April 29 - BlackFacts.com Black History Minute

BlackFacts.com: Learn/Teach/Create Black History

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for April 29.

Duke Ellington was born.

One of the originators of big-band jazz, Ellington led his band for more than half a century, composed thousands of scores, and created one of the most distinctive ensemble sounds in all of Western music.

Born in Washington, D.C., 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.

He selected his musicians for their expressive individuality and several members of his ensemble including trumpeter Cootie Williams and clarinetist Barney Bigard, amongst others, were themselves, important jazz artists.

Scores of his originals became jazz standards, and he ranked with the other masters of the Great American Songbook such as George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin.

His gift of melody and his mastery of sonic textures, rhythms, and compositional forms translated his often subtle, sometimes complex perceptions into a body of music unequaled in jazz history.

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