Duke Ellington always said his orchestra was his instrument, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra was at the peak of its power and popularity in the 1930s and 40s. Many famous Ellington masterpieces were ...

Ninety years ago this month, Duke Ellington and his jazz orchestra made one of their most emblematic and memorable recordings, “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).” The title became a ...

This week's Rotations marks the 127th birth anniversary of Duke Ellington with a deep dive into the final fifteen years of his career. Those were the years of surprising, searching work that tends to ...

The American musical giant Duke Ellington wrote more than 1,000 compositions in his long career, and to mark the 125th anniversary of his birth in his native city, The Kennedy Center is determined to ...