Duke Ellington

This artwork is a portrait of Duke Ellington, an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Born in Washington, D.C., in 1899, Ellington began his career as a teenager, playing piano in local clubs. He soon gained a reputation as a talented musician and composer, and in the 1920s he formed his own big band, the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The orchestra became one of the most popular and successful big bands of the era, and Ellington himself became a major figure in American music. He composed over 1,000 songs, many of which have become jazz standards. Ellington also wrote several film scores and musicals, and he collaborated with many other famous musicians, including Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday. He died in 1974 at the age of 75.