Duke Ellington #1448

Caption from poster__      “ On becoming more acquainted with the word of the Bible, I began to understand so much more of what I had been taught, and of what I had learned about life and about the people in mine. ”                                                                  Duke  Ellington      Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974), (see Jazz royalty), was an American jazz composer, pianist, and bandleader. One of the most influential figures in jazz history, Ellington was one of America's most significant twentieth century composers. He led his own orchestra for fifty years and composed more than 2000 songs as well as numerous longer compositions. While most of his compositions are categorized as jazz, Ellington was reluctant to describe his work as anything more specific than "American music". The word jazz was too narrow for Ellington, whose greatest compliment was to describe others who had impressed him as "beyond category". Some of the biggest na