Duke Ellington

April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974

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Duke Ellington and his Orchestra perform some of their biggest hits in 1952.

1 “Sophisticated Lady”
2 “Caravan”
3 “The Mooch”
4 “V.I.P’s Boogie”
5 “Solitude” (feat. Jimmie Grissom)
6 “Mood Indigo”
7 “The Hawk Talks” (feat. Louie Bellson)
8 “I Got It Bad And That Ain’t Good”
9 “Bli-Blip”
10 “Flamingo
11 “Hot Chocolate” (“Cottontail”)
12 “C Jam Blues”

It was in Washington D.C. during the Summer of 1914 that a fifteen year old soda jerk named Edward Ellington wrote his first piano composition, “Soda Fountain Rag.”

Dropping out of commercial art school months before graduating he performed successfully with a small group around D.C. before moving to Harlem in the early ’20s.

In New York he struggled for a time amid the highly competitive music scene before landed an steady engagement with Elmer Snowden and his “Black Sox” at the Hollywood Club on 49th and Broadway, later reopened as Club Kentucky after a fire.

Snowden was forced out of the band in early 1924 following a dispute over money leaving Ellington to assume control of what would become known hence forth as the “Duke Ellington Orchestra.”
 

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