Billy Strayhorn was an arranger of great renown in the Duke Ellington orchestra beginning in 1938.

In high school he was given his first oil paints and learned about his aunt Bessye Bearden's art salons, which stars like Duke Ellington and Langston Hughes attended.

Brubeck personally found this accolade embarrassing since he considered Duke Ellington more deserving of it and was convinced that himself being Caucasian as opposed to Ellington being African American was a factor for why he was favored.

Notable jazz bassists from the 1940s to the 1950s included bassist Jimmy Blanton ( 1918 – 1942 ) whose short tenure in the Duke Ellington Swing band ( cut short by his death from tuberculosis ) introduced new melodic and harmonic solo ideas for the instrument ; bassist Ray Brown ( 1926 – 2002 ), known for backing Beboppers Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum and Charlie Parker, and forming the Modern Jazz Quartet ; hard bop bassist Ron Carter ( born 1937 ), who has appeared on 3, 500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, including LPs by Thelonious Monk and Wes Montgomery and many Blue Note Records artists ; and Paul Chambers ( 1935 – 1969 ), a member of the Miles Davis Quintet ( including the landmark modal jazz recording Kind of Blue ) and many other 1950s and 1960s rhythm sections, was known for his virtuosic improvisations.

The halftime show was a tribute to American jazz composer, pianist and bandleader Duke Ellington, also featuring the Grambling State University Band along with Ellington's son Mercer.

Edward Kennedy " Duke " Ellington ( April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974 ) was an American composer, pianist, and big-band leader.

" These included many of the musicians who were members of his orchestra, some of whom are considered among the best in jazz in their own right, but it was Ellington who melded them into one of the most well-known jazz orchestral units in the history of jazz.

Edward Kennedy Ellington was born on April 29, 1899 to James Edward Ellington and Daisy Kennedy Ellington.

They lived with his maternal grandparents at 2129 Ida Place ( now Ward Place ), NW in the West End neighborhood of Washington, D. C. His father, James Edward Ellington, was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina on April 15, 1879 and moved to Washington, D. C. in 1886 with his parents.

Though Ellington took piano lessons, he was more interested in baseball.

" In his autobiography, Music is my Mistress ( 1973 ), Ellington said he missed more lessons than he attended, feeling at the time that playing the piano was not his talent.

Ellington was also inspired by his first encounters with stride pianists James P. Johnson and Luckey Roberts.

When his drummer Sonny Greer was invited to join the Wilber Sweatman Orchestra in New York City, Ellington made the fateful decision to leave behind his successful career in Washington, D. C., and move to Harlem, becoming one of the figures of the Harlem Renaissance.

This was followed in September 1923 by a move to the Hollywood Club – 49th and Broadway – and a four-year engagement, which gave Ellington a solid artistic base.

Ellington was joined in New York City by his wife, Edna Thompson, and son Mercer in the late twenties, but the couple soon permanently separated.

As a bandleader, Ellington was not a strict disciplinarian ; he maintained control of his orchestra with a crafty combination of charm, humor, flattery, and astute psychology.

For agent Mills it was a publicity triumph, as Ellington was now internationally known.

He also produced a two-hour documentary on Duke Ellington, which was twice nominated for an Emmy.

Duke Ellington's and Billy Strayhorn's arrangements for the Duke Ellington big band were usually new compositions, and some of Eddie Sauter's arrangements for the Benny Goodman band and Artie Shaw's arrangements for his own band were new compositions as well.

In 1996 Charlie Ellington at Cambridge University showed that vortices created by many insects ’ wings and non-linear effects were a vital source of lift ; vortices and non-linear phenomena are notoriously difficult areas of hydrodynamics, which has made for slow progress in theoretical understanding of insect flight.

He also designed album covers for artists such as Duke Ellington and Coleman Hawkins.

* 1943 – Duke Ellington plays at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the first time.

In 2001, Carter collaborated with Black Star and John Patton to record " Money Jungle " for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album, Red Hot + Indigo, a tribute to Duke Ellington.

** Duke Ellington plays at New York City's Carnegie Hall for the first time.

" Ellington recorded for many American record companies, and appeared in several films.

His son Mercer Ellington, who had already been handling all administrative aspects of his father's business for several decades, led the band until his own death in 1996.

James Ellington made blueprints for the United States Navy.

Ellington credited his " chum " Edgar McEntree for the nickname.

Through his day job, Duke's entrepreneurial side came out: when a customer would ask him to make a sign for a dance or party, he would ask them if they had musical entertainment ; if not, Ellington would ask if he could play for them.

Ellington played throughout the Washington, D. C. area and into Virginia for private society balls and embassy parties.

In 1927, King Oliver turned down a regular booking for his group as the house band at Harlem's Cotton Club ; the offer passed to Ellington.

In 1929, when Ellington conducted the orchestra for Show Girl, he met Will Vodery, Ziegfeld ’ s musical supervisor.

Nicknamed " Swee ' Pea " for his mild manner, Strayhorn soon became a vital member of the Ellington Organization.

Ellington showed great fondness for Strayhorn and never failed to speak glowingly of the man and their collaborative working relationship, " my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine ".

The band reached a creative peak in the early 1940s, when Ellington and a small hand-picked group of his composers and arrangers wrote for an orchestra of distinctive voices who displayed tremendous creativity.

In lieu they recommended a special citation be given to Duke Ellington in recognition of the body of his work, but the Pulitzer Board refused and therefore no award was given that year.

* 1965: no prize awarded ( See Duke Ellington )

From then until he died twenty years later Hines recorded endlessly both solo and with jazz notables like Cat Anderson, Harold Ashby, Barney Bigard, Lawrence Brown, Dave Brubeck ( they recorded duets in 1975 ), Jaki Byard ( duets in 1972 ), Benny Carter, Buck Clayton, Cozy Cole, Wallace Davenport, Eddie " Lockjaw " Davis, Vic Dickenson, Roy Eldridge, Duke Ellington ( duets in 1966 ), Ella Fitzgerald, Panama Francis, Bud Freeman, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Paul Gonsalves, Stephane Grappelli, Sonny Greer, Lionel Hampton, Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges, Peanuts Hucko, Helen Humes, Budd Johnson, Jonah Jones, Max Kaminsky, Gene Krupa, Ellis Larkins, Marian McPartland ( duets in 1970 ), Gerry Mulligan, Ray Nance, Oscar Peterson ( duets in 1968 ), Russell Procope, Pee Wee Russell, Jimmy Rushing, Stuff Smith, Rex Stewart, Maxine Sullivan, Buddy Tate, Jack Teagarden, Clark Terry, Sarah Vaughan, Joe Venuti, Earle Warren, Ben Webster, Teddy Wilson ( duets in 1965 & 1970 ), Jimmy Witherspoon, Jimmy Woode and Lester Young.

In February 1963, Ibrahim's wife-to-be Sathima Bea Benjamin ( they married in 1965 ) convinced Duke Ellington, who was in Zürich on a European tour, to come to hear Ibrahim perform as " The Dollar Brand Trio " in Zürich's " Africana Club ".

* Danish Jazz Musician Award 1965 presented by Duke Ellington and Sam Woodyard ( Photo )< ref >

During the 1960s, he rejoined Ellington for his Emancipation Proclamation Centennial stage production, My People in 1963, the motion picture soundtrack of Assault on a Queen in 1966, and A Concert of Sacred Music which is sometimes called The First Sacred Concert in 1965.

In May 2009, Francine Bellson fascinated jazz fans when she told The Jazz Joy and Roy syndicated radio show, " I like to call ( Sacred ) ' how The Master used two maestros ,'" adding, " When ( Ellington ) did his sacred concert back in 1965 with Louie on drums, he told Louie that the sacred concerts were based on ' in-the-beginning ,' the first three words of the bible.

Ellington remained active in Democratic circles, and it was to the surprise of very few observers that he began in 1965 to position himself for another run for the governorship.

He stood in for Paul Gonsalves in February 1964 ( with whom he also recorded twice in 1965 ( Just Friends and Change of Setting )) when the Ellington orchestra played at the Royal Festival Hall.

The Left Bank Jazz Society, an organization dedicated to promoting live jazz, began holding a weekly series of concerts in 1965, featuring the biggest names in the field, including Duke Ellington and John Coltrane.