Ellington at 125!

The Legacy of Duke Ellington: The Early Years: 1899-1938

Duke Ellington began his career in Washington DC where he was born April 29, 1899, but he made his name in New York City where he moved to in the early 1920s. Ellington scholar Nick Rossi will discuss Duke’s early years in Washington DC, Duke’s early bands in New York that included his 4 year run at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem, and his heroic 1930s that birthed the cultural movement “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)”. Nick Rossi will discuss and play essential recordings from that era that will illuminate the foundational brilliance of one of our greatest artists and his overall influence on American music and culture.