Duke Ellington

Big band composer and bandleader

Facts

• Born: 1899
• Country: United States
• Field: Music
• Era: Pioneers

Overview

Pianist, composer, and bandleader whose orchestra performed from 1923 for half a century. His band was the house attraction at the Cotton Club in Harlem from 1927 to 1931. Take the A Train, Mood Indigo, and Sophisticated Lady are standards of the American songbook. He composed over 1,000 pieces, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, and toured across the world.