Duke Ellington

Composer ("It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Swing", "Sophisticated Lady", "Mood Indigo", "Solitude", "In a Mellotone", "Satin Doll"), pianist and conductor, holder of an honorary music degree from Wilberforce University and an LHD from Milton College, Duke Ellington led his own orchestra by 1918, and came to New York in 1923, appearing at the Cotton Club between 1927 and 1932.

Making his first European tour in 1933, he followed with his annual Carnegie Hall concerts between 1943 and 1950, and then a Middle East tour (under the auspices of the State Department), including an appearance at the International Fair in Damascus in 1963. His stage scores include "Jump for Joy" and "Beggars Holiday" (Broadway). He made many records.

Ellington was celebrated in Stevie Wonder's song "Sir Duke" (from "Songs in the Key of Life" (1976)).

Charter inductee of the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame. [1978]

Pictured on a 22¢ US commemorative postage stamp in the Performing Arts series (97th anniversary of his birth). [April 1986]

(July 16, 2008) Pictured in silhouette in a poster for the film Black and Tan Fantasy (1929) on a 42¢ USA commemorative postage stamp celebrating Vintage Black Cinema.

His image is part the central design on the reverse of the District of Columbia 25¢ commemorative coin issued in 2009, as part of the USA's Statehood Quarters series. He is shown seated next to a piano, and the name "DUKE ELLINGTON" is engraved in the area above the piano keys.

Inducted into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2017.