May 24: On This Day in World History … briefly
Born in Washington DC, Duke Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s onward and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem.
1974: Duke leaves a legacy of pure genius
Duke Ellington, one of the greatest of all jazz musicians, died of lung cancer aged 75.
Perhaps more than any other musician, Ellington helped bring jazz out of the black ghettos of America and put it on the world map – it was through Ellington, Fletcher Henderson and Count Basie and their syncopated big-band arrangements that most white Americans first heard jazz.
Ellington won popularity in New York when his 11-piece band took up residence at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem in 1927, and live broadcasts from the club soon made the unique Ellington sound famous.
Virtually all the jazz greats had played with Ellington, who usually wrote special pieces to show off their skills. With some 3 000 works to his credit, his is acknowledged as America’s greatest composer.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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