The album’s mix features the piano prominently, with light bass and brushed drums acting as a loose framework for Duke Ellington’s eloquent, stride-infused expressionism. One such opportunity presents itself through his 1953 album The Duke Plays Ellington, which features the composer interpreting many of his own pieces in a three-piece ensemble format. Nonetheless, Duke Ellington’s body of recorded work offers listeners chances to experience his distinctive touch in a more personal capacity through his collaborations with smaller ensembles. As such, his performative approach was more akin to that of a musician like Keith Richards than Yngwie Malmsteen, with Duke Ellington often opting to allocate solo spots to members of his orchestra rather than to himself. Duke Ellington was perhaps the first pianist to develop a style centered primarily on accompaniment, and – along with Count Basie – pioneered the utilization of the piano as a lead instrument that doesn’t necessarily go out of the way to draw attention to itself. While Duke Ellington would take the occasional solo spot and was more than proficient in improvisation, his ultimate aim was always to serve the composition. Bebop legend Dizzy Gillespie, who played with Duke Ellington’s orchestra for a short while, spoke reverently of the composer, praising his unsurpassed instinct for accompaniment, or comping, as the best in the world. As a bandleader, Duke Ellington was able to fulfill a role which he relished, that of the accompanist. By 1923 he would be leading his own orchestra, a position which he maintained up until his passing in the mid-70s.
This would foreshadow Duke Ellington’s sharp instinct for song structure and for the intertwining of disparate musical forms to create entirely new pieces.ĭuke Ellington knew early on, however, that he wanted to play with other musicians, and thus set out to assemble a group. Composing his first piece of music at 14 before learning to chart notes, he would repurpose the piece – which he called “Soda Fountain Rag” – by applying different rhythmic structures and presenting the variations themselves as independent pieces of music. When approaching an artist whose work is most prominently characterized by the lushness and richness of its arrangements, one must begin to peel back layers in order to gain a true understanding of what makes the music tick.Īs a young man, Duke Ellington developed his abilities by emulating stride pianists such as Luckey Roberts and Cliff Layton.
More illuminating delineations of Duke Ellington’s own musicianship exist within the composer’s rare forays into sparser musical territory. The music throughout draws heavily from the inspired approach of iconic soloists Mingus and Roach, and maintains the relative lack of distinguishability between the performative and compositional instincts of the bandleader. Money Jungle has become an influential document in the greater jazz canon, it’s presentation relying upon the musical interplay between Duke Ellington and his collaborators. One such example is 1963’s Money Jungle – recorded with bassist Charles Mingus and drummer Max Roach – which sees Duke Ellington doing the heavy lifting melodically while being supported only by the rhythm section. However, a cursory review of the pianist’s extensive discography would without doubt reveal innumerable instances of irrefutable excellence from the piano lead. This, despite the leader having conducted his famous orchestra from the piano throughout his career. While Ellington’s work as a composer and arranger have had an indelible effect upon the development of the genre, his own abilities as a musician often go unevaluated by comparison. The predisposed sonic textures present within his original compositions did much in the way of shaping the way instruments would be blended together and presented in future recordings and performances throughout multiple genres. While many of the most prominent figures in jazz, such as Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane earned their reputations by way of virtuosic command of their instruments and improvisational composition in a band setting, Duke Ellington’s foremost contributions to the musical form are often considered to lie within his seemingly innate aptitude for arrangement and composition. Some such players include Johnny Hodges, Ben Webster, and Billy Strayhorn. He also mentored a number of musicians who would become top players within the genre. Over the course of his sixty year career, Duke Ellington was responsible for establishing dozens of original jazz standards.
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