Black History—One Part Music

On January 30, 1969 while a volunteer usher at the Auditorium in Memphis, I got schooled on music not by the Beatles who played their last concert on that date, not by local phenom Elvis, but by the music legend, Duke Ellington.

That evening with a symphony orchestra of 75 musicians backing him up, the Duke sat down at the grand piano and virtually had the audience dancing in the aisles by the time he played the first few chords of one of his signature pieces, “Take the A Train.”

The excitement of the orchestra and Duke Ellington and his orchestra coming together shook the rafters from the thunderous applause..That evening Ellington’s style of music was added to my already deep love of music.

Ellington was a professional musician by the age of 19. In his lifetime he composed over 6,000 pieces. He was known world-wide and toured for most of his life which sadly ended in 1974. Along the way, he played in such diverse venues as the Harlem Cotton Club, Carnegie Hall, London’s West Minister Abbey, Las Vegas Sahara Hotel and the Newport Jazz Festival.

Copyrighting his exact compositions was impossible since he improvised during a performance. Many colleges have courses about Ellington and his music. Yale University has the Duke Ellington Fellowship Program. In his home town, Washington, D. C., is the Duke Ellington School of Arts where every student must audition and study some form of art while also achieving in academics.

His honors are numerous, the highest achievement award for civilians in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Grammy awards, the French Legion of Honor, Pulitzer Prize Special Citation, Hall of Fames, a United States Postal Stamp, and a commemorative United States quarter series.

Music is certainly an achievement to be honored during Black History Month and Duke Ellington as one of the greatest composers of the United States.