stone, Sonjia (ed) (1983). "WILLIAM THOMAS STRAYHORN". Billy Strayhorn Songs. University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. http://www.billystrayhorn.com/biography.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
^ Ellington 1976, p. 156.
^ http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article_print.php?id=31974
^ "Jazz Musicians - Duke Ellington". Theory Jazz. http://theoryjazz.com/artists/ellington.html. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
^ Crawford, Richard (1993). The American Musical Landscape. Berkeley: University of California Press.
^ Hasse 1993, p. 274.
^ Wein, George (2003). Myself Among Others: A Life in Music. Da Capo Press.
^ Stryker, Mark, Music Critic, Ellington's score still celebrated, January 20, 2009 Detroit Free Press.
^ Mark Stryker "Ellington's score still celebrated", Detroit Free Press, 20 January 2009; Mervyn Cooke History of Film Music, 2008, Cambridge University Press
^ Gary Giddins, "How Come Jazz Isn't Dead", p. 39–55 in Weisbard 2004, pp. 41–42. Giddins remarks that in 1965, Ellington was denied the Pulitzer because the Pulitzer jury commended him for his body of work rather than for a particular composition, but his posthumous Pulitzer was granted precisely for that life-long body of work.
^ Tucker, Mark; Duke Ellington (1995). The Duke Ellington reader. Oxford University Press.
^ Ellington 1976, p. 269.
^ "Ellington's Steinway Grand". National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. http://www.piano300.si.edu/collectn.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
^ Duke Ellington at Find a Grave
^ Hasse 1993, p. 385.
^ Stratemann, Dr. Klaus. Duke Ellington: Day by Day and Film by Film, 1992. ISBN 87-88043-34-7
^ a b c Staff reporter (2009-02-24). "Jazz man is first African-American to solo on U.S. circulating coin". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/24/duke.ellington.coin/index.html. Retrieved 2009-10-03. "The United States Mint launched a new coin Tuesday featuring jazz legend Duke Ellington, making him the first African American to appear by himself on a circulating U.S. coin. [...] The coin was issued to celebrate Ellington's birthplace, the District of Columbia." (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5kGOH7EZS)
^ a b United States Mint. Coins and Medals. District of Columbia.
^ McGowan, Mark (November 3, 2003). "NIU to rededicate Duke Ellington Ballroom during Nov. 6 NIU Jazz Ensemble concert". Northern Illinois University. http://www.niu.edu/PubAffairs/RELEASES/2003/nov/ellington.shtml. Retrieved 2009-07-14.
^ Maya Parmer,Curtain Up: Two Days of the Duke, UCLA Magazine, April 1, 2009
^ Time.com
^ ""The Duke" by Dave Brubeck: song review, recordings, covers". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:n0xvadok48wo. Retrieved 2007-03-21.
^ Schuller, Gunther, The Swing Era, Oxford University Press, 1989, ISBN 0-19-504312-X. p. 157.
^ Martin Williams, liner notes, Duke Ellington's Symphony in Black,The Smithsonian Jazz Repertory Ensemble conducted by Gunther Schuller, The Smithsonian Collections recording, 1980.
^ Asante, Molefi Kete (2002). 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Amherst, New York. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-963-8.
^ Ralph J. Gleason, ‘‘Duke Excites, Mystifies Without Any Pretension,’’ Down Beat, November 5, l952, reprinted in Jazz Perspectives Vol. 2, No. 2, July 2008, pp. 215–49.
^ Grammy Awards Database
^ Grammy Hall of Fame Award Database
^ 2008 Grammy Hall of Fame List
^ 2009 D.C. and U.S. Territories Quarters Program from the United States Mint website
^ Sheridan, Mary Beth (2008-06-20). "Ellington Comes Out Ahead in Coin Tossup". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/19/AR2008061904090.html. Retrieved 2009-10-03.
^ Duke Ellington: 22 cents Commemorative stamp from the Center for Jazz Arts website
^ American History: Duke Ellington
[edit] Bibliography (further reading)
Cohen, Harvey G. Duke Ellington's America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. ISBN 9780226112633
Collier, James Lincoln. Duke Ellington. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. ISBN 0-19-503770-7
Dailey, Raleigh. "Ellington as a Composer for the Piano," in Jazz Research Proceedings Yearbook, #31 (Jan.2001), pp. 151–156.
Dance, Stanley. The World Of Duke Ellington. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1970. ISBN 0-306-80136-1
Ellington, Duke. Music Is My Mistress. New York: Da Capo, 1976 ISBN 0-7043-3090-3
Ellington, Mercer. Duke Ellington In Person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978. ISBN 0-395-27511-5.
Hajdu, David, Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1996. ISBN 9780865475120.
Hasse, John Edward. Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington. New York: Da Capo, 1995. ISBN 0306806142
Lawrence, A. H. Duke Ellington and His World: A Biography. New York: Routledge, 2001. ISBN 041593012X
Schuller, Gunther. Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. ISBN 9780195040432. Especially pp. 318–357.
Schuller, Gunther. The Swing Era: The Development Of Jazz, 1930-1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 9780195072405. Esp. pp. 46–157.
(French) Gilles Tordjman, François Billard, Duke Ellington, Le Seuil, Paris, 1994. ISBN 978-2020137003
Terkel, Studs (2002), Giants of Jazz (2nd ed.), New York: The New Press, ISBN 978-1-56584-769-9.
Tucker, Mark. Ellington, The Early Years, University of Illinois Press, 1991. ISBN 0-252-01425-1
Tucker, Mark. The Duke Ellington Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993 ISBN 9780195093919 .
Ulanov, Barry. Duke Ellington, Creative Age Press, 1946.
Weisbard, Eric, ed.. This Is Pop: In Search of the Elusive at Experience Music Project. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN 0674013441.
[edit] Reference works (discographies, filmographies, etc.)
Massagli, Luciano and Volonté, Giovanni. The New Desor: Duke Ellington's Story on Records Parts One and Two, 1999, Milan, Italy. Privately published two part discography with no ISBN number. The most comprehensive Ellington discography for sessions and record issues.
Stratemann, Dr. Klaus. Duke Ellington: Day by Day and Film by Film. Copenhagen: JazzMedia, 1992. ISBN 87-88043-34-7 Covers all of Duke's travels and films from the 1929 short film Black and Tan onwards
Timner, W.E.. Ellingtonia: The Recorded Music of Duke Ellington and His Sidemen. 5th ed. Lanham, Md. & Toronto: Scarecrow Press, 2007. ISBN 0-8108-5889-4 Has a unique discography of Ellington's sidemen.
[edit] External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Duke Ellington
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Duke Ellington
Official website
Official family website
Duke Ellington at the Internet Movie Database
Duke Ellington at the Internet Broadway Database
Duke Ellington Biography, in Down Beat Magazine.
Duke Ellington Collection: Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Archive Center.
A Duke Ellington Panorama; including detailed discography.
The Duke Ellington Society, TDES, Inc
Duke Ellington: 20th International Conference. May 2008, London.
Duke Ellington Orchestra at Wenig-LaMonica Associates
Duke Ellington at Find a Grave
[hide]v • d • eDuke Ellington
Discography The Blanton–Webster Band · Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band · Ellington at Newport · The Complete Porgy and Bess · Such Sweet Thunder · Ellington Indigos · Newport 1958 · Black, Brown and Beige · Jazz Party · Anatomy of a Murder · Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins · Money Jungle · The Great Paris Concert · Duke Ellington & John Coltrane · Ella at Duke's Place · Ella and Duke at the Cote D'Azur · The Far East Suite · The Stockholm Concert, 1966 · ...And His Mother Called Him Bill · Francis A. & Edward K.
Compositions "All Too Soon" · "Azure" · "Black, Brown and Beige" · "C Jam Blues" · "Cotton Tail" · "Day Dream" · "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" · "Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me" · "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" · "Drop Me Off in Harlem" · "Everything But You" · "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues" · "I Didn't Know About You" · "I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)" · "I'm Beginning to See the Light" · "I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So" · "In a Mellow Tone" · "In a Sentimental Mood" · "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" · "Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'" · "Just Squeeze Me (But Please Don't Tease Me)" · "Mood Indigo" · " Prelude to a Kiss" · "Rocks in My Bed" · "(In My) Solitude" · "Sophisticated Lady" · Billy Strayhorn Compositions Associated With Ellington: "Take the "A" Train" · "Lush Life" · "Chelsea Bridge" · "Something to Live For" · "Satin Doll" · Juan Tizol Compositions Associated With Ellington: "Caravan" · "Perdido"
Orchestra
members Hayes Alvis · Cat Anderson · Ivie Anderson · Harold Ashby · Alice Babs · Shorty Baker · Butch Ballard · Art Baron · Aaron Bell · Louie Bellson · Joe Benjamin · Barney Bigard · Lou Blackburn · Jimmy Blanton · Wellman Braud · Lawrence Brown · Harry Carney · Johnny Coles · Willie Cook · Buster Cooper · Kay Davis · Wild Bill Davis · Wilbur De Paris · Bobby Durham · Mercer Ellington · Rolf Ericson · Jimmy Forrest · Victor Gaskin · Peter Giger · Tyree Glenn · Paul Gonsalves · Sonny Greer · Fred Guy · Jimmy Hamilton · Otto Hardwick · Rick Henderson · Al Hibbler · Johnny Hodges · Major Holley · Quentin Jackson · Hilton Jefferson · Herb Jeffries · Freddie Jenkins · Money Johnson · Herbie Jones · Taft Jordan · Al Killian · Queen Esther Marrow · Wendell Marshall · Murray McEachern · Louis Metcalf · James "Bubber" Miley · Harold "Geezil" Minerve · Ray Nance · Tricky Sam Nanton · Oscar Pettiford · Eddie Preston · Russell Procope · Junior Raglin · Betty Roché · Ernie Royal · Al Sears · Joya Sherrill · Willie Smith · Rex Stewart · Billy Strayhorn · Billy Taylor (jazz bassist) · Clark Terry · Juan Tizol · Norris Turney · Ben Webster · Arthur Whetsol · Cootie Williams · Nelson Williams · Skippy Williams · Booty Wood · Jimmy Woode · Britt Woodman · Sam Woodyard
Filmography Black and Tan (The Movie) · Belle of the Nineties · Murder at the Vanities · Cabin in the Sky · Paris Blues · Assault on a Queen · Change of Mind
Related Duke Ellington Bridge · Duke Ellington House · Duke Ellington School of the Arts · Irving Mills · Sophisticated Ladies · Sacred Concerts
Discography
Persondata
NAME Ellington, Duke
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ellington, Edward Kennedy; The Duke
SHORT DESCRIPTION Bandleader, composer, pianist
DATE OF BIRTH April 29, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Washington, D.C., United States
DATE OF DEATH May 24, 1974
PLACE OF DEATH New York City
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Ellington"
Kamis, 08 April 2010
Rabu, 07 April 2010
Michael Franks
Background information
Born September 18, 1944 (Age 64)
Origin La Jolla, California
Genres Smooth jazz
Occupations Songwriter
Instruments Vocals
Years active 1973 – present
Labels Warner Bros. Records
Reprise Records
Rhino Records
Website Michael Franks.com
Michael Franks (born 18 September 1944 in La Jolla, California) is a smooth jazz singer and songwriter from the United States. He has recorded with a Who's Who of artists, such as Patti Austin, Brenda Russell, Art Garfunkel, and David Sanborn. His songs have been recorded by The Manhattan Transfer, Patti Labelle, Carmen McRae, Diana Krall, Shirley Bassey and The Carpenters.
Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Discography
3 References
4 External links
[edit] Biography
Michael Franks grew up in southern California with his father Gerald, his mother Betty and two younger sisters. Although no one in his family played music, his parents loved swing music and his early influences included Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Johnny Mercer. At age 14 Michael bought his first guitar, a Japanese Marco Polo for $29.95 with six private lessons included - the only music education that he received.
At University High in Irvine, Michael discovered the poetry of Theodore Roethke with his off-rhymes and hidden meter. In high school, he began singing folk-rock, accompanying himself on guitar. Studying English at UCLA Michael discovered Dave Brubeck, Patti Page, Stan Getz, João Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Miles Davis. He never studied music in college or later[1], but rather earned a B.A. from UCLA in comparative literature in 1966, and a M.A. from the University of Oregon in 1968. He had a teaching assistantship in a Ph.D. program in American literature at the University of Montreal before returning to teach part-time at UCLA.
During this time he started writing songs, starting with the antiwar musical Anthems in E-flat starring Mark Hamill. He also composed music for the films Count Your Bullets, Cockfighter, and Zandy's Bride, starring Liv Ullmann and Gene Hackman. Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee recorded three of Michael's songs, including "White Boy Lost in the Blues", on their album Sonny & Brownie. Michael played guitar, banjo and mandolin on the album and joined them in touring. In 1973, Michael recorded an eponymous album (later reissued as Previously Unavailable), which included the minor hit "Can't Seem to Shake this Rock 'n Roll."
In 1976 Michael released his second album The Art of Tea, beginning a long relationship with Warner Brothers Music. The Art of Tea featured Joe Sample, Larry Carlton and Wilton Felder of The Crusaders and included the hit song "Popsicle Toes." Michael's third album, Sleeping Gypsy, which includes the song "The Lady Wants to Know", was partially recorded in Brazil. Around this time, percussionist Ray Armando first gave Michael what would become a signature instrument - a cabasa - to play on stage for songs he didn't play guitar on. Burchfield Nines, which includes the song "When the Cookie Jar is Empty", reflects Michael's move to New York City and features more of an East Coast sound. Since then, Franks has recorded more than 15 albums.
His best known works include "When I Give My Love To You", "Popsicle Toes", "Monkey See, Monkey Do", "Tiger in the Rain", "Rainy Night in Tokyo", and "Tell Me All About It". His biggest hit came in 1983 with "When Sly Calls (Don't Touch That Phone)", from the album Passionfruit. Radio hits include "Your Secret's Safe With Me" from the 1985 album Skin Dive, and "Island Life" from 1987's The Camera Never Lies.
This section requires expansion.
[edit] Discography
Albums
1973 - Michael Franks (Brut)
1975 - Art of Tea (Reprise)
1977 - Sleeping Gypsy (Warner Brothers)
1978 - Burchfield Nines (Warner Brothers)
1979 - Tiger in the Rain (Warner Brothers)
1980 - One Bad Habit (Warner Brothers)
1980 - Michael Franks with Crossfire LIVE (Warner Brothers)
1982 - Objects of Desire (Warner Brothers)
1983 - Passionfruit (Warner Brothers)
1983 - Previously Unavailable (DRG) - reissue of 1973's Michael Franks
1985 - Skin Dive (Warner Brothers)
1987 - The Camera Never Lies (Warner Brothers)
1990 - Blue Pacific (Reprise)
1993 - Dragonfly Summer (Warner Brothers)
1995 - Abandoned Garden (Warner Brothers)
1998 - The Best Of Michael Franks: A Backward Glance (Warner Brothers)
1999 - Barefoot on the Beach (Windham Hill)
2003 - The Michael Franks Anthology: The Art Of Love (Warner Brothers)
2003 - Watching The Snow (Rhino) - rereleased in 2007 by Koch Records
2004 - Love Songs Original Recordings Remastered (Warner Brothers)
2006 - Rendezvous in Rio (Koch Records)
[edit] References
Sources consulted
Galloway, A. Scott (biographer) (2003), "The Michael Franks Anthology: The Art of Love" Liner notes
Galloway, A. Scott (biographer) (2006, spring). ""Michael Franks - Rendezvous in Rio" biography". Michael Franks.com. http://www.michaelfranks.com/bio.html.
Smith, Baldwin "Smitty" (interviewer) (2006, July). ""Jazz Monthly Feature Interview: Michael Franks"". Jazz Monthly.com. http://www.jazzmonthly.com/artist_ag/franks_michael/interviews/franks_index.html.
Wynn, Ron (2007 copyright). ""Biography: Michael Franks"". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:kifwxqt5ldae~T1.
Endnotes
^ Smith 2006, op. cit.
[edit] External links
Michael Franks.com - official website
Michael Franks at Allmusic
Born September 18, 1944 (Age 64)
Origin La Jolla, California
Genres Smooth jazz
Occupations Songwriter
Instruments Vocals
Years active 1973 – present
Labels Warner Bros. Records
Reprise Records
Rhino Records
Website Michael Franks.com
Michael Franks (born 18 September 1944 in La Jolla, California) is a smooth jazz singer and songwriter from the United States. He has recorded with a Who's Who of artists, such as Patti Austin, Brenda Russell, Art Garfunkel, and David Sanborn. His songs have been recorded by The Manhattan Transfer, Patti Labelle, Carmen McRae, Diana Krall, Shirley Bassey and The Carpenters.
Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Discography
3 References
4 External links
[edit] Biography
Michael Franks grew up in southern California with his father Gerald, his mother Betty and two younger sisters. Although no one in his family played music, his parents loved swing music and his early influences included Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Johnny Mercer. At age 14 Michael bought his first guitar, a Japanese Marco Polo for $29.95 with six private lessons included - the only music education that he received.
At University High in Irvine, Michael discovered the poetry of Theodore Roethke with his off-rhymes and hidden meter. In high school, he began singing folk-rock, accompanying himself on guitar. Studying English at UCLA Michael discovered Dave Brubeck, Patti Page, Stan Getz, João Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Miles Davis. He never studied music in college or later[1], but rather earned a B.A. from UCLA in comparative literature in 1966, and a M.A. from the University of Oregon in 1968. He had a teaching assistantship in a Ph.D. program in American literature at the University of Montreal before returning to teach part-time at UCLA.
During this time he started writing songs, starting with the antiwar musical Anthems in E-flat starring Mark Hamill. He also composed music for the films Count Your Bullets, Cockfighter, and Zandy's Bride, starring Liv Ullmann and Gene Hackman. Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee recorded three of Michael's songs, including "White Boy Lost in the Blues", on their album Sonny & Brownie. Michael played guitar, banjo and mandolin on the album and joined them in touring. In 1973, Michael recorded an eponymous album (later reissued as Previously Unavailable), which included the minor hit "Can't Seem to Shake this Rock 'n Roll."
In 1976 Michael released his second album The Art of Tea, beginning a long relationship with Warner Brothers Music. The Art of Tea featured Joe Sample, Larry Carlton and Wilton Felder of The Crusaders and included the hit song "Popsicle Toes." Michael's third album, Sleeping Gypsy, which includes the song "The Lady Wants to Know", was partially recorded in Brazil. Around this time, percussionist Ray Armando first gave Michael what would become a signature instrument - a cabasa - to play on stage for songs he didn't play guitar on. Burchfield Nines, which includes the song "When the Cookie Jar is Empty", reflects Michael's move to New York City and features more of an East Coast sound. Since then, Franks has recorded more than 15 albums.
His best known works include "When I Give My Love To You", "Popsicle Toes", "Monkey See, Monkey Do", "Tiger in the Rain", "Rainy Night in Tokyo", and "Tell Me All About It". His biggest hit came in 1983 with "When Sly Calls (Don't Touch That Phone)", from the album Passionfruit. Radio hits include "Your Secret's Safe With Me" from the 1985 album Skin Dive, and "Island Life" from 1987's The Camera Never Lies.
This section requires expansion.
[edit] Discography
Albums
1973 - Michael Franks (Brut)
1975 - Art of Tea (Reprise)
1977 - Sleeping Gypsy (Warner Brothers)
1978 - Burchfield Nines (Warner Brothers)
1979 - Tiger in the Rain (Warner Brothers)
1980 - One Bad Habit (Warner Brothers)
1980 - Michael Franks with Crossfire LIVE (Warner Brothers)
1982 - Objects of Desire (Warner Brothers)
1983 - Passionfruit (Warner Brothers)
1983 - Previously Unavailable (DRG) - reissue of 1973's Michael Franks
1985 - Skin Dive (Warner Brothers)
1987 - The Camera Never Lies (Warner Brothers)
1990 - Blue Pacific (Reprise)
1993 - Dragonfly Summer (Warner Brothers)
1995 - Abandoned Garden (Warner Brothers)
1998 - The Best Of Michael Franks: A Backward Glance (Warner Brothers)
1999 - Barefoot on the Beach (Windham Hill)
2003 - The Michael Franks Anthology: The Art Of Love (Warner Brothers)
2003 - Watching The Snow (Rhino) - rereleased in 2007 by Koch Records
2004 - Love Songs Original Recordings Remastered (Warner Brothers)
2006 - Rendezvous in Rio (Koch Records)
[edit] References
Sources consulted
Galloway, A. Scott (biographer) (2003), "The Michael Franks Anthology: The Art of Love" Liner notes
Galloway, A. Scott (biographer) (2006, spring). ""Michael Franks - Rendezvous in Rio" biography". Michael Franks.com. http://www.michaelfranks.com/bio.html.
Smith, Baldwin "Smitty" (interviewer) (2006, July). ""Jazz Monthly Feature Interview: Michael Franks"". Jazz Monthly.com. http://www.jazzmonthly.com/artist_ag/franks_michael/interviews/franks_index.html.
Wynn, Ron (2007 copyright). ""Biography: Michael Franks"". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:kifwxqt5ldae~T1.
Endnotes
^ Smith 2006, op. cit.
[edit] External links
Michael Franks.com - official website
Michael Franks at Allmusic
Selasa, 06 April 2010
What is Jazz Music?
Famous Jazz musicians include Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus.
Hailing from early 20th century New Orleans, Jazz is a highly artistic and sophisticated form of music. Groups of self-taught African-American musicians who led funeral processions in New Orleans played an influential role in the development of early Jazz.
This classic style of music was born from a combination of African American music and Western musical techniques. Some of the genre’s many stylistic markers include the usage of blue notes, syncopation, polyrhythms, call and response, and creative improvisation. The roots of Jazz are steeped in various influences. These include spirituals, the Blues, and ragtime culled from West African traditions. Western influences include the religious hymns of New England, Old-Time music, and even European military band music.
Jazz is particularly rooted in the Blues. The Blues developed from the folk music of former African American slaves, which was strongly influenced by their West African cultural background. Wynton Marsalis, a famous Jazz musician, stated: “Jazz is something Negroes invented... the nobility of the race put into sound... Jazz has all the elements, from the spare and penetrating to the complex and enveloping.”
The basic instruments of Jazz include brass, reeds, and drums. These were the same type of instruments used by European marching bands. Both also use the 12-tone scale. Scholars state: “... [a] Black musical spirit was bursting out of the confines of European musical tradition, even though the performers were using European styled instruments.” Jazz spread rapidly throughout the United States and Europe in the twenties. The origin of the word Jazz is unknown, although it is linked to American slang.
Though a rarity, the violin is sometimes used as a solo instrument in Jazz. Still, it is well suited to Jazz, and many noteworthy players have used it well. Joe Venuti, best known for his work with Eddie Lang, is considered the first great Jazz violinist. Other Jazz violinists include St鰨ane Grappelli, Stuff Smith, Ray Perry, Ray Nance, Elek Bacsik, Claude “Fiddler” Williams, Leroy Jenkins, Billy Bang, Mat Maneri, Malcolm Goldstein, Regina Carter, and Jean-Luc Ponty.
The growth of African-American established schools helped to educate more children and produce more formally trained musicians. Both Lorenzo Tio and Scott Joplin were educated in the classical European musical style. African-American musicians with formal training and skills helped to both preserve and develop the musical style of Jazz.
Hailing from early 20th century New Orleans, Jazz is a highly artistic and sophisticated form of music. Groups of self-taught African-American musicians who led funeral processions in New Orleans played an influential role in the development of early Jazz.
This classic style of music was born from a combination of African American music and Western musical techniques. Some of the genre’s many stylistic markers include the usage of blue notes, syncopation, polyrhythms, call and response, and creative improvisation. The roots of Jazz are steeped in various influences. These include spirituals, the Blues, and ragtime culled from West African traditions. Western influences include the religious hymns of New England, Old-Time music, and even European military band music.
Jazz is particularly rooted in the Blues. The Blues developed from the folk music of former African American slaves, which was strongly influenced by their West African cultural background. Wynton Marsalis, a famous Jazz musician, stated: “Jazz is something Negroes invented... the nobility of the race put into sound... Jazz has all the elements, from the spare and penetrating to the complex and enveloping.”
The basic instruments of Jazz include brass, reeds, and drums. These were the same type of instruments used by European marching bands. Both also use the 12-tone scale. Scholars state: “... [a] Black musical spirit was bursting out of the confines of European musical tradition, even though the performers were using European styled instruments.” Jazz spread rapidly throughout the United States and Europe in the twenties. The origin of the word Jazz is unknown, although it is linked to American slang.
Though a rarity, the violin is sometimes used as a solo instrument in Jazz. Still, it is well suited to Jazz, and many noteworthy players have used it well. Joe Venuti, best known for his work with Eddie Lang, is considered the first great Jazz violinist. Other Jazz violinists include St鰨ane Grappelli, Stuff Smith, Ray Perry, Ray Nance, Elek Bacsik, Claude “Fiddler” Williams, Leroy Jenkins, Billy Bang, Mat Maneri, Malcolm Goldstein, Regina Carter, and Jean-Luc Ponty.
The growth of African-American established schools helped to educate more children and produce more formally trained musicians. Both Lorenzo Tio and Scott Joplin were educated in the classical European musical style. African-American musicians with formal training and skills helped to both preserve and develop the musical style of Jazz.
EARLY JAZZ MUSICIAN
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong's stage personality matched his flashy cornet and trumpet playing. Armstrong is also known for his raspy singing voice.
Background information
Birth name Louis Daniel Armstrong
Born August 4, 1901
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Died July 6, 1971 (aged 69)
Corona, Queens, New York City
Genres Jazz, Dixieland, swing, traditional pop
Occupations Musician
Instruments Trumpet, cornet, vocals
Years active c. 1914–71
Associated acts Joe "King" Oliver, Ella Fitzgerald, Kid Ory
Louis Daniel Armstrong[1] (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971)[2] nicknamed Satchmo[3] or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an "inventive" cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence on jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performers. With his distinctive gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing, or vocalizing using syllables instead of actual lyrics.
Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and deep, instantly recognizable voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong's influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general.
Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Career
3 The All Stars
4 Personality
5 Death
6 Music
6.1 Horn playing and early jazz
6.2 Vocal popularity
6.3 Colleagues and followers
6.4 Hits and later career
6.5 Stylistic range
7 Literature, radio, films and TV
8 Awards and honors
8.1 Grammy Awards
8.2 Grammy Hall of Fame
8.3 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
8.4 Inductions and honors
8.5 Legacy
9 Discography
10 Notes
11 References
12 External links
13 Video clips
[edit] Early life
Armstrong often stated in public interviews that he was born on July 4, 1900,[4] a date that has been noted in many biographies. Although he died in 1971, it was not until the mid-1980s that his true birth date of August 4, 1901 was discovered through the examination of baptismal records.[5]
Armstrong was born into a very poor family in New Orleans, Louisiana, the grandson of slaves. He spent his youth in poverty, in a rough neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans, known as “Back of Town”, as his father, William Armstrong (1881–1922), abandoned the family when Louis was an infant and took up with another woman. His mother, Mary "Mayann" Albert (1886–1942), then left Louis and his younger sister Beatrice Armstrong Collins (1903–1987) in the care of his grandmother, Josephine Armstrong, and at times, his Uncle Isaac. At five, he moved back to live with his mother and her relatives, and saw his father only in parades.
He attended the Fisk School for Boys. It was there that he likely had his first exposure to Creole music. He brought in some money as a paperboy and also by finding discarded food and selling it to restaurants, but it was not enough to keep his mother from prostitution. He hung out in dance halls close to home, where he observed everything from licentious dancing to the quadrille. For extra money he also hauled coal to Storyville, the famed red-light district, and listened to the bands playing in the brothels and dance halls, especially Pete Lala's where Joe "King" Oliver performed and other famous musicians would drop in to jam.
After dropping out of the Fisk School at age eleven, Armstrong joined a quartet of boys that sang in the streets for money. But he also started to get into trouble. Cornet player Bunk Johnson said he taught Armstrong (then 11) to play by ear at Dago Tony's Tonk in New Orleans,[6] although in his later years Armstrong gave the credit to Oliver. Armstrong hardly looked back at his youth as the worst of times but instead drew inspiration from it, “Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine—I look right in the heart of good old New Orleans...It has given me something to live for.”[7]
He also worked for a Lithuanian-Jewish immigrant family, the Karnofskys, who had a junk hauling business and gave him odd jobs. They took him in and treated him as almost a family member, knowing he lived without a father, and would feed and nurture him.[8] He later wrote a memoir of his relationship with the Karnofskys titled, Louis Armstrong + the Jewish Family in New Orleans, La., the Year of 1907. In it he describes his discovery that this family was also subject to discrimination by "other white folks' nationalities who felt that they were better than the Jewish race. I was only seven years old but I could easily see the ungodly treatment that the White Folks were handing the poor Jewish family whom I worked for." Armstrong wore a Star of David pendant for the rest of his life and wrote about what he learned from them: "how to live—real life and determination."[9] Armstrong also learned to speak fluent Yiddish that proved useful when he played in New York. The influence of Karnofsky is remembered in New Orleans by the Karnofsky Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to accepting donated musical instruments to "put them into the hands of an eager child who could not otherwise take part in a wonderful learning experience."[10]
Armstrong with his first trumpet instructor, Peter Davis in 1965.Armstrong developed his cornet playing seriously in the band of the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs, where he had been sent multiple times for general delinquency, most notably for a long term after firing his stepfather's pistol into the air at a New Year's Eve celebration, as police records confirm. Professor Peter Davis (who frequently appeared at the Home at the request of its administrator, Captain Joseph Jones)[11] instilled discipline in and provided musical training to the otherwise self-taught Armstrong. Eventually, Davis made Armstrong the band leader. The Home band played around New Orleans and the thirteen year old Louis began to draw attention by his cornet playing, starting him on a musical career.[12] At fourteen he was released from the Home, living again with his father and new stepmother and then back with his mother and also back to the streets and their temptations. Armstrong got his first dance hall job at Henry Ponce’s where Black Benny became his protector and guide. He hauled coal by day and played his cornet at night.
He also played in the city's frequent brass band parades and listened to older musicians every chance he got, learning from Bunk Johnson, Buddy Petit, Kid Ory, and above all, Joe "King" Oliver, who acted as a mentor and father figure to the young musician. Later, he played in the brass bands and riverboats of New Orleans and first started traveling with the well-regarded band of Fate Marable which toured on a steamboat up and down the Mississippi River. He described his time with Marable as "going to the University," since it gave him a much wider experience working with written arrangements.
In 1919, Joe Oliver decided to go north and he resigned his position in Kid Ory's band, then regarded as the best hot jazz group in New Orleans. Armstrong replaced his mentor in Ory's band. He also became second trumpet for the Tuxedo Brass Band, a society band.[13]
[edit] Career
Muggles
Skokiaan
Mack The Knife
“Heebie Jeebies” by Louis Armstrong and his Hot FiveOn March 19, 1918, Louis married Daisy Parker from Gretna, Louisiana. They adopted a 3-year-old boy, Clarence Armstrong, whose mother, Louis's cousin Flora, died soon after giving birth. Clarence Armstrong was mentally disabled (the result of a head injury at an early age) and Louis would spend the rest of his life taking care of him.[14] Louis's marriage to Parker failed quickly and they separated. She died shortly after the divorce.
Through all his riverboat experience Armstrong’s musicianship began to mature and expand. At twenty, he could now read music and he started to be featured in extended trumpet solos, one of the first jazzmen to do this, injecting his own personality and style into his solo turns. He had learned how to create a unique sound and also started using singing and patter in his performances.[15] In 1922, Armstrong joined the exodus to Chicago, where he had been invited by his mentor, Joe "King" Oliver, to join his Creole Jazz Band and where he could make a sufficient income so that he no longer needed to supplement his music with day labor jobs. It was a boom time in Chicago and though race relations were poor, the “Windy City” was teeming with jobs for blacks, who were making good wages in factories and had plenty to spend on entertainment.
Oliver's band was the best and most influential hot jazz band in Chicago in the early 1920s, at a time when Chicago was the center of the jazz universe. Armstrong lived like a king in Chicago, in his own apartment with his own private bath (his first). Excited as he was to be in Chicago, he began his career-long pastime of writing nostalgic letters to friends in New Orleans. As Armstrong’s reputation grew, he was challenged to “cutting contests” by hornmen trying to displace the new phenom, who could blow two hundred high C’s in a row.[16] Armstrong made his first recordings on the Gennett and Okeh labels (jazz records were starting to boom across the country), including taking some solos and breaks, while playing second cornet in Oliver's band in 1923. At this time, he met Hoagy Carmichael (with whom he would collaborate later) who was introduced by friend Bix Beiderbecke, who now had his own Chicago band.
Armstrong enjoyed working with Oliver, but Louis's second wife, pianist Lil Hardin Armstrong, urged him to seek more prominent billing and develop his newer style away from the influence of Oliver. Armstrong took the advice of his wife and left Oliver's band. For a year Armstrong played in Fletcher Henderson's band in New York on many recordings. After playing in New York, Armstrong returned to Chicago, playing in large orchestras; there he created his most important early recordings.[17] Lil had her husband play classical music in church concerts to broaden his skill and improve his solo play and she prodded him into wearing more stylish attire to make him look sharp and to better offset his growing girth. Lil’s influence eventually undermined Armstrong’s relationship with his mentor, especially concerning his salary and additional moneys that Oliver held back from Armstrong and other band members. Armstrong and Oliver parted amicably in 1924. Shortly afterward, Armstrong received an invitation to go to New York City to play with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, the top African-American band of the day. Armstrong switched to the trumpet to blend in better with the other musicians in his section. His influence upon Henderson's tenor sax soloist, Coleman Hawkins, can be judged by listening to the records made by the band during this period.
Armstrong quickly adapted to the more tightly controlled style of Henderson, playing trumpet and even experimenting with the trombone and the other members quickly took up Armstrong’s emotional, expressive pulse. Soon his act included singing and telling tales of New Orleans characters, especially preachers.[18] The Henderson Orchestra was playing in the best venues for white-only patrons, including the famed Roseland Ballroom, featuring the classy arrangements of Don Redman. Duke Ellington’s orchestra would go to Roseland to catch Armstrong’s performances and young hornmen around town tried in vain to outplay him, splitting their lips in their attempts.
During this time, Armstrong also made many recordings on the side, arranged by an old friend from New Orleans, pianist Clarence Williams; these included small jazz band sides with the Williams Blue Five (some of the best pairing Armstrong with one of Armstrong's few rivals in fiery technique and ideas, Sidney Bechet) and a series of accompaniments with blues singers, including Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Alberta Hunter.
Armstrong returned to Chicago in 1925 due mostly to the urging of his wife, who wanted to pump up Armstrong’s career and income. He was content in New York but later would concede that she was right and that the Henderson Orchestra was limiting his artistic growth. In publicity, much to his chagrin, she billed him as “the World’s Greatest Trumpet Player”. At first he was actually a member of the Lil Hardin Armstrong Band and working for his wife.[19] He began recording under his own name for Okeh with his famous Hot Five and Hot Seven groups, producing hits such as "Potato Head Blues", "Muggles" (a reference to marijuana, for which Armstrong had a lifelong fondness), and "West End Blues", the music of which set the standard and the agenda for jazz for many years to come.
The group included Kid Ory (trombone), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Johnny St. Cyr (banjo), wife Lil on piano, and usually no drummer. Armstrong’s bandleading style was easygoing, as St. Cyr noted, "One felt so relaxed working with him and he was very broad-minded ... always did his best to feature each individual".[20] His recordings soon after with pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines (most famously their 1928 Weatherbird duet) and Armstrong's trumpet introduction to "West End Blues" remain some of the most famous and influential improvisations in jazz history. Armstrong was now free to develop his personal style as he wished, which included a heavy dose of effervescent jive, such as "whip that thing, Miss Lil" and "Mr. Johnny Dodds, Aw, do that clarinet, boy!"[21]
Armstrong also played with Erskine Tate’s Little Symphony, actually a quintet, which played mostly at the Vendome Theatre. They furnished music for silent movies and live shows, including jazz versions of classical music, such as “Madame Butterfly”, which gave Armstrong experience with longer forms of music and with hosting before a large audience. He began to scat sing (improvised vocal jazz using non-sensical words) and was among the first to record it, on "Heebie Jeebies" in 1926. So popular was the recording the group became the most famous jazz band in USA even though they as yet had not performed live to any great degree. Young musicians across the country, black and white, were turned on by Armstrong’s new type of jazz.[22]
After separating from Lil, Armstrong started to play at the Sunset Café for Al Capone's associate Joe Glaser in the Carroll Dickerson Orchestra, with Earl Hines on piano, which was soon renamed Louis Armstrong and his Stompers, though Hines was the music director and Glaser managed the orchestra. Hines and Armstrong became fast friends as well as successful collaborators.
Armstrong returned to New York, in 1929, where he played in the pit orchestra of the successful musical Hot Chocolate, an all-black revue written by Andy Razaf and pianist/composer Fats Waller. He also made a cameo appearance as a vocalist, regularly stealing the show with his rendition of "Ain't Misbehavin'", his version of the song becoming his biggest selling record to date.[23]
Armstrong started to work at Connie's Inn in Harlem, chief rival to the Cotton Club, a venue for elaborately staged floor shows,[24] and a front for gangster Dutch Schultz. Armstrong also had considerable success with vocal recordings, including versions of famous songs composed by his old friend Hoagy Carmichael. His 1930s recordings took full advantage of the new RCA ribbon microphone, introduced in 1931, which imparted a characteristic warmth to vocals and immediately became an intrinsic part of the 'crooning' sound of artists like Bing Crosby. Armstrong's famous interpretation of Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" became one of the most successful versions of this song ever recorded, showcasing Armstrong's unique vocal sound and style and his innovative approach to singing songs that had already become standards.
Armstrong's radical re-working of Sidney Arodin and Carmichael's "Lazy River" (recorded in 1931) encapsulated many features of his groundbreaking approach to melody and phrasing. The song begins with a brief trumpet solo, then the main melody is stated by sobbing horns which are memorably punctuated by Armstrong's growling interjections at the end of each bar: "Yeah! ..."Uh-huh" ..."Sure" ... "Way down, way down". In the first verse, he ignores the notated melody entirely and sings as if playing a trumpet solo, pitching most of the first line on a single note and using strongly syncopated phrasing. In the second stanza he breaks into an almost fully improvised melody, which then evolves into a classic passage of Armstrong "scat singing."
As with his trumpet playing, Armstrong's vocal innovations served as a foundation stone for the art of jazz vocal interpretation. The uniquely gritty coloration of his voice became a musical archetype that was much imitated and endlessly impersonated. His scat singing style was enriched by his matchless experience as a trumpet soloist. His resonant, velvety lower-register tone and bubbling cadences on sides such as "Lazy River" exerted a huge influence on younger white singers such as Bing Crosby.
The Depression of the early Thirties was especially hard on the jazz scene. The Cotton Club closed in 1936 after a long downward spiral and many musicians stopped playing altogether as club dates evaporated. Bix Beiderbecke died and Fletcher Henderson’s band broke up. King Oliver made a few records but otherwise struggled. Sidney Bechet became a tailor and Kid Ory returned to New Orleans and raised chickens.[25] Armstrong moved to Los Angeles in 1930 seeking new opportunities. He played at the New Cotton Club in LA with Lionel Hampton on drums and the band drew the Hollywood crowd which could still afford a lavish night life and radio broadcasts from the club connected with younger audiences at home. Bing Crosby and many other celebrities were regulars at the club. In 1931, Armstrong appeared in his first movie, Ex-Flame. Armstrong was convicted of marijuana possession but received a suspended sentence. He returned to Chicago in late 1931 and played in bands more in the Guy Lombardo vein and he recorded more standards. When the mob insisted that he get out of town, Armstrong visited New Orleans, got a hero’s welcome and saw old friends. He sponsored a local baseball team known as “Armstrong’s Secret Nine” and got a cigar named after himself.[26] But soon he was on the road again and after a tour across the country shadowed by the mob, Armstrong decided to go to Europe to escape.
After returning to the States, he undertook several exhausting tours. His agent Johnny Collins’ erratic behavior and his own spending ways left Armstrong short of cash. Breach of contract violations plagued him. Finally, he hired Joe Glaser as his new manager, a tough mob-connected wheeler-dealer, who began to straighten out his legal mess, his mob troubles, and his debts. Armstrong also began to experience problems with his fingers and lips, which were aggravated by his unorthodox playing style. As a result he branched out, developing his vocal style and making his first theatrical appearances. He appeared in movies again, including Crosby's 1936 hit Pennies from Heaven. In 1937, Armstrong substituted for Rudy Vallee on the CBS radio network and became the first black to host a sponsored, national broadcast.[27] He finally divorced Lil in 1938 and married longtime girlfriend Alpha.
After spending many years on the road, Armstrong settled permanently in Queens, New York in 1943 in contentment with his fourth wife, Lucille. Although subject to the vicissitudes of Tin Pan Alley and the gangster-ridden music business, as well as anti-black prejudice, he continued to develop his playing. He recorded Hoagy Carmichael's Rockin' Chair for Okeh Records.
During the subsequent thirty years, Armstrong played more than three hundred gigs a year. Bookings for big bands tapered off during the 1940s due to changes in public tastes: ballrooms closed, and there was competition from television and from other types of music becoming more popular than big band music. It became impossible under such circumstances to support and finance a 16-piece touring band.
[edit] The All Stars
Following a highly successful small-group jazz concert at New York Town Hall on May 17, 1947, featuring Armstrong with trombonist/singer Jack Teagarden, Armstrong's manager Joe Glaser dissolved the Armstrong big band on August 13, 1947 and established a six-piece small group featuring Armstrong with (initially) Teagarden, Earl Hines and other top swing and dixieland musicians, most of them ex-big band leaders. The new group was announced at the opening of Billy Berg's Supper Club.
This group was called Louis Armstrong and his All Stars and included at various times Earl "Fatha" Hines, Barney Bigard, Edmond Hall, Jack Teagarden, Trummy Young, Arvell Shaw, Billy Kyle, Marty Napoleon, Big Sid Catlett, Cozy Cole, Tyree Glenn, Barrett Deems and the Filipino-American percussionist, Danny Barcelona. During this period, Armstrong made many recordings and appeared in over thirty films. He was the first jazz musician to appear on the cover of Time Magazine on February 21, 1949.
Louis Armstrong in 1953In 1964, he recorded his biggest-selling record, "Hello, Dolly!". The song went to #1 on the pop chart, making Armstrong (age 63) the oldest person to ever accomplish that feat. In the process, Armstrong dislodged The Beatles from the #1 position they had occupied for 14 consecutive weeks with three different songs.[28]
Armstrong kept up his busy tour schedule until a few years before his death in 1971. In his later years he would sometimes play some of his numerous gigs by rote, but other times would enliven the most mundane gig with his vigorous playing, often to the astonishment of his band. He also toured Africa, Europe, and Asia under sponsorship of the US State Department with great success, earning the nickname "Ambassador Satch." While failing health restricted his schedule in his last years, within those limitations he continued playing until the day he died.
Autograph of Armstrong on the muretto of Alassio[edit] Personality
The nickname Satchmo or Satch is short for Satchelmouth (describing his embouchure). In 1932, then Melody Maker magazine editor Percy Brooks greeted Armstrong in London with "Hello, Satchmo!", and it stuck.
Early on he was also known as Dippermouth. This is a reference to the propensity he had for refreshing himself with the "dipper" or ladle from a bucket of sugar water which was always present on stage with Joe Oliver's band in Chicago in the early nineteen-twenties.
The damage to his embouchure from his high pressure approach to playing is acutely visible in many pictures of Louis from the mid-twenties. It also led to his emphasizing his singing career because at certain periods he was unable to play. However, after having set his trumpet aside for a while, he amended his playing style and continued his trumpet career. Friends and fellow musicians usually called him Pops, which is also how Armstrong usually addressed his friends and fellow musicians (except for Pops Foster, whom Armstrong always called "George").
Armstrong's autograph from the 1960sHe was also criticized for accepting the title of "King of The Zulus" -- in the New Orleans African-American community, an honored role as head of leading black Carnival Krewe, but bewildering or offensive to outsiders with their traditional costume of grass-skirts and blackface makeup satirizing southern white attitudes—for Mardi Gras 1949.
Whatever the case, where some saw a gregarious and outgoing personality, others saw someone trying too hard to appeal to white audiences and essentially becoming a minstrel caricature. Some musicians criticized Armstrong for playing in front of segregated audiences, and for not taking a strong enough stand in the civil rights movement suggesting that he was an Uncle Tom. Billie Holiday countered, however, "Of course Pops toms, but he toms from the heart."
Armstrong was a major financial supporter of Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists. Armstrong mostly preferred to work quietly behind the scenes, not mixing his politics with his work as an entertainer. The few exceptions made it more effective when he did speak out. Armstrong's criticism of President Eisenhower, calling him "two-faced" and "gutless" because of his inaction during the conflict over school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 made national news. As a protest, Armstrong canceled a planned tour of the Soviet Union on behalf of the State Department saying "The way they're treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell" and that he could not represent his government abroad when it was in conflict with its own people.[29] The FBI kept a file on Armstrong, for his outspokenness about integration.[30]
When asked about his religion, Armstrong would answer that he was raised a Baptist, always wore a Star of David, and was friends with the Pope.[31] Armstrong wore the Star of David in honor of the Karnofsky family, who took him in as a child and lent him the money to buy his first cornet. Louis Armstrong was, in fact, baptized as a Catholic at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in New Orleans,[31] and he met popes Pius XII and Paul VI, though there is no evidence that he considered himself Catholic. Armstrong seems to have been tolerant towards various religions, but also found humor in them.
He was an extremely generous man, who was said to have given away as much money as he kept for himself. Armstrong was also greatly concerned with his health and bodily functions. He made frequent use of laxatives as a means of controlling his weight, a practice he advocated both to personal acquaintances and in the diet plans he published under the title Lose Weight the Satchmo Way. Armstrong's laxative of preference in his younger days was Pluto Water, but he then became an enthusiastic convert when he discovered the herbal remedy Swiss Kriss. He would extol its virtues to anyone who would listen and pass out packets to everyone he encountered, including members of the British Royal Family. (Armstrong also appeared in humorous, albeit risqué, cards that he had printed to send out to friends; the cards bore a picture of him sitting on a toilet—as viewed through a keyhole—with the slogan "Satch says, 'Leave it all behind ya!'")[32] The cards have sometimes been incorrectly described as ads for Swiss Kriss.[33]
In a live recording of Baby, It's Cold Outside with Velma Middleton, he changes the lyric from "Put another record on while I pour" to "Take some Swiss Kriss while I pour". The line, slightly garbled in the live recording, could just as likely be "Take some Swiss Miss while I pour"—Swiss Miss is a hot chocolate mix that would have been fairly new on the market in 1951. (The line comes at 1:04 in the song.)[34]
The concern with his health and weight was balanced by his love of food, reflected in such songs as "Cheesecake", "Cornet Chop Suey",[35] though "Struttin’ with Some Barbecue" was written about a fine-looking companion, not about food.[36] He kept a strong connection throughout his life to the cooking of New Orleans, always signing his letters, "Red beans and ricely yours,".[37]
Although Armstrong is not known to have fathered any children, he loved children and would go out of his way to entertain the neighborhood kids in Corona and to encourage young musicians.
Armstrong’s gregariousness extended to writing. On the road, he wrote constantly. Many of the favorite themes of his life he shared with correspondents around the world. He avidly typed or wrote on whatever stationery was at hand, instant takes on music, sex, food, childhood memories, his heavy “medicinal” marijuana use and even his bowel movements which were gleefully described.[38] He had a fondness for lewd jokes and dirty limericks as well.
Armstrong was an avid audiophile. He had a large collection of recordings, including reel-to-reel tapes which he took on the road with him in a trunk during his later career. He enjoyed listening to his own recordings, and comparing his performances musically. In the den of his home, he had the latest audio equipment and would sometimes rehearse and record along with his older recordings or the radio.[39]
Louis Armstrong was also a Freemason, Montgomery Lodge No. 18 (Prince Hall), New York.[40]
[edit] Death
Armstrong died just after a heart attack on July 6, 1971, a month before his 70th birthday,[41] and 11 months after playing a famous show at the Waldorf-Astoria's Empire Room. [42] He was residing in Corona, Queens, New York City, at the time of his death.[43] He was interred in Flushing Cemetery, Flushing, in Queens, New York City.
His honorary pallbearers included Governor Rockefeller, Mayor Lindsay, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Guy Lombardo, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Pearl Bailey, Count Basie, Harry James, Frank Sinatra, Ed Sullivan, Earl Wilson, Alan King, Johnny Carson, David Frost, Merv Griffin, Dick Cavett and Bobby Hackett.
Peggy Lee sang The Lord's Prayer at the services while Al Hibbler sang "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" and Fred Robbins, a long time friend, gave the eulogy.[44]
[edit] Music
Armstrong gained fame as a horn player, then later became better known as a bandleader, vocalist, musical ambassador and founding figure in much modern American music.
[edit] Horn playing and early jazz
In his early years, Armstrong was best known for his virtuosity with the cornet and trumpet. The greatest trumpet playing of his early years can be heard on his Hot Five and Hot Seven records. The improvisations which he made on these records of New Orleans jazz standards and popular songs of the day continue to stack up brilliantly alongside those of any other later jazz performer. The older generation of New Orleans jazz musicians often referred to their improvisations as "variating the melody"; Armstrong's improvisations were daring and sophisticated for the time while often subtle and melodic.
He often essentially re-composed pop-tunes he played, making them more interesting. Armstrong's playing is filled with joyous, inspired original melodies, creative leaps, and subtle relaxed or driving rhythms. The genius of these creative passages is matched by Armstrong's playing technique, honed by constant practice, which extended the range, tone and capabilities of the trumpet. In these records, Armstrong almost single-handedly created the role of the jazz soloist, taking what was essentially a collective folk music and turning it into an art form with tremendous possibilities for individual expression.
Armstrong's work in the 1920s shows him playing at the outer limits of his abilities. The Hot Five records, especially, often have minor flubs and missed notes, which do little to detract from listening enjoyment since the energy of the spontaneous performance comes through. By the mid 1930s, Armstrong achieved a smooth assurance, knowing exactly what he could do and carrying out his ideas to perfection.
[edit] Vocal popularity
As his music progressed and popularity grew, his singing also became very important. Armstrong was not the first to record scat singing, but he was masterful at it and helped popularize it. He had a hit with his playing and scat singing on "Heebie Jeebies" when, according to some legends, the sheet music fell on the floor and he simply started singing nonsense syllables. Armstrong stated in his memoirs that this actually occurred. He also sang out "I done forgot the words" in the middle of recording "I'm A Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas".
Such records were hits and scat singing became a major part of his performances. Long before this, however, Armstrong was playing around with his vocals, shortening and lengthening phrases, interjecting improvisations, using his voice as creatively as his trumpet.
[edit] Colleagues and followers
During his long career he played and sang with some of the most important instrumentalists and vocalists of the time; among them were the singing brakeman Jimmie Rodgers, Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smith and most notably with Ella Fitzgerald.
His influence upon Bing Crosby is particularly important with regard to the subsequent development of popular music: Crosby admired and copied Armstrong, as is evident on many of his early recordings, notably "Just One More Chance" (1931). The New Grove Dictionary Of Jazz describes Crosby's debt to Armstrong in precise detail, although it does not acknowledge Armstrong by name: "Crosby...was important in introducing into the mainstream of popular singing an Afro-American concept of song as a lyrical extension of speech...His techniques - easing the weight of the breath on the vocal cords, passing into a head voice at a low register, using forward production to aid distinct enunciation, singing on consonants (a practice of black singers), and making discreet use of appoggiaturas, mordents, and slurs to emphasize the text - were emulated by nearly all later popular singers".
Armstrong recorded three albums with Ella Fitzgerald: Ella and Louis, Ella and Louis Again, and Porgy and Bess for Verve Records, with the sessions featuring the backing musicianship of the Oscar Peterson Trio and drummer Buddy Rich. His recordings Satch Plays Fats, all Fats Waller tunes, and Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy in the 1950s were perhaps among the last of his great creative recordings, but even oddities like Disney Songs the Satchmo Way are seen to have their musical moments. And, his participation in Dave Brubeck's high-concept jazz musical The Real Ambassadors was critically acclaimed. For the most part, however, his later output was criticized as being overly simplistic or repetitive.
[edit] Hits and later career
Armstrong had many hit records including "Stardust", "What a Wonderful World", "When The Saints Go Marching In", "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Ain't Misbehavin'", "You Rascal You",and "Stompin' at the Savoy". "We Have All the Time in the World" featured on the soundtrack of the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and enjoyed renewed popularity in the UK in 1994 when it featured on a Guinness advert. It reached number 3 in the charts on being re-released.
In 1964, Armstrong knocked the Beatles off the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart with "Hello, Dolly!", which gave the 63-year-old performer a U.S. record as the oldest artist to have a #1 song.
His 1964 song, "Bout Time" later featured in the film "Bewitched" (2005).
Armstrong performed in Italy at the 1968 Sanremo Music Festival where he sang "Mi Va di Cantare"[45] alongside his friend, the Eritrean-born Italian singer Lara Saint Paul.[46] In February 1968, he also appeared with Lara Saint Paul on the Italian Rai television channel where he performed "Grassa e Bella", a track he sang in Italian for the Italian market and C.D.I. label.[47]
In 1968, Armstrong scored one last popular hit in the United Kingdom with the highly sentimental pop song "What a Wonderful World", which topped the British charts for a month; however, the single did not chart at all in America. The song gained greater currency in the popular consciousness when it was used in the 1987 movie Good Morning, Vietnam, its subsequent rerelease topping many charts around the world. Armstrong even appeared on the October 28, 1970 Johnny Cash Show, where he sang Nat "King" Cole's hit "Rambling Rose" and joined Cash to re-create his performance backing Jimmie Rodgers on "Blue Yodel #9".
[edit] Stylistic range
Armstrong enjoyed many types of music, from blues to the arrangements of Guy Lombardo, to Latin American folksongs, to classical symphonies and opera. Armstrong incorporated influences from all these sources into his performances, sometimes to the bewilderment of fans who wanted Armstrong to stay in convenient narrow categories. Armstrong was inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an early influence. Some of his solos from the 1950s, such as the hard rocking version of "St. Louis Blues" from the WC Handy album, show that the influence went in both directions.
[edit] Literature, radio, films and TV
Armstrong appeared in more than a dozen Hollywood films, usually playing a band leader or musician. His most familiar role was as the bandleader cum narrator in the 1956 musical, High Society, in which he sang the title song and performed a duet with Bing Crosby on "Now You Has Jazz". In 1947, he played himself in the movie New Orleans opposite Billie Holiday, which chronicled the demise of the Storyville district and the ensuing exodus of musicians from New Orleans to Chicago.[48] He was the first African American to host a nationally broadcast radio show in the 1930s. In 1969, Armstrong had a cameo role in the film version of Hello, Dolly! as the bandleader, Louis, to which he sang the title song with actress Barbra Streisand. His solo recording of "Hello, Dolly!" is one of his most recognizable performances.
He was heard on such radio programs as The Story of Swing (1937) and This Is Jazz (1947), and he also made countless television appearances, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, including appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Armstrong has a record star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 7601 Hollywood Boulevard.
Many of Armstrong's recordings remain popular. Almost four decades since his passing, a larger number of his recordings from all periods of his career are more widely available than at any time during his lifetime. His songs are broadcast and listened to every day throughout the world, and are honored in various movies, TV series, commercials, and even anime and computer games. "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" was included in the computer game Fallout 2, accompanying the intro cinematic. It was also used in the 1993 film Sleepless in Seattle and the 2005 film Lord of War. His 1923 recordings, with Joe Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band, continue to be listened to as documents of ensemble style New Orleans jazz, but more particularly as ripper jazz records in their own right. All too often, however, Armstrong recorded with stiff, standard orchestras leaving only his sublime trumpet playing as of interest. "Melancholy Blues," performed by Armstrong and his Hot Seven was included on the Voyager Golden Record sent into outer space to represent one of the greatest achievements of humanity. Most familiar to modern listeners is his ubiquitous rendition of "What a Wonderful World." In 2008, Armstrong's recording of Edith Piaf's famous "La Vie En Rose" was used in a scene of the popular Disney/Pixar film WALL-E.
Argentine writer Julio Cortázar, a self-described Armstrong admirer, asserted that a 1952 Louis Armstrong concert at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris played a significant role in inspiring him to create the fictional creatures called Cronopios that are the subject of a number of Cortázar's short stories. Cortázar once called Louis Armstrong himself "Grandísimo Cronopio" (Most Enormous Cronopio).
Armstrong also appears as a minor character in Harry Turtledove's Timeline-191 series. When he and his band escape from a Nazi-like Confederacy, they enhance the insipid mainstream music of the North.
There is a pivotal scene in 1980's Stardust Memories in which Woody Allen is overwhelmed by a recording of Armstrong's Stardust and experiences a nostalgic epiphany.[49] The combination of the music and the perfect moment is the catalyst for much of the film's action, prompting the protagonist to fall in love with an ill-advised woman.[50]
Louis Armstrong is also referred to in The Trumpet of the Swan along with Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Three siblings in the film are named Louis, Billie, and Ella. The main character, Louis, plays a trumpet, an obvious nod to Armstrong.
In the original EB White book, he is referred to by name by a child who hears Louis playing and comments "He sounds just like Louis Armstrong, the famous trumpet player".
[edit] Awards and honors
[edit] Grammy Awards
Armstrong was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1972 by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. This Special Merit Award is presented by vote of the Recording Academy's National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording.[51]
Grammy Award
Year Category Title Genre Label Result
1964 Male Vocal Performance "Hello, Dolly!" Pop Kapp Winner
[edit] Grammy Hall of Fame
Recordings of Armstrong were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."[52][53]
Grammy Hall of Fame
Year Recorded Title Genre Label Year Inducted Notes
1929 St. Louis Blues Jazz (Single) OKeh 2008
1928 Weather Bird Jazz (Single) OKeh 2008 with Earl Hines
1930 Blue Yodel #9
(Standing on the Corner) Country (Single) Victor 2007 Jimmie Rodgers (Featuring Louis Armstrong)
1932 All of Me Jazz (Single) Columbia 2005
1958 Porgy and Bess Jazz (Album) Verve 2001 with Ella Fitzgerald
1964 Hello Dolly! Pop (Single) Kapp 2001
1926 Heebie Jeebies Jazz (Single) OKeh 1999
1968 What a Wonderful World Jazz (Single) ABC 1999
1955 Mack the Knife Jazz (Single) Columbia 1997
1925 St. Louis Blues Jazz (Single) Columbia 1993 Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong, cornet
1928 West End Blues Jazz (Single) OKeh 1974
[edit] Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed a song by Armstrong on the list of 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll.[54]
Year Recorded Title Label Group
1928 West End Blues Okeh Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five
[edit] Inductions and honors
In 1995, the U.S. Post Office issued a Louis Armstrong 32 cents commemorative postage stamp.
Year Inducted Title Results Notes
2007 Louisiana Music Hall of Fame
2007 Gennett Records Walk of Fame, Richmond, Indiana
2007 Long Island Music Hall of Fame
2004 Nesuhi Ertegün Jazz Hall of Fame
at Jazz at Lincoln Center
1990 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Early influence
1978 Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame
1952 Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame Star at 7601 Hollywood Blvd.
[edit] Legacy
The house where Louis Armstrong lived for close to 28 years was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977 and is now a museum. The Louis Armstrong House Museum, at 34-56 107th Street (between 34th and 37th Avenues) in Corona, Queens, presents concerts and educational programs, operates as a historic house museum and makes materials in its archives of writings, books, recordings and memorabilia available to the public for research. The museum is operated by the City University of New York's Queens College, following the dictates of Lucille Armstrong's will.
The museum opened to the public on October 15, 2003. A visitors center is currently being planned, and estimated to open in 2011.
The influence of Armstrong on the development of jazz is virtually immeasurable. Yet, his irrepressible personality both as a performer, and as a public figure later in his career, was so strong that to some it sometimes overshadowed his contributions as a musician and singer.
As a virtuoso trumpet player, Armstrong had a unique tone and an extraordinary talent for melodic improvisation. Through his playing, the trumpet emerged as a solo instrument in jazz and is used widely today. He was a masterful accompanist and ensemble player in addition to his extraordinary skills as a soloist. With his innovations, he raised the bar musically for all who came after him.
Though Armstrong is widely recognized as a pioneer of scat singing, Ethel Waters precedes his scatting on record in the 1930s according to Gary Giddins and others.[55] Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra are just two singers who were greatly indebted to him. Holiday said that she always wanted Bessie Smith's 'big' sound and Armstrong's feeling in her singing.
On August 4, 2001, the centennial of Armstrong's birth, New Orleans's airport was renamed Louis Armstrong International Airport in his honor.
In 2002, the Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings (1925–1928) are preserved in the United States National Recording Registry, a registry of recordings selected yearly by the National Recording Preservation Board for preservation in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.[56]
The US Open tennis tournament's former main stadium was named Louis Armstrong Stadium in honor of Armstrong who had lived a few blocks from the site.[57]
Today, there are many bands worldwide dedicated to preserving and honoring the music and style of Satchmo, including the Louis Armstrong Society located in New Orleans, LA.
[edit] Discography
Louis Armstrong albums
Louis Armstrong songs
[edit] Notes
^ He preferred that his name be pronounced Louie. "It's like Louis Armstrong - he spelled his name Louis, but he liked it to be said as Louie", recalls Louie Bellson [1]. Armstrong was registered as "Lewie" for the 1920 U.S. Census. On various live records he's called "Louie" on stage, such as on the 1952 "Can Anyone Explain?" from the live album In Scandinavia vol.1. It should also be noted that "Lewie" is the French pronunciation of "Louis" and is commonly used in Louisiana. However, when referring to himself in "Hello Dolly!", he pronounces his name as "Lewis" ("Hello, Dolly. This is Lewis, Dolly"), pronouncing the 's'.
^ Armstrong said he was not sure exactly when he was born, but celebrated his birthday on July 4. He usually gave the year as 1900 when speaking in public (although he used 1901 on his Social Security and other papers filed with the government). Using Roman Catholic Church documents from when his grandmother took him to be baptized, New Orleans music researcher Tad Jones established Armstrong’s actual date of birth as August 4, 1901. With various other collaborative evidence, this date is now accepted by Armstrong scholars. See also age fabrication.
^ For "satchel-mouth".
^ The TIME 100. Louis Armstrong. TIME, Stanley Crouch, June 8, 1998. "For many years it was thought that Armstrong was born in New Orleans on July 4, 1900, a perfect day for the man who wrote the musical Declaration of Independence for Americans of this century. But the estimable writer Gary Giddins discovered the birth certificate that proves Armstrong was born Aug. 4, 1901.." Retrieved January 8, 2009.
^ When is Louis Armstrong's birthday? The Official Site of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives.
^ Current Biography 1944, pp. 15–17.
^ Bergreen, Laurence (1997). Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life. New York: Broadway Books. p. 6. ISBN 0-553-06768-0.
^ Karnow, Stanley (February 21, 2001). "My Debt to Cousin Louis's Cornet". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9C02E1D91639F932A15751C0A9679C8B63. Retrieved January 10, 2007.
^ Teachout, Terry. "Satchmo and the Jews" Commentary magazine, Nov. 2009.
^ "The Karnofsky Project".
^ Current Biography 1944 p. 16.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 78.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 142.
^ "Satchuated" Gary Giddins, Village Voice April 16–22, 2003. Retrieved October 17, 2007.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 170.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 199.
^ www.britannica.com
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 247.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 260.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 274.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 264.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 267.
^ "Louis Armstrong & his Orchestra". Redhotjazz.com. http://www.redhotjazz.com/lao.html. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ Morgenstern, Dan. “Louis Armstrong and the development & diffusion of Jazz”, Louis Armstrong a Cultural Legacy, Marc H Miller e.d., Queens Museum of Art in association with University of Washington Press, 1994 pg110
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 320.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 344.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 385.
^ Hale, James (editor of Jazzhouse.org), Danny Barcelona (1929–2007), Drums, Armstrong All-Star, The Last Post, 2007, retrieved July 4, 2007.
^ "Louis Armstrong, Barring Soviet Tour, Denounces Eisenhower and Gov. Faubus". New York Times. September 19, 1957. http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/03/reviews/armstrong-eisenhower.html. Retrieved August 30, 2007. See also, from September 23, 2007, *David Margolick, The Day Louis Armstrong Made Noise.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 472.
^ a b Gabbard, Krin (2001). Album notes for Louis and The Good Book by Louis Armstrong, p. 1 [CD booklet]. New York City: Verve Records.
^ Gilstrap, Peter (February 29, 1996). "Leave It All Behind Ya". Phoenix New Times. http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1996-02-29/news/leave-it-all-behind-ya/. Retrieved August 11, 2007.
^ Teachout, Terry (2009) Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong pp. 293–294.
^ Louis Armstrong, "Christmas Through the Years", Laserlight 12744
^ Satchmo.net. 'Red Beans and Ricely yours, Louis Armstrong.'
^ Jive Dictionary, by Cab Calloway: "Barbecue (n.) -- the girl friend, a beauty". Retrieved February 10, 2009.
^ Elie p. 327.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 4.
^ Michael Cogswell, Louis Armstrong: The Offstage Story of Satchmo (Collector's Press, Portland, Oregon, 2003) ISBN 1-88805481-6 pp. 66–68.
^ "List of famous freemasons". http://www.calodges.org/no406/FAMASONS.HTM. Retrieved April 25, 2009.
^ Meckna, Michael; Satchmo, The Louis Armstrong Encyclopedia, Greenwood Press, Connecticut & London, 2004.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 491.
^ Krebs, Albin. "Louis Armstrong, Jazz Trumpeter and Singer, Dies", The New York Times, July 7, 1971. Accessed October 1, 2009. "Louis Armstrong, the celebrated jazz trumpeter and singer, died in his sleep yesterday morning at his home in the Corona section of Queens."
^ "Louis Armstrong Dies: 1971 Year in Review". Upi.com. December 28, 1971. http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1971/12295509436546-1/#title. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ "Hit Parade Italia" Hit Parade Italia - Festival di Sanremo 1968.
^ "Mi va di cantare" Lara Saint Paul - lavocedelledonne.it.
^ Louis Armstrong: "Grassa e bella" Louis Armstrong Discography.
^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039655/
^ "Stardust Memories :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. January 1, 1980. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19800101/REVIEWS/1010330/1023. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081554/
^ "Lifetime Achievement Award". Grammy.com. February 8, 2009. http://www.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Lifetime_Awards/. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ "Grammy Hall of Fame Database". Grammy.com. February 8, 2009. http://www.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Hall_Of_Fame/. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ "The Recording Academy" (PDF). http://www.grammy.com/PressReleases/443_466_Hall%20of%20Fame%20release%20FINAL.pdf. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". Rockhall.com. http://www.rockhall.com/exhibithighlights/500-songs/. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ See Ken Burns' Jazz CD Set liner notes.
^ "Library of Congress archive". Loc.gov. February 18, 2009. http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-2002reg.html. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ "Ashe & Armstrong Stadiums". Usta.com. http://www.usta.com/nationaltenniscenternews/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=14185. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
[edit] References
Armstrong, Louis. Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans. ISBN 0-306-80276-7
Armstrong, Louis and Thomas Brothers. Armstrong, in His Own Words: Selected Writings. ISBN 019514046X
Bergreen, Laurence. "Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life". ISBN 0-553-06768-0
Brothers, Thomas "Louis Armstrong's New Orleans" ISBN 0393061094
Cogswell, Michael. Armstrong: The Offstage Story. ISBN 1-888054-81-6
Elie, Lolis Eric. A Letter from New Orleans. Originally printed in Gourmet. Reprinted in Best Food Writing 2006, Edited by Holly Hughes, ISBN 1-56924-287-9
Jones Max and John Chilton. Louis Armstrong Story. ISBN 0306803240
Meckna, Michael. Satchmo: The Louis Armstrong Encyclopedia. ISBN 0-313-30137-9
[edit] External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Louis Armstrong
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Louis Armstrong
louis-armstrong.net - Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Louis Armstrong by Nat Hentoff
Obituary, NY Times
Quotes and tributes
Discography
Filmography @ imdb.com
The Louis Armstrong Society Jazz Band
Seeing Black jazz critic on the Uncle Tom question
the official website of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives
"Louis Armstrong Transcription Project - john p birchall"
Louis Armstrong at pbskids.org
David Margolick, The Day Louis Armstrong Made Noise
Smithsonian Louis Armstrong: A Cultural Legacy
Louis Armstrong Memorial at Find A Grave
Louis Armstrong at NPR Music
Louis Armstrong: discography and early recordings (Real Player format) on the Red Hot Jazz website.
Milestone Louis Armstrong recordings at Three Perfect Minutes
Louis Armstrong's autobiography online book
"Satchmo - My Life in New Orleans(1954)" free download
"Satchmo - My Life in New Orleans" another web site
[edit] Video clips
New Orleans portal
Biography portal
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 1)"
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 2)"
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 3)"
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 4)"
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 5)"
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 6)"
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 7)"
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 8)"
"What a Wonderful World" BBC recording, 1968
"When The Saints Go Marching In"
"Hello Dolly"
"Hello Dolly" with Barbra Streisand
"Now You Has Jazz"
"Blueberry Hill"
"Mack the Knife Germany, 1959
"Stompin' At The Savoy" Germany, 1959
"Tiger Rag"
"C'est si bon 1962
"St. James Infirmary" photo slide show
"Dream a Little Dream" photo slide show
"Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra - Live show"
"Louis Armstrong on the Mark Twain at Disneyland"
"Louis Armstrong - Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen (1962)"
"Louis Armstrong - Basin Street Blues - 1959"
"Louis Armstrong - A kiss To Build A Dream"
Persondata
NAME Armstrong, Louis Daniel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Satchmo
SHORT DESCRIPTION American Jazz trumpeter and singer
DATE OF BIRTH July 4, 1900(1900-07-04)
PLACE OF BIRTH New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 1971
PLACE OF DEATH New York City, New York, U.S.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Armstrong"
Categories: 1901 births
1971 deaths
ABC Records artists
African American brass musicians
African American singers
American buskers
American jazz cornetists
American jazz singers
American jazz tru
Louis Armstrong's stage personality matched his flashy cornet and trumpet playing. Armstrong is also known for his raspy singing voice.
Background information
Birth name Louis Daniel Armstrong
Born August 4, 1901
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Died July 6, 1971 (aged 69)
Corona, Queens, New York City
Genres Jazz, Dixieland, swing, traditional pop
Occupations Musician
Instruments Trumpet, cornet, vocals
Years active c. 1914–71
Associated acts Joe "King" Oliver, Ella Fitzgerald, Kid Ory
Louis Daniel Armstrong[1] (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971)[2] nicknamed Satchmo[3] or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an "inventive" cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence on jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performers. With his distinctive gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing, or vocalizing using syllables instead of actual lyrics.
Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and deep, instantly recognizable voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong's influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general.
Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Career
3 The All Stars
4 Personality
5 Death
6 Music
6.1 Horn playing and early jazz
6.2 Vocal popularity
6.3 Colleagues and followers
6.4 Hits and later career
6.5 Stylistic range
7 Literature, radio, films and TV
8 Awards and honors
8.1 Grammy Awards
8.2 Grammy Hall of Fame
8.3 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
8.4 Inductions and honors
8.5 Legacy
9 Discography
10 Notes
11 References
12 External links
13 Video clips
[edit] Early life
Armstrong often stated in public interviews that he was born on July 4, 1900,[4] a date that has been noted in many biographies. Although he died in 1971, it was not until the mid-1980s that his true birth date of August 4, 1901 was discovered through the examination of baptismal records.[5]
Armstrong was born into a very poor family in New Orleans, Louisiana, the grandson of slaves. He spent his youth in poverty, in a rough neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans, known as “Back of Town”, as his father, William Armstrong (1881–1922), abandoned the family when Louis was an infant and took up with another woman. His mother, Mary "Mayann" Albert (1886–1942), then left Louis and his younger sister Beatrice Armstrong Collins (1903–1987) in the care of his grandmother, Josephine Armstrong, and at times, his Uncle Isaac. At five, he moved back to live with his mother and her relatives, and saw his father only in parades.
He attended the Fisk School for Boys. It was there that he likely had his first exposure to Creole music. He brought in some money as a paperboy and also by finding discarded food and selling it to restaurants, but it was not enough to keep his mother from prostitution. He hung out in dance halls close to home, where he observed everything from licentious dancing to the quadrille. For extra money he also hauled coal to Storyville, the famed red-light district, and listened to the bands playing in the brothels and dance halls, especially Pete Lala's where Joe "King" Oliver performed and other famous musicians would drop in to jam.
After dropping out of the Fisk School at age eleven, Armstrong joined a quartet of boys that sang in the streets for money. But he also started to get into trouble. Cornet player Bunk Johnson said he taught Armstrong (then 11) to play by ear at Dago Tony's Tonk in New Orleans,[6] although in his later years Armstrong gave the credit to Oliver. Armstrong hardly looked back at his youth as the worst of times but instead drew inspiration from it, “Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine—I look right in the heart of good old New Orleans...It has given me something to live for.”[7]
He also worked for a Lithuanian-Jewish immigrant family, the Karnofskys, who had a junk hauling business and gave him odd jobs. They took him in and treated him as almost a family member, knowing he lived without a father, and would feed and nurture him.[8] He later wrote a memoir of his relationship with the Karnofskys titled, Louis Armstrong + the Jewish Family in New Orleans, La., the Year of 1907. In it he describes his discovery that this family was also subject to discrimination by "other white folks' nationalities who felt that they were better than the Jewish race. I was only seven years old but I could easily see the ungodly treatment that the White Folks were handing the poor Jewish family whom I worked for." Armstrong wore a Star of David pendant for the rest of his life and wrote about what he learned from them: "how to live—real life and determination."[9] Armstrong also learned to speak fluent Yiddish that proved useful when he played in New York. The influence of Karnofsky is remembered in New Orleans by the Karnofsky Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to accepting donated musical instruments to "put them into the hands of an eager child who could not otherwise take part in a wonderful learning experience."[10]
Armstrong with his first trumpet instructor, Peter Davis in 1965.Armstrong developed his cornet playing seriously in the band of the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs, where he had been sent multiple times for general delinquency, most notably for a long term after firing his stepfather's pistol into the air at a New Year's Eve celebration, as police records confirm. Professor Peter Davis (who frequently appeared at the Home at the request of its administrator, Captain Joseph Jones)[11] instilled discipline in and provided musical training to the otherwise self-taught Armstrong. Eventually, Davis made Armstrong the band leader. The Home band played around New Orleans and the thirteen year old Louis began to draw attention by his cornet playing, starting him on a musical career.[12] At fourteen he was released from the Home, living again with his father and new stepmother and then back with his mother and also back to the streets and their temptations. Armstrong got his first dance hall job at Henry Ponce’s where Black Benny became his protector and guide. He hauled coal by day and played his cornet at night.
He also played in the city's frequent brass band parades and listened to older musicians every chance he got, learning from Bunk Johnson, Buddy Petit, Kid Ory, and above all, Joe "King" Oliver, who acted as a mentor and father figure to the young musician. Later, he played in the brass bands and riverboats of New Orleans and first started traveling with the well-regarded band of Fate Marable which toured on a steamboat up and down the Mississippi River. He described his time with Marable as "going to the University," since it gave him a much wider experience working with written arrangements.
In 1919, Joe Oliver decided to go north and he resigned his position in Kid Ory's band, then regarded as the best hot jazz group in New Orleans. Armstrong replaced his mentor in Ory's band. He also became second trumpet for the Tuxedo Brass Band, a society band.[13]
[edit] Career
Muggles
Skokiaan
Mack The Knife
“Heebie Jeebies” by Louis Armstrong and his Hot FiveOn March 19, 1918, Louis married Daisy Parker from Gretna, Louisiana. They adopted a 3-year-old boy, Clarence Armstrong, whose mother, Louis's cousin Flora, died soon after giving birth. Clarence Armstrong was mentally disabled (the result of a head injury at an early age) and Louis would spend the rest of his life taking care of him.[14] Louis's marriage to Parker failed quickly and they separated. She died shortly after the divorce.
Through all his riverboat experience Armstrong’s musicianship began to mature and expand. At twenty, he could now read music and he started to be featured in extended trumpet solos, one of the first jazzmen to do this, injecting his own personality and style into his solo turns. He had learned how to create a unique sound and also started using singing and patter in his performances.[15] In 1922, Armstrong joined the exodus to Chicago, where he had been invited by his mentor, Joe "King" Oliver, to join his Creole Jazz Band and where he could make a sufficient income so that he no longer needed to supplement his music with day labor jobs. It was a boom time in Chicago and though race relations were poor, the “Windy City” was teeming with jobs for blacks, who were making good wages in factories and had plenty to spend on entertainment.
Oliver's band was the best and most influential hot jazz band in Chicago in the early 1920s, at a time when Chicago was the center of the jazz universe. Armstrong lived like a king in Chicago, in his own apartment with his own private bath (his first). Excited as he was to be in Chicago, he began his career-long pastime of writing nostalgic letters to friends in New Orleans. As Armstrong’s reputation grew, he was challenged to “cutting contests” by hornmen trying to displace the new phenom, who could blow two hundred high C’s in a row.[16] Armstrong made his first recordings on the Gennett and Okeh labels (jazz records were starting to boom across the country), including taking some solos and breaks, while playing second cornet in Oliver's band in 1923. At this time, he met Hoagy Carmichael (with whom he would collaborate later) who was introduced by friend Bix Beiderbecke, who now had his own Chicago band.
Armstrong enjoyed working with Oliver, but Louis's second wife, pianist Lil Hardin Armstrong, urged him to seek more prominent billing and develop his newer style away from the influence of Oliver. Armstrong took the advice of his wife and left Oliver's band. For a year Armstrong played in Fletcher Henderson's band in New York on many recordings. After playing in New York, Armstrong returned to Chicago, playing in large orchestras; there he created his most important early recordings.[17] Lil had her husband play classical music in church concerts to broaden his skill and improve his solo play and she prodded him into wearing more stylish attire to make him look sharp and to better offset his growing girth. Lil’s influence eventually undermined Armstrong’s relationship with his mentor, especially concerning his salary and additional moneys that Oliver held back from Armstrong and other band members. Armstrong and Oliver parted amicably in 1924. Shortly afterward, Armstrong received an invitation to go to New York City to play with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, the top African-American band of the day. Armstrong switched to the trumpet to blend in better with the other musicians in his section. His influence upon Henderson's tenor sax soloist, Coleman Hawkins, can be judged by listening to the records made by the band during this period.
Armstrong quickly adapted to the more tightly controlled style of Henderson, playing trumpet and even experimenting with the trombone and the other members quickly took up Armstrong’s emotional, expressive pulse. Soon his act included singing and telling tales of New Orleans characters, especially preachers.[18] The Henderson Orchestra was playing in the best venues for white-only patrons, including the famed Roseland Ballroom, featuring the classy arrangements of Don Redman. Duke Ellington’s orchestra would go to Roseland to catch Armstrong’s performances and young hornmen around town tried in vain to outplay him, splitting their lips in their attempts.
During this time, Armstrong also made many recordings on the side, arranged by an old friend from New Orleans, pianist Clarence Williams; these included small jazz band sides with the Williams Blue Five (some of the best pairing Armstrong with one of Armstrong's few rivals in fiery technique and ideas, Sidney Bechet) and a series of accompaniments with blues singers, including Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Alberta Hunter.
Armstrong returned to Chicago in 1925 due mostly to the urging of his wife, who wanted to pump up Armstrong’s career and income. He was content in New York but later would concede that she was right and that the Henderson Orchestra was limiting his artistic growth. In publicity, much to his chagrin, she billed him as “the World’s Greatest Trumpet Player”. At first he was actually a member of the Lil Hardin Armstrong Band and working for his wife.[19] He began recording under his own name for Okeh with his famous Hot Five and Hot Seven groups, producing hits such as "Potato Head Blues", "Muggles" (a reference to marijuana, for which Armstrong had a lifelong fondness), and "West End Blues", the music of which set the standard and the agenda for jazz for many years to come.
The group included Kid Ory (trombone), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Johnny St. Cyr (banjo), wife Lil on piano, and usually no drummer. Armstrong’s bandleading style was easygoing, as St. Cyr noted, "One felt so relaxed working with him and he was very broad-minded ... always did his best to feature each individual".[20] His recordings soon after with pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines (most famously their 1928 Weatherbird duet) and Armstrong's trumpet introduction to "West End Blues" remain some of the most famous and influential improvisations in jazz history. Armstrong was now free to develop his personal style as he wished, which included a heavy dose of effervescent jive, such as "whip that thing, Miss Lil" and "Mr. Johnny Dodds, Aw, do that clarinet, boy!"[21]
Armstrong also played with Erskine Tate’s Little Symphony, actually a quintet, which played mostly at the Vendome Theatre. They furnished music for silent movies and live shows, including jazz versions of classical music, such as “Madame Butterfly”, which gave Armstrong experience with longer forms of music and with hosting before a large audience. He began to scat sing (improvised vocal jazz using non-sensical words) and was among the first to record it, on "Heebie Jeebies" in 1926. So popular was the recording the group became the most famous jazz band in USA even though they as yet had not performed live to any great degree. Young musicians across the country, black and white, were turned on by Armstrong’s new type of jazz.[22]
After separating from Lil, Armstrong started to play at the Sunset Café for Al Capone's associate Joe Glaser in the Carroll Dickerson Orchestra, with Earl Hines on piano, which was soon renamed Louis Armstrong and his Stompers, though Hines was the music director and Glaser managed the orchestra. Hines and Armstrong became fast friends as well as successful collaborators.
Armstrong returned to New York, in 1929, where he played in the pit orchestra of the successful musical Hot Chocolate, an all-black revue written by Andy Razaf and pianist/composer Fats Waller. He also made a cameo appearance as a vocalist, regularly stealing the show with his rendition of "Ain't Misbehavin'", his version of the song becoming his biggest selling record to date.[23]
Armstrong started to work at Connie's Inn in Harlem, chief rival to the Cotton Club, a venue for elaborately staged floor shows,[24] and a front for gangster Dutch Schultz. Armstrong also had considerable success with vocal recordings, including versions of famous songs composed by his old friend Hoagy Carmichael. His 1930s recordings took full advantage of the new RCA ribbon microphone, introduced in 1931, which imparted a characteristic warmth to vocals and immediately became an intrinsic part of the 'crooning' sound of artists like Bing Crosby. Armstrong's famous interpretation of Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" became one of the most successful versions of this song ever recorded, showcasing Armstrong's unique vocal sound and style and his innovative approach to singing songs that had already become standards.
Armstrong's radical re-working of Sidney Arodin and Carmichael's "Lazy River" (recorded in 1931) encapsulated many features of his groundbreaking approach to melody and phrasing. The song begins with a brief trumpet solo, then the main melody is stated by sobbing horns which are memorably punctuated by Armstrong's growling interjections at the end of each bar: "Yeah! ..."Uh-huh" ..."Sure" ... "Way down, way down". In the first verse, he ignores the notated melody entirely and sings as if playing a trumpet solo, pitching most of the first line on a single note and using strongly syncopated phrasing. In the second stanza he breaks into an almost fully improvised melody, which then evolves into a classic passage of Armstrong "scat singing."
As with his trumpet playing, Armstrong's vocal innovations served as a foundation stone for the art of jazz vocal interpretation. The uniquely gritty coloration of his voice became a musical archetype that was much imitated and endlessly impersonated. His scat singing style was enriched by his matchless experience as a trumpet soloist. His resonant, velvety lower-register tone and bubbling cadences on sides such as "Lazy River" exerted a huge influence on younger white singers such as Bing Crosby.
The Depression of the early Thirties was especially hard on the jazz scene. The Cotton Club closed in 1936 after a long downward spiral and many musicians stopped playing altogether as club dates evaporated. Bix Beiderbecke died and Fletcher Henderson’s band broke up. King Oliver made a few records but otherwise struggled. Sidney Bechet became a tailor and Kid Ory returned to New Orleans and raised chickens.[25] Armstrong moved to Los Angeles in 1930 seeking new opportunities. He played at the New Cotton Club in LA with Lionel Hampton on drums and the band drew the Hollywood crowd which could still afford a lavish night life and radio broadcasts from the club connected with younger audiences at home. Bing Crosby and many other celebrities were regulars at the club. In 1931, Armstrong appeared in his first movie, Ex-Flame. Armstrong was convicted of marijuana possession but received a suspended sentence. He returned to Chicago in late 1931 and played in bands more in the Guy Lombardo vein and he recorded more standards. When the mob insisted that he get out of town, Armstrong visited New Orleans, got a hero’s welcome and saw old friends. He sponsored a local baseball team known as “Armstrong’s Secret Nine” and got a cigar named after himself.[26] But soon he was on the road again and after a tour across the country shadowed by the mob, Armstrong decided to go to Europe to escape.
After returning to the States, he undertook several exhausting tours. His agent Johnny Collins’ erratic behavior and his own spending ways left Armstrong short of cash. Breach of contract violations plagued him. Finally, he hired Joe Glaser as his new manager, a tough mob-connected wheeler-dealer, who began to straighten out his legal mess, his mob troubles, and his debts. Armstrong also began to experience problems with his fingers and lips, which were aggravated by his unorthodox playing style. As a result he branched out, developing his vocal style and making his first theatrical appearances. He appeared in movies again, including Crosby's 1936 hit Pennies from Heaven. In 1937, Armstrong substituted for Rudy Vallee on the CBS radio network and became the first black to host a sponsored, national broadcast.[27] He finally divorced Lil in 1938 and married longtime girlfriend Alpha.
After spending many years on the road, Armstrong settled permanently in Queens, New York in 1943 in contentment with his fourth wife, Lucille. Although subject to the vicissitudes of Tin Pan Alley and the gangster-ridden music business, as well as anti-black prejudice, he continued to develop his playing. He recorded Hoagy Carmichael's Rockin' Chair for Okeh Records.
During the subsequent thirty years, Armstrong played more than three hundred gigs a year. Bookings for big bands tapered off during the 1940s due to changes in public tastes: ballrooms closed, and there was competition from television and from other types of music becoming more popular than big band music. It became impossible under such circumstances to support and finance a 16-piece touring band.
[edit] The All Stars
Following a highly successful small-group jazz concert at New York Town Hall on May 17, 1947, featuring Armstrong with trombonist/singer Jack Teagarden, Armstrong's manager Joe Glaser dissolved the Armstrong big band on August 13, 1947 and established a six-piece small group featuring Armstrong with (initially) Teagarden, Earl Hines and other top swing and dixieland musicians, most of them ex-big band leaders. The new group was announced at the opening of Billy Berg's Supper Club.
This group was called Louis Armstrong and his All Stars and included at various times Earl "Fatha" Hines, Barney Bigard, Edmond Hall, Jack Teagarden, Trummy Young, Arvell Shaw, Billy Kyle, Marty Napoleon, Big Sid Catlett, Cozy Cole, Tyree Glenn, Barrett Deems and the Filipino-American percussionist, Danny Barcelona. During this period, Armstrong made many recordings and appeared in over thirty films. He was the first jazz musician to appear on the cover of Time Magazine on February 21, 1949.
Louis Armstrong in 1953In 1964, he recorded his biggest-selling record, "Hello, Dolly!". The song went to #1 on the pop chart, making Armstrong (age 63) the oldest person to ever accomplish that feat. In the process, Armstrong dislodged The Beatles from the #1 position they had occupied for 14 consecutive weeks with three different songs.[28]
Armstrong kept up his busy tour schedule until a few years before his death in 1971. In his later years he would sometimes play some of his numerous gigs by rote, but other times would enliven the most mundane gig with his vigorous playing, often to the astonishment of his band. He also toured Africa, Europe, and Asia under sponsorship of the US State Department with great success, earning the nickname "Ambassador Satch." While failing health restricted his schedule in his last years, within those limitations he continued playing until the day he died.
Autograph of Armstrong on the muretto of Alassio[edit] Personality
The nickname Satchmo or Satch is short for Satchelmouth (describing his embouchure). In 1932, then Melody Maker magazine editor Percy Brooks greeted Armstrong in London with "Hello, Satchmo!", and it stuck.
Early on he was also known as Dippermouth. This is a reference to the propensity he had for refreshing himself with the "dipper" or ladle from a bucket of sugar water which was always present on stage with Joe Oliver's band in Chicago in the early nineteen-twenties.
The damage to his embouchure from his high pressure approach to playing is acutely visible in many pictures of Louis from the mid-twenties. It also led to his emphasizing his singing career because at certain periods he was unable to play. However, after having set his trumpet aside for a while, he amended his playing style and continued his trumpet career. Friends and fellow musicians usually called him Pops, which is also how Armstrong usually addressed his friends and fellow musicians (except for Pops Foster, whom Armstrong always called "George").
Armstrong's autograph from the 1960sHe was also criticized for accepting the title of "King of The Zulus" -- in the New Orleans African-American community, an honored role as head of leading black Carnival Krewe, but bewildering or offensive to outsiders with their traditional costume of grass-skirts and blackface makeup satirizing southern white attitudes—for Mardi Gras 1949.
Whatever the case, where some saw a gregarious and outgoing personality, others saw someone trying too hard to appeal to white audiences and essentially becoming a minstrel caricature. Some musicians criticized Armstrong for playing in front of segregated audiences, and for not taking a strong enough stand in the civil rights movement suggesting that he was an Uncle Tom. Billie Holiday countered, however, "Of course Pops toms, but he toms from the heart."
Armstrong was a major financial supporter of Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists. Armstrong mostly preferred to work quietly behind the scenes, not mixing his politics with his work as an entertainer. The few exceptions made it more effective when he did speak out. Armstrong's criticism of President Eisenhower, calling him "two-faced" and "gutless" because of his inaction during the conflict over school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 made national news. As a protest, Armstrong canceled a planned tour of the Soviet Union on behalf of the State Department saying "The way they're treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell" and that he could not represent his government abroad when it was in conflict with its own people.[29] The FBI kept a file on Armstrong, for his outspokenness about integration.[30]
When asked about his religion, Armstrong would answer that he was raised a Baptist, always wore a Star of David, and was friends with the Pope.[31] Armstrong wore the Star of David in honor of the Karnofsky family, who took him in as a child and lent him the money to buy his first cornet. Louis Armstrong was, in fact, baptized as a Catholic at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in New Orleans,[31] and he met popes Pius XII and Paul VI, though there is no evidence that he considered himself Catholic. Armstrong seems to have been tolerant towards various religions, but also found humor in them.
He was an extremely generous man, who was said to have given away as much money as he kept for himself. Armstrong was also greatly concerned with his health and bodily functions. He made frequent use of laxatives as a means of controlling his weight, a practice he advocated both to personal acquaintances and in the diet plans he published under the title Lose Weight the Satchmo Way. Armstrong's laxative of preference in his younger days was Pluto Water, but he then became an enthusiastic convert when he discovered the herbal remedy Swiss Kriss. He would extol its virtues to anyone who would listen and pass out packets to everyone he encountered, including members of the British Royal Family. (Armstrong also appeared in humorous, albeit risqué, cards that he had printed to send out to friends; the cards bore a picture of him sitting on a toilet—as viewed through a keyhole—with the slogan "Satch says, 'Leave it all behind ya!'")[32] The cards have sometimes been incorrectly described as ads for Swiss Kriss.[33]
In a live recording of Baby, It's Cold Outside with Velma Middleton, he changes the lyric from "Put another record on while I pour" to "Take some Swiss Kriss while I pour". The line, slightly garbled in the live recording, could just as likely be "Take some Swiss Miss while I pour"—Swiss Miss is a hot chocolate mix that would have been fairly new on the market in 1951. (The line comes at 1:04 in the song.)[34]
The concern with his health and weight was balanced by his love of food, reflected in such songs as "Cheesecake", "Cornet Chop Suey",[35] though "Struttin’ with Some Barbecue" was written about a fine-looking companion, not about food.[36] He kept a strong connection throughout his life to the cooking of New Orleans, always signing his letters, "Red beans and ricely yours,".[37]
Although Armstrong is not known to have fathered any children, he loved children and would go out of his way to entertain the neighborhood kids in Corona and to encourage young musicians.
Armstrong’s gregariousness extended to writing. On the road, he wrote constantly. Many of the favorite themes of his life he shared with correspondents around the world. He avidly typed or wrote on whatever stationery was at hand, instant takes on music, sex, food, childhood memories, his heavy “medicinal” marijuana use and even his bowel movements which were gleefully described.[38] He had a fondness for lewd jokes and dirty limericks as well.
Armstrong was an avid audiophile. He had a large collection of recordings, including reel-to-reel tapes which he took on the road with him in a trunk during his later career. He enjoyed listening to his own recordings, and comparing his performances musically. In the den of his home, he had the latest audio equipment and would sometimes rehearse and record along with his older recordings or the radio.[39]
Louis Armstrong was also a Freemason, Montgomery Lodge No. 18 (Prince Hall), New York.[40]
[edit] Death
Armstrong died just after a heart attack on July 6, 1971, a month before his 70th birthday,[41] and 11 months after playing a famous show at the Waldorf-Astoria's Empire Room. [42] He was residing in Corona, Queens, New York City, at the time of his death.[43] He was interred in Flushing Cemetery, Flushing, in Queens, New York City.
His honorary pallbearers included Governor Rockefeller, Mayor Lindsay, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Guy Lombardo, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Pearl Bailey, Count Basie, Harry James, Frank Sinatra, Ed Sullivan, Earl Wilson, Alan King, Johnny Carson, David Frost, Merv Griffin, Dick Cavett and Bobby Hackett.
Peggy Lee sang The Lord's Prayer at the services while Al Hibbler sang "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" and Fred Robbins, a long time friend, gave the eulogy.[44]
[edit] Music
Armstrong gained fame as a horn player, then later became better known as a bandleader, vocalist, musical ambassador and founding figure in much modern American music.
[edit] Horn playing and early jazz
In his early years, Armstrong was best known for his virtuosity with the cornet and trumpet. The greatest trumpet playing of his early years can be heard on his Hot Five and Hot Seven records. The improvisations which he made on these records of New Orleans jazz standards and popular songs of the day continue to stack up brilliantly alongside those of any other later jazz performer. The older generation of New Orleans jazz musicians often referred to their improvisations as "variating the melody"; Armstrong's improvisations were daring and sophisticated for the time while often subtle and melodic.
He often essentially re-composed pop-tunes he played, making them more interesting. Armstrong's playing is filled with joyous, inspired original melodies, creative leaps, and subtle relaxed or driving rhythms. The genius of these creative passages is matched by Armstrong's playing technique, honed by constant practice, which extended the range, tone and capabilities of the trumpet. In these records, Armstrong almost single-handedly created the role of the jazz soloist, taking what was essentially a collective folk music and turning it into an art form with tremendous possibilities for individual expression.
Armstrong's work in the 1920s shows him playing at the outer limits of his abilities. The Hot Five records, especially, often have minor flubs and missed notes, which do little to detract from listening enjoyment since the energy of the spontaneous performance comes through. By the mid 1930s, Armstrong achieved a smooth assurance, knowing exactly what he could do and carrying out his ideas to perfection.
[edit] Vocal popularity
As his music progressed and popularity grew, his singing also became very important. Armstrong was not the first to record scat singing, but he was masterful at it and helped popularize it. He had a hit with his playing and scat singing on "Heebie Jeebies" when, according to some legends, the sheet music fell on the floor and he simply started singing nonsense syllables. Armstrong stated in his memoirs that this actually occurred. He also sang out "I done forgot the words" in the middle of recording "I'm A Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas".
Such records were hits and scat singing became a major part of his performances. Long before this, however, Armstrong was playing around with his vocals, shortening and lengthening phrases, interjecting improvisations, using his voice as creatively as his trumpet.
[edit] Colleagues and followers
During his long career he played and sang with some of the most important instrumentalists and vocalists of the time; among them were the singing brakeman Jimmie Rodgers, Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smith and most notably with Ella Fitzgerald.
His influence upon Bing Crosby is particularly important with regard to the subsequent development of popular music: Crosby admired and copied Armstrong, as is evident on many of his early recordings, notably "Just One More Chance" (1931). The New Grove Dictionary Of Jazz describes Crosby's debt to Armstrong in precise detail, although it does not acknowledge Armstrong by name: "Crosby...was important in introducing into the mainstream of popular singing an Afro-American concept of song as a lyrical extension of speech...His techniques - easing the weight of the breath on the vocal cords, passing into a head voice at a low register, using forward production to aid distinct enunciation, singing on consonants (a practice of black singers), and making discreet use of appoggiaturas, mordents, and slurs to emphasize the text - were emulated by nearly all later popular singers".
Armstrong recorded three albums with Ella Fitzgerald: Ella and Louis, Ella and Louis Again, and Porgy and Bess for Verve Records, with the sessions featuring the backing musicianship of the Oscar Peterson Trio and drummer Buddy Rich. His recordings Satch Plays Fats, all Fats Waller tunes, and Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy in the 1950s were perhaps among the last of his great creative recordings, but even oddities like Disney Songs the Satchmo Way are seen to have their musical moments. And, his participation in Dave Brubeck's high-concept jazz musical The Real Ambassadors was critically acclaimed. For the most part, however, his later output was criticized as being overly simplistic or repetitive.
[edit] Hits and later career
Armstrong had many hit records including "Stardust", "What a Wonderful World", "When The Saints Go Marching In", "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Ain't Misbehavin'", "You Rascal You",and "Stompin' at the Savoy". "We Have All the Time in the World" featured on the soundtrack of the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and enjoyed renewed popularity in the UK in 1994 when it featured on a Guinness advert. It reached number 3 in the charts on being re-released.
In 1964, Armstrong knocked the Beatles off the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart with "Hello, Dolly!", which gave the 63-year-old performer a U.S. record as the oldest artist to have a #1 song.
His 1964 song, "Bout Time" later featured in the film "Bewitched" (2005).
Armstrong performed in Italy at the 1968 Sanremo Music Festival where he sang "Mi Va di Cantare"[45] alongside his friend, the Eritrean-born Italian singer Lara Saint Paul.[46] In February 1968, he also appeared with Lara Saint Paul on the Italian Rai television channel where he performed "Grassa e Bella", a track he sang in Italian for the Italian market and C.D.I. label.[47]
In 1968, Armstrong scored one last popular hit in the United Kingdom with the highly sentimental pop song "What a Wonderful World", which topped the British charts for a month; however, the single did not chart at all in America. The song gained greater currency in the popular consciousness when it was used in the 1987 movie Good Morning, Vietnam, its subsequent rerelease topping many charts around the world. Armstrong even appeared on the October 28, 1970 Johnny Cash Show, where he sang Nat "King" Cole's hit "Rambling Rose" and joined Cash to re-create his performance backing Jimmie Rodgers on "Blue Yodel #9".
[edit] Stylistic range
Armstrong enjoyed many types of music, from blues to the arrangements of Guy Lombardo, to Latin American folksongs, to classical symphonies and opera. Armstrong incorporated influences from all these sources into his performances, sometimes to the bewilderment of fans who wanted Armstrong to stay in convenient narrow categories. Armstrong was inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an early influence. Some of his solos from the 1950s, such as the hard rocking version of "St. Louis Blues" from the WC Handy album, show that the influence went in both directions.
[edit] Literature, radio, films and TV
Armstrong appeared in more than a dozen Hollywood films, usually playing a band leader or musician. His most familiar role was as the bandleader cum narrator in the 1956 musical, High Society, in which he sang the title song and performed a duet with Bing Crosby on "Now You Has Jazz". In 1947, he played himself in the movie New Orleans opposite Billie Holiday, which chronicled the demise of the Storyville district and the ensuing exodus of musicians from New Orleans to Chicago.[48] He was the first African American to host a nationally broadcast radio show in the 1930s. In 1969, Armstrong had a cameo role in the film version of Hello, Dolly! as the bandleader, Louis, to which he sang the title song with actress Barbra Streisand. His solo recording of "Hello, Dolly!" is one of his most recognizable performances.
He was heard on such radio programs as The Story of Swing (1937) and This Is Jazz (1947), and he also made countless television appearances, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, including appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Armstrong has a record star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 7601 Hollywood Boulevard.
Many of Armstrong's recordings remain popular. Almost four decades since his passing, a larger number of his recordings from all periods of his career are more widely available than at any time during his lifetime. His songs are broadcast and listened to every day throughout the world, and are honored in various movies, TV series, commercials, and even anime and computer games. "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" was included in the computer game Fallout 2, accompanying the intro cinematic. It was also used in the 1993 film Sleepless in Seattle and the 2005 film Lord of War. His 1923 recordings, with Joe Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band, continue to be listened to as documents of ensemble style New Orleans jazz, but more particularly as ripper jazz records in their own right. All too often, however, Armstrong recorded with stiff, standard orchestras leaving only his sublime trumpet playing as of interest. "Melancholy Blues," performed by Armstrong and his Hot Seven was included on the Voyager Golden Record sent into outer space to represent one of the greatest achievements of humanity. Most familiar to modern listeners is his ubiquitous rendition of "What a Wonderful World." In 2008, Armstrong's recording of Edith Piaf's famous "La Vie En Rose" was used in a scene of the popular Disney/Pixar film WALL-E.
Argentine writer Julio Cortázar, a self-described Armstrong admirer, asserted that a 1952 Louis Armstrong concert at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris played a significant role in inspiring him to create the fictional creatures called Cronopios that are the subject of a number of Cortázar's short stories. Cortázar once called Louis Armstrong himself "Grandísimo Cronopio" (Most Enormous Cronopio).
Armstrong also appears as a minor character in Harry Turtledove's Timeline-191 series. When he and his band escape from a Nazi-like Confederacy, they enhance the insipid mainstream music of the North.
There is a pivotal scene in 1980's Stardust Memories in which Woody Allen is overwhelmed by a recording of Armstrong's Stardust and experiences a nostalgic epiphany.[49] The combination of the music and the perfect moment is the catalyst for much of the film's action, prompting the protagonist to fall in love with an ill-advised woman.[50]
Louis Armstrong is also referred to in The Trumpet of the Swan along with Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Three siblings in the film are named Louis, Billie, and Ella. The main character, Louis, plays a trumpet, an obvious nod to Armstrong.
In the original EB White book, he is referred to by name by a child who hears Louis playing and comments "He sounds just like Louis Armstrong, the famous trumpet player".
[edit] Awards and honors
[edit] Grammy Awards
Armstrong was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1972 by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. This Special Merit Award is presented by vote of the Recording Academy's National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording.[51]
Grammy Award
Year Category Title Genre Label Result
1964 Male Vocal Performance "Hello, Dolly!" Pop Kapp Winner
[edit] Grammy Hall of Fame
Recordings of Armstrong were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."[52][53]
Grammy Hall of Fame
Year Recorded Title Genre Label Year Inducted Notes
1929 St. Louis Blues Jazz (Single) OKeh 2008
1928 Weather Bird Jazz (Single) OKeh 2008 with Earl Hines
1930 Blue Yodel #9
(Standing on the Corner) Country (Single) Victor 2007 Jimmie Rodgers (Featuring Louis Armstrong)
1932 All of Me Jazz (Single) Columbia 2005
1958 Porgy and Bess Jazz (Album) Verve 2001 with Ella Fitzgerald
1964 Hello Dolly! Pop (Single) Kapp 2001
1926 Heebie Jeebies Jazz (Single) OKeh 1999
1968 What a Wonderful World Jazz (Single) ABC 1999
1955 Mack the Knife Jazz (Single) Columbia 1997
1925 St. Louis Blues Jazz (Single) Columbia 1993 Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong, cornet
1928 West End Blues Jazz (Single) OKeh 1974
[edit] Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed a song by Armstrong on the list of 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll.[54]
Year Recorded Title Label Group
1928 West End Blues Okeh Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five
[edit] Inductions and honors
In 1995, the U.S. Post Office issued a Louis Armstrong 32 cents commemorative postage stamp.
Year Inducted Title Results Notes
2007 Louisiana Music Hall of Fame
2007 Gennett Records Walk of Fame, Richmond, Indiana
2007 Long Island Music Hall of Fame
2004 Nesuhi Ertegün Jazz Hall of Fame
at Jazz at Lincoln Center
1990 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Early influence
1978 Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame
1952 Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame Star at 7601 Hollywood Blvd.
[edit] Legacy
The house where Louis Armstrong lived for close to 28 years was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977 and is now a museum. The Louis Armstrong House Museum, at 34-56 107th Street (between 34th and 37th Avenues) in Corona, Queens, presents concerts and educational programs, operates as a historic house museum and makes materials in its archives of writings, books, recordings and memorabilia available to the public for research. The museum is operated by the City University of New York's Queens College, following the dictates of Lucille Armstrong's will.
The museum opened to the public on October 15, 2003. A visitors center is currently being planned, and estimated to open in 2011.
The influence of Armstrong on the development of jazz is virtually immeasurable. Yet, his irrepressible personality both as a performer, and as a public figure later in his career, was so strong that to some it sometimes overshadowed his contributions as a musician and singer.
As a virtuoso trumpet player, Armstrong had a unique tone and an extraordinary talent for melodic improvisation. Through his playing, the trumpet emerged as a solo instrument in jazz and is used widely today. He was a masterful accompanist and ensemble player in addition to his extraordinary skills as a soloist. With his innovations, he raised the bar musically for all who came after him.
Though Armstrong is widely recognized as a pioneer of scat singing, Ethel Waters precedes his scatting on record in the 1930s according to Gary Giddins and others.[55] Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra are just two singers who were greatly indebted to him. Holiday said that she always wanted Bessie Smith's 'big' sound and Armstrong's feeling in her singing.
On August 4, 2001, the centennial of Armstrong's birth, New Orleans's airport was renamed Louis Armstrong International Airport in his honor.
In 2002, the Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings (1925–1928) are preserved in the United States National Recording Registry, a registry of recordings selected yearly by the National Recording Preservation Board for preservation in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.[56]
The US Open tennis tournament's former main stadium was named Louis Armstrong Stadium in honor of Armstrong who had lived a few blocks from the site.[57]
Today, there are many bands worldwide dedicated to preserving and honoring the music and style of Satchmo, including the Louis Armstrong Society located in New Orleans, LA.
[edit] Discography
Louis Armstrong albums
Louis Armstrong songs
[edit] Notes
^ He preferred that his name be pronounced Louie. "It's like Louis Armstrong - he spelled his name Louis, but he liked it to be said as Louie", recalls Louie Bellson [1]. Armstrong was registered as "Lewie" for the 1920 U.S. Census. On various live records he's called "Louie" on stage, such as on the 1952 "Can Anyone Explain?" from the live album In Scandinavia vol.1. It should also be noted that "Lewie" is the French pronunciation of "Louis" and is commonly used in Louisiana. However, when referring to himself in "Hello Dolly!", he pronounces his name as "Lewis" ("Hello, Dolly. This is Lewis, Dolly"), pronouncing the 's'.
^ Armstrong said he was not sure exactly when he was born, but celebrated his birthday on July 4. He usually gave the year as 1900 when speaking in public (although he used 1901 on his Social Security and other papers filed with the government). Using Roman Catholic Church documents from when his grandmother took him to be baptized, New Orleans music researcher Tad Jones established Armstrong’s actual date of birth as August 4, 1901. With various other collaborative evidence, this date is now accepted by Armstrong scholars. See also age fabrication.
^ For "satchel-mouth".
^ The TIME 100. Louis Armstrong. TIME, Stanley Crouch, June 8, 1998. "For many years it was thought that Armstrong was born in New Orleans on July 4, 1900, a perfect day for the man who wrote the musical Declaration of Independence for Americans of this century. But the estimable writer Gary Giddins discovered the birth certificate that proves Armstrong was born Aug. 4, 1901.." Retrieved January 8, 2009.
^ When is Louis Armstrong's birthday? The Official Site of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives.
^ Current Biography 1944, pp. 15–17.
^ Bergreen, Laurence (1997). Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life. New York: Broadway Books. p. 6. ISBN 0-553-06768-0.
^ Karnow, Stanley (February 21, 2001). "My Debt to Cousin Louis's Cornet". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9C02E1D91639F932A15751C0A9679C8B63. Retrieved January 10, 2007.
^ Teachout, Terry. "Satchmo and the Jews" Commentary magazine, Nov. 2009.
^ "The Karnofsky Project".
^ Current Biography 1944 p. 16.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 78.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 142.
^ "Satchuated" Gary Giddins, Village Voice April 16–22, 2003. Retrieved October 17, 2007.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 170.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 199.
^ www.britannica.com
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 247.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 260.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 274.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 264.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 267.
^ "Louis Armstrong & his Orchestra". Redhotjazz.com. http://www.redhotjazz.com/lao.html. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ Morgenstern, Dan. “Louis Armstrong and the development & diffusion of Jazz”, Louis Armstrong a Cultural Legacy, Marc H Miller e.d., Queens Museum of Art in association with University of Washington Press, 1994 pg110
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 320.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 344.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 385.
^ Hale, James (editor of Jazzhouse.org), Danny Barcelona (1929–2007), Drums, Armstrong All-Star, The Last Post, 2007, retrieved July 4, 2007.
^ "Louis Armstrong, Barring Soviet Tour, Denounces Eisenhower and Gov. Faubus". New York Times. September 19, 1957. http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/08/03/reviews/armstrong-eisenhower.html. Retrieved August 30, 2007. See also, from September 23, 2007, *David Margolick, The Day Louis Armstrong Made Noise.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 472.
^ a b Gabbard, Krin (2001). Album notes for Louis and The Good Book by Louis Armstrong, p. 1 [CD booklet]. New York City: Verve Records.
^ Gilstrap, Peter (February 29, 1996). "Leave It All Behind Ya". Phoenix New Times. http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1996-02-29/news/leave-it-all-behind-ya/. Retrieved August 11, 2007.
^ Teachout, Terry (2009) Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong pp. 293–294.
^ Louis Armstrong, "Christmas Through the Years", Laserlight 12744
^ Satchmo.net. 'Red Beans and Ricely yours, Louis Armstrong.'
^ Jive Dictionary, by Cab Calloway: "Barbecue (n.) -- the girl friend, a beauty". Retrieved February 10, 2009.
^ Elie p. 327.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 4.
^ Michael Cogswell, Louis Armstrong: The Offstage Story of Satchmo (Collector's Press, Portland, Oregon, 2003) ISBN 1-88805481-6 pp. 66–68.
^ "List of famous freemasons". http://www.calodges.org/no406/FAMASONS.HTM. Retrieved April 25, 2009.
^ Meckna, Michael; Satchmo, The Louis Armstrong Encyclopedia, Greenwood Press, Connecticut & London, 2004.
^ Bergreen, 1997, p. 491.
^ Krebs, Albin. "Louis Armstrong, Jazz Trumpeter and Singer, Dies", The New York Times, July 7, 1971. Accessed October 1, 2009. "Louis Armstrong, the celebrated jazz trumpeter and singer, died in his sleep yesterday morning at his home in the Corona section of Queens."
^ "Louis Armstrong Dies: 1971 Year in Review". Upi.com. December 28, 1971. http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1971/12295509436546-1/#title. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ "Hit Parade Italia" Hit Parade Italia - Festival di Sanremo 1968.
^ "Mi va di cantare" Lara Saint Paul - lavocedelledonne.it.
^ Louis Armstrong: "Grassa e bella" Louis Armstrong Discography.
^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039655/
^ "Stardust Memories :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". Rogerebert.suntimes.com. January 1, 1980. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19800101/REVIEWS/1010330/1023. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081554/
^ "Lifetime Achievement Award". Grammy.com. February 8, 2009. http://www.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Lifetime_Awards/. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ "Grammy Hall of Fame Database". Grammy.com. February 8, 2009. http://www.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Hall_Of_Fame/. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ "The Recording Academy" (PDF). http://www.grammy.com/PressReleases/443_466_Hall%20of%20Fame%20release%20FINAL.pdf. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". Rockhall.com. http://www.rockhall.com/exhibithighlights/500-songs/. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ See Ken Burns' Jazz CD Set liner notes.
^ "Library of Congress archive". Loc.gov. February 18, 2009. http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-2002reg.html. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
^ "Ashe & Armstrong Stadiums". Usta.com. http://www.usta.com/nationaltenniscenternews/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=14185. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
[edit] References
Armstrong, Louis. Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans. ISBN 0-306-80276-7
Armstrong, Louis and Thomas Brothers. Armstrong, in His Own Words: Selected Writings. ISBN 019514046X
Bergreen, Laurence. "Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life". ISBN 0-553-06768-0
Brothers, Thomas "Louis Armstrong's New Orleans" ISBN 0393061094
Cogswell, Michael. Armstrong: The Offstage Story. ISBN 1-888054-81-6
Elie, Lolis Eric. A Letter from New Orleans. Originally printed in Gourmet. Reprinted in Best Food Writing 2006, Edited by Holly Hughes, ISBN 1-56924-287-9
Jones Max and John Chilton. Louis Armstrong Story. ISBN 0306803240
Meckna, Michael. Satchmo: The Louis Armstrong Encyclopedia. ISBN 0-313-30137-9
[edit] External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Louis Armstrong
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Louis Armstrong
louis-armstrong.net - Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Louis Armstrong by Nat Hentoff
Obituary, NY Times
Quotes and tributes
Discography
Filmography @ imdb.com
The Louis Armstrong Society Jazz Band
Seeing Black jazz critic on the Uncle Tom question
the official website of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives
"Louis Armstrong Transcription Project - john p birchall"
Louis Armstrong at pbskids.org
David Margolick, The Day Louis Armstrong Made Noise
Smithsonian Louis Armstrong: A Cultural Legacy
Louis Armstrong Memorial at Find A Grave
Louis Armstrong at NPR Music
Louis Armstrong: discography and early recordings (Real Player format) on the Red Hot Jazz website.
Milestone Louis Armstrong recordings at Three Perfect Minutes
Louis Armstrong's autobiography online book
"Satchmo - My Life in New Orleans(1954)" free download
"Satchmo - My Life in New Orleans" another web site
[edit] Video clips
New Orleans portal
Biography portal
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 1)"
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 2)"
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 3)"
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 4)"
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 5)"
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 6)"
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 7)"
"Louis Armstrong - Documentary (Part 8)"
"What a Wonderful World" BBC recording, 1968
"When The Saints Go Marching In"
"Hello Dolly"
"Hello Dolly" with Barbra Streisand
"Now You Has Jazz"
"Blueberry Hill"
"Mack the Knife Germany, 1959
"Stompin' At The Savoy" Germany, 1959
"Tiger Rag"
"C'est si bon 1962
"St. James Infirmary" photo slide show
"Dream a Little Dream" photo slide show
"Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra - Live show"
"Louis Armstrong on the Mark Twain at Disneyland"
"Louis Armstrong - Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen (1962)"
"Louis Armstrong - Basin Street Blues - 1959"
"Louis Armstrong - A kiss To Build A Dream"
Persondata
NAME Armstrong, Louis Daniel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Satchmo
SHORT DESCRIPTION American Jazz trumpeter and singer
DATE OF BIRTH July 4, 1900(1900-07-04)
PLACE OF BIRTH New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH July 6, 1971
PLACE OF DEATH New York City, New York, U.S.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Armstrong"
Categories: 1901 births
1971 deaths
ABC Records artists
African American brass musicians
African American singers
American buskers
American jazz cornetists
American jazz singers
American jazz tru
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