Top 20 Interesting Facts about Duke Ellington

Top 20 Interesting Facts about Duke Ellington

*Originally written by Vanessa R and Updated by Vanessa R. in January 2024

Duke Ellington was one of the most influential creative forces in twentieth-century music. It is impossible to overestimate his impact on classical music, popular music, and, of course, jazz.

Edward Kennedy Ellington was born into a middle-class black family in Washington, D.C. on April 29, 1899. Ellington wanted to be a painter at first, but in his early teens, he grew fascinated with music and learnt James P. Johnson’s “Carolina Shout” from a piano roll. He began studying piano at age seven, studied art during his high-school years, and was awarded (but did not accept) a scholarship to the Pratt Institute.

He joined a tiny jazz ensemble in Washington soon after and the rest are listed below, 

1. His parents were professional pianists

His parents, James Edward Ellington and Daisy Ellington were both skilled pianists when he was born in 1899. Daisy, Duke’s mother, was a popular middle-class singer in the late 1800s who sang parlor music. His father, on the other hand, performed operatic arias.

His mother was a beautiful and intelligent lady who had completed high school, which was unusual for a black woman at the time. She instilled in her kid a sense of love and confidence that he would carry with him for the rest of his life. Ellington adored his mother. 

J. E. Ellington instilled in his son the airs of a young nobleman and a way with ladies, teaching him how to be a polished young gentleman. From 1898 through 1921, the family resided in fourteen separate homes in Northwest Washington, most of which were in what would eventually become the historic U Street District.

2. Duke was not his real name 

Duke’s original name was Edward Kennedy Ellington, but he was known as Duke because of his impeccable manners, which gave him the air of a nobleman. His mother, according to legend, trained him to be courteous by surrounding him with gentle and dignified women. His childhood buddies began to refer to him as “Duke.”

3. Before he got renowned, he used to sell peanuts at baseball games

Duke was a big baseball fan when he was younger. When he was in high school, he was more interested in this sport than in the piano. However, when it comes to baseball, he earned his first job selling peanuts at Washington Senators games.

4. Duke married his high school sweetheart but….

In 1918, Duke Ellington married Edna Thompson, his high school sweetheart. Their son, Mercer, was born the following year.

Though he was married, he spent a lot of time with his mistress Beatrice Ellis, also known as Evie Ellington. He spent so much time with Ellis that she was was sometimes called his “first lady”. 

After 11 years of marriage, the Duke and his wife, Edna, divorced in 1929 after his philandering drove her to cut him across the face with a razor, leaving a scar on his left cheek.

5. Duke performed at the White House 

Duke Ellington by VIRIN from Wikimedia Commons

Duke played at the White House on his 70th birthday. The event was hosted by Richard Nixon, and what better way to celebrate your birthday than by being invited to the White House?

The event took place on April 29, 1969, under the presidency of Richard Nixon. Well, he’s not the most popular president, but for a jazz musician, it’s still a huge honour.

President Richard Nixon honoured this form of expression by awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honour.

6. Duke was the second Ellington to visit the White House

Duke was the first Ellington to visit the White House, despite being invited to perform on President Richard Nixon’s 70th birthday. Duke’s father, James Edward Ellington, served as a White House butler during the Warren G. Harding administration in the 1920s.

7. He plays The Ghost of Duke Ellington in the popular animated TV show Big Mouth

The Ghost of Duke Ellington is a character who lives in Nick Birch’s upstairs attic. He is a mentor to all of the characters who come to see him with their intriguing queries. While the show features other famous spirits, none of them makes as frequent an appearance as Duke Ellington. In fact, Duke Ellington is the subject of an entire episode of Big Mouth.

8. He was a Freemason

It’s hardly surprising that a musician and artist of such stature would be a member of a Masonic lodge. It was the Prince Hall Freemasonry, a North American branch of Prince Hall Freemasonry founded in the 18th century. This was not something he talked about much, but it was noted in his autobiography.

9. Mercer Ellington, Duke’s only son, inherited his father’s musical talent

Mercer Ellington by Tom Marcello from Wikimedia Commons

Mercer Ellington was the sole surviving child of Edward Kennedy (“Duke”) Ellington, a prominent composer and pianist, and his wife, Edna Thompson, a pianist and homemaker.

He also studied the trumpet. However, Mercer and his father were not close, and during the time he spent with his father each year, members of the Ellington band acted as his surrogate extended family, assisting him in maturing.

He began his career writing songs for Duke and even playing in his band. When Duke Ellington died, Mercer became the Duke Ellington Orchestra’s leader.

10. In Washington, D.C., there is a high school dedicated to arts education that bears his name

Duke Ellington school by Duke Ellington by Wikimedia Commons

The Duke Ellington School of the Arts was founded in 1974, the same year that Ellington died. This Washington, D.C. institution is dedicated to arts education, as its name suggests. Prior to 1974, the structure was known as Western High School and was erected in the late nineteenth century. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places as well.

11. He Started Playing Piano at 7

At the young age of 7, Duke Ellington began taking piano lessons. He practiced songs and scales regularly. Before long, he was performing at receptions, parties, and dances around his hometown of Washington, D.C. Duke’s natural talent and interest in music showed clearly even as a young child. By the time he was a teenager, he was playing piano professionally for money while also attending high school.

12. He Led His Band for 50 Years

Hans Bernhard (Schnobby), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

He Led His Band for 50 Years When Duke Ellington was in his mid-twenties around 1923, he formed a jazz orchestra initially called The Washingtonians. This marked the beginning of his long career as a band leader. For the next 50 years straight, until Duke passed away in 1974, he continued leading his band of jazz musicians as the central pianist and composer. Over the decades, the group played under various names but Duke remained at the helm the entire time.

13. He Composed Over 1,000 Songs

Throughout his exceptionally prolific career, Duke Ellington wrote well over 1,000 jazz tunes, ballads, instrumentals, and pop songs. In the 1920s and 30s, upbeat hits like “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” got people dancing at famous Cotton Club shows. But Ellington also composed longer form suites and sophisticated experiments with form. His repertoire grew to encompass religious-themed works, music inspired by history and civil rights, and more.

14. His Pioneering “Jungle Jazz” Style

Aage Sørensen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

He Pioneered “Jungle Style” Jazz Around the late 1920s, Duke Ellington’s orchestra developed a raw, exotic jazz style featuring growling brass and saxophone effects. Music critics referred to the bold new sound as “jungle style” jazz because of its raucous, unrestrained quality. It was seen as distinctly more innovative than other dance bands of the era. Ellington soon became a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance art movement with their signature jungle jazz albums and shows at the Cotton Club.

15. He Earned 13 Grammy Awards

While Duke Ellington originally gained widespread fame during the 1930s/40s swing era, he continued evolving, innovating, and garnering acclaim into the early 1970s until his death at age 75. Throughout his 50-year career, he earned an impressive 13 Grammy Awards for categories ranging from Best Performance by a Dance Band to Best Jazz Composition to Posthumous Lifetime Achievement. Duke’s popularity and veneration never faded over time, from the 1920s through the 1970s.

16. He composed film and stage scores

Beyond his prolific output of jazz songs and instrumental compositions, Duke Ellington also wrote score music for films and theatrical productions. Some examples include his jazz-influenced score for the 1959 courtroom crime drama Anatomy of a Murder, starring James Stewart. He composed songs and background music for Broadway musicals like Beggar’s Holiday and Pousse-Café too. Later on, choreographers set modern dance routines to Ellington’s recordings and opera companies adapted his work.

17. He Played with Jazz Legends

William P. Gottlieb, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Being one of the most prominent bandleaders and composers in jazz history, Duke Ellington recorded and performed with a veritable who’s-who list of 20th-century jazz stars. Famous musicians like trumpeter Cootie Williams, saxophonist Johnny Hodges, and bassist Jimmy Blanton spent formative years playing in Duke’s orchestra early on. He also made crossover albums with bebop innovators like John Coltrane and Charles Mingus. Audiences loved the collaborations between Duke Ellington and other jazz greats.

18. Duke Ellington was well-travelled

Louis Panassié, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra toured the United States extensively in the 1920s and 1930s, when segregation still limited opportunities for black entertainers. Once policies changed after WWII, the US State Department sponsored Ellington’s band on international tours to counter Soviet propaganda about racism in America. Duke travelled globally for performances in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America through the 1960s, captivating audiences worldwide with his distinctively American jazz style.

19. He Joined the Black Baseball League

As a young athletic man around 1920, before jazz stardom, Duke Ellington played on an all-African-American professional baseball team called the Washington Black Sox. Though his musical path soon took priority, Duke maintained a lifelong love for America’s pastime. He even incorporated baseball references into songs on occasion. So before piano fame, Duke briefly played pro baseball, representing black baseball teams barred from the major leagues back then.

20. He appreciated Visual Art

Beyond his obvious talents in musical composition and performance on the piano, Duke Ellington also had an eye for visual art. He promoted African-American painters and sculptors by visiting galleries to increase exposure. Duke sometimes painted impressionist images himself and even exhibited his visual works, though he lacked formal training. When Ellington passed away in 1974, the world lost a versatile 20th-century Renaissance man of jazz, songwriting, and art alike.

Duke Ellington was the only jazz musician in history who was able to express himself with more diversity, swing, and elegance. Ellington, a skilled and sensitive pianist, eventually demonstrated that the American Orchestra was his real instrument.

For half a century, Ellington led and anchored his ever-evolving band, demonstrating how the American Orchestra could achieve a perfect balance of music that was both shaped by the composer and birthed on the spot by the musicians, all while creating art that swung relentlessly and reached the pinnacles of emotional engagement. It is impossible to overestimate his impact on classical music, popular music, and, of course, jazz.