Composer , "Morning Glory", "Blue Goose", "Cotton Tail", "Conga Brava", "Chocolate Shake", "Rocks in My Bed", "San Juan Hill", "Crescendo in Blue", "Diminuendo in Blue", "Dusk", "C Jam Blues", "Main Stem", "I Didn't Know About You", "Just a-Sittin' and a-Rockin'", "Jazz Convulsions", "I'm Just a Lucky So and So", "The Blues", "Come Sunday", "Magenta Haze", "Just Squeeze Me", "Happy-Go-Lucky Local", "Takle Love Easy", "Tomorrow Mountain", "I'm Gonna Go Fishin'", "Money Jungle", "Prelude to a Kiss", "Jump for Joy", "I'm Checking Out, Goom-Bye", "The Mooche", "Warm Valley", "Blue Serge", "I Wish I Was Back in My Baby's Arms", "Lament for a Lost Love", "It Shouldn't Happen to a Dream", "Afro-Bosso", "In the Beginning, God" and "Christmas Surprise".
(29 April 1986) Pictured on a 22 US commemorative postage stamp in the Performing Arts series (97th anniversary of his birth).
Charter inductee of the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.
Was a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a national music fraternity.
Father of trumpeter/band leader Mercer Ellington , who assumed leadership of the Ellington band at his fathers death.
Grandfather of actress/singer/dancer Mercedes Ellington.
Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
(July 16, 2008) Pictured in silhouette in a poster for the film Black and Tan on a 42 USA commemorative postage stamp celebrating Vintage Black Cinema.
Interred at Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, NY (Division 49, at Fir & Knollwood Avenues).
He was awarded the Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6535 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
His image is part the central design on the reverse of the District of Columbia 25 commemorative coin issued in 2009, as part of the USAs Statehood Quarters series. He is shown seated next to a piano, and the name "DUKE ELLINGTON" is engraved in the area above the piano keys.
Ellington was celebrated in Stevie Wonder s song "Sir Duke" (from "Songs in the Key of Life" ).
Second cousin of the artist Romare Bearden.
Inducted into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2017.
I am a bandleader and I am a composer.
To me, bebop is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.
New York is a place where the rich walk, the poor drive Cadillacs, and,beggars die of malnutrition with thousands of dollars hidden in their,mattresses.
A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.
My attitude is never to be satisfied, never enough, never.
Love is supreme and unconditional like is nice but limited.
The wise musicians are those who play what they can master.
There is hardly any money interest in art, and music will be there when money is gone.
A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
