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Birth of a legend
the day the world was graced by the wonderful Duke Ellington -
Learning
Edward (Duke) started piano lessons at the age of 7 and his mother would always surround him with ladies that tried to teach him manners and his friends dubbed him "Duke" Ellington because of it -
Duke's interests
At first Duke didn't plan on being a musician he instead wanted to be a baseball player and landed a job as a soda jerk where we would write music. -
First song
Duke's first song he wrote as a soda jerk -
His first music job
here he began to follow his dream of music by playing at various different parties -
Period: to
Jazz extraordinaire
The time Duke started creating music till the day he died playing it. -
Joining the Cotton Club
During this time duke decided he was talented enough and joined the cotton club gaining a huge boost in popularity as well as some helpful friends. -
Gaining popularity
By this time he was such a talented musician and began playing for radio stations -
Best hits
one of Duke's most popular songs was made during The Great Depression and was labeled "It Don't Mean a Thing" -
A friendship is born
Now Duke Ellington had a partner when he hired on Billy Strayhorn as they went on to create many songs together -
First major gig
On this day he played at the prestigious Carnegie Hall. -
Concert for the ages
Duke was one of the five musicians to ever make the cover of time magazine after he preformed one of his hits Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue -
The death of a hero
the day we lost an amazing man -
What he is known for
Many know him just for his musical genius or just from his impact on jazz but one of the most memorable happenings is his 9 Grammy nominated songs along with other awards