Duke Ellington, composer

Born: April 29, 1899 in Washington D.C.

Died: May 24, 1974 in New York City

Education: began taking piano at age 7; taught himself harmony at the piano and learned orchestration through experimenting with his band

Best known as: a jazz composer, bandleader and pianist; was a leading figure in big-band jazz for decades and still remains the genre’s most significant and innovative composer

Compositions: not only composed in the jazz genre, but also branched out into blues, gospel, film music, and classical music; estimated to have written around 2000 compositions, including short instrumental pieces, popular songs including Mood Indigo, Sophisticated Lady, Satin Doll and Take the “A” Train; large scale suites including The River Suite, Newport Jazz Festival Suite, and Toot Suite; several musical comedies; film scores; an incomplete and unperformed opera, Boola

Awards: Thirteen Grammy® Awards; Keys to the City of Los Angeles; Honorary Doctorate, Yale University; Honorary Doctorate, Howard University; elected member of Swedish Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm; French Legion of Honor; Presidential Medal of Honor; made a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters; posthumous Special Citation from the Pulitzer Prize in 1999

Quote: “I like any and all of my associations with music — writing, playing, and listening. We write and play from our perspective, and the audience listens from its perspective. If and when we agree, I am lucky.” — Duke Ellington