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Duke Ellington Poetic Style

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Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was a famous American jazz composer, pianist, and bandleader of a jazz orchestra. He was born April 29, 1899 in Washington, D.C. He pursued his career in music from the 1920’s all the way until his death on May 24, 1974 in New York, NY (aged 75). He earned the nickname “Duke” as a child because of his gentlemanly demeanor, graceful manner, and the fancy clothes that he wore, and he used it as a title at the suggestion of a friend, Edgar McEntree. He was one of the creators of the popular Big Band instrumentation. His genres of choice were swing and orchestral jazz. His four key styles of jazz were jungle style, mood style, concerto style, and standard style. Being a self-taught jazz musician, he …show more content…

They were written specifically for his band and soloists. He made sure to take into account the difference between each of his soloists, such as variations in tone. He paid attention to detail when composing and arranging. Such pieces included “Mood Indigo” (1930), which was created to emphasize the trombone, the muted trumpet, and the low-register clarinet. He created pieces specifically for his soloists to emphasize their individual talent, such as “Echoes of Harlem” and “Concerto for Cootie”, which were for Cootie Williams, his trumpet player. He also wrote "Jeep's Blues" for Johnny Hodges, "Yearning for Love" for Lawrence Brown, "Trumpet in Spades" for Rex Stewart, and "Clarinet Lament" for Barney Bigard.
By this time in Duke Ellington’s life, his distinctive musical characteristics were pretty much set. This was in the midst of the swing era of jazz music. He interests continued to change over the years, however, which in part was the reason for the creation of each of his key musical styles. He often recorded with other popular jazz artists of that time, such as Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, and Charles

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