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Duke Ellington |
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playing concerts and dances.
John Edward Hasse summed up Ellington's uniqueness: "No one has a band like Duke Ellington. No one made music like Duke Ellington. No one led a life like Duke Ellington. He was truly one of the kind beyond category" (Holmes). Whatever his shortcomings, he created the body of music that endures and always needs further investigation. His role in American music is unique and his stature is equal to any of the acknowledged European master (Strayhorn). Negroes listened to every tune and Whites enjoyed Ellington’s music and the floor show of romance and rhyme. In 1921, he became increasingly popular especially among the professional class. He was a model of African Americans for whom, he extended African’s Music into American Music. For instance, Ellington established growl imitation of Negro American Voices timbers, inflections, and speech patterns as an indelible aspect of the palette (Shaw 35).
Because the struggles that he encountered were great, his bandstand encompassed every sort of human experience: It all ended up in his music. He was really one of the great African American heroes who overcame the hardship that most African American faced that time. For instance, discrimination and social status (inferior) were very common. However, those problems did not fail him from pursuing his goal (Boyd). Many people all over the world look up to him not only because he was famous, not only because his music was enjoyable but most importantly he was the founder of modern jazz. His sounds embraced tonal colors from the highs and lows of black and white Americans to exotic sounds from Africa and the Far East.
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