Duke+Ellington+by+Caleb

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Duke Ellington was born as Edward Kennedy Ellington on April 29,1899. He was nicknamed Duke because he acted like a young nobleman. He died from lung cancer and pneumonia when he was 75 on May 24,1974. Both his parents were pianist. He was an American pianist and and a great jazz composer. He was one of the people who created big-band jazz. He wrote over 1,000 compositions. His writing was inspired by his race and his people. His music was jazz,gospel,blues,swing,classical and popular. He worked for more than 50 years and led his band from 1923-1974. He called his music "American music". He loved playing baseball and his first job was selling peanuts at baseball games. He wrote his composition by ear because he couldn't read or write music yet. He got a job painting signs and at night he would play the piano. Instead of leading his orchestra with a baton, he would lead them with the piano. Later in his career he started working on film scores. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, but was turned down. After he died he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. He earned 13 Grammy Awards. He was the first African American to be put on a circulating U.S. coin. His picture is on a commemorative stamp. He is one of five jazz musicians to have their picture on the cover of Time magazine. His piano is in the Smithsonian Museum. He was quoted as saying, "A problem is your chance to do your best." Another quote was, "Gray skies are just clouds passing over." By:Caleb

Sources:Dukeelloington.com/ Biography.com/articles/DukeEllington-9286338 Wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke Ellington