Editor's Note: May it be to the white man's eternal credit, that a black man's genius is so universally recognized and acclaimed in a white man's world. The color line which has built so many racial barriers in the social world and other lines of endeavor have not corralled or subdued the Duke's great talent although it of course has influenced him. The following remarks are an honest attempt to get THE MAN on paper. The sketch is the result of an interview from midnight to sunup, and a search for the tangible is a brilliant talent. The key to understanding and appreciating fully his unusual compositions and his brilliant scoring, is to UNDERSTAND THE MAN. Because of the short acquaintance and the limited time to probe his genius necessarily this must be a portrait in miniature.The Duke is a Negro!
He is a black man fully conscious of the extraordinary talents of his race AND PROUD BECAUSE HE IS A BLACK MAN.
He thinks and acts in Negroid ways. He is not a black edition of a white man, and he is not trying to imitate a white man as is the case with many negroes who prostitute their own fine talents trying to copy or emulate those of the white.
His inspiration comes from within and his music is written in what he calls the Negro idiom. Every race has its own characteristic feelings and ways of expressing them. For instance, the colored man makes love, dresses with different ideas, sings and pants, etc., quite differently than his white brother.
All these the Duke has grown up with and been a part of, and his genius is the first to translate in music all the rich color and personality of the American Negro. Their feelings of racial minority, their hopes and ideals, their tremendous vitality and good humor, their possibilities and their limitations.
Remember then that when a colored man is full of jive, he isn't always that way because he wants to be, but because when he is sincere he usually isn't taken seriously. Remember then when he is sad, that he still isn't completely free. Remember that he lives in a world that has boundary lines that he cannot cross. That when he gets out of line he may be trampled by the cruel fact of race hatred. Yes there are many overtones in negro music.
His Early Life -- How He Got His Start
Duke was born in Washington, D.C., as Edward Kennedy Ellington on the 29th day of April, 1899. He was a talented child and like many composers before him -- it was a toss-up whether he would distinguish himself as a musician or as a painter. Duke majored in art in school, and won a scholarship in fine art at the Pratt Institute. At 14, he played piano by ear for his own amusement, and for house-rent parties. His first money was 75 cents from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., and he was so elated that the moment the job was over he broke out for home with it.
His first real chance in fast company was the Abbott House as relief pianist for Doc Perry, and it brought an awakening to his first need for study. Duke comments jovially "that now I was recognized as a musician I had to live up to it -- and protect that reputation." So he studied harmony with Henry Grant.
Married at 19
At 19, Duke got married. The world against 2 [World War II] gave him more of the fighting spirit. So he went into business for himself, took a big sized ad in the telephone directory and waited for the phone to ring. There were many parties in Washington then during the war, and between them and "these Virginia gigs" Edward Kennedy did well. Well enough to buy a home. It was a four-piece band, that got so good, the horse-shows in the part of the country stopped hiring those 30-piece bands and hired Edward Kennedy. Bill Miller played banjo, Lloyd Stewart, drums: Duke on the piano and a fellow by the name of Tobin played C melody sax.
Deserted the "Barnyard Blues" for the Rosary
In 1923, Duke went to New York with Sonny & "Tobie" and Otoe Hardwick to join Wilbur Sweatman, a terrific clarinet player and<
