lawrence a. duke ellington and his world

[...]... when she would be scolding him And he would say, “Everybody in the world is going to call me Duke Ellington I’m ze Duke, ze grand and ze glorious Duke. ” We used to laugh, it was so funny He predicted his future Everybody in the whole world did call him Duke He said, “I’m going to bow before kings and queens.” And he did that, too Freud said, “He who knows his mother’s love and is secure in that knowledge... course, is their son Edward, later known as Duke, who was born on April 29, 1899 Ellington s only son, Mercer, said that his grandmother Daisy had such a strong influence that all the Ellington men felt a strong urge to preserve her family name Thus, Duke Ellington was Edward Kennedy Ellington, his son was Mercer Kennedy Ellington, and his grandson was Edward Kennedy Ellington II Born on January 4, 1879,... they were both about the same age The young Duke went, listened, and was impressed by Brooks’s “swinging” rhythm and his “tremendous left hand.” For some reason, hearing a musician his own age playing Duke Ellington and his world 6 the piano inspired Ellington He was encouraged by Brooks, who taught him some of the shortcuts he used when playing Duke wrote in his autobiography, “When I got home, I had... Fortunately, Duke did have a real he-man to identify with, his cousin William “Sonny” Duke Ellington and his world 4 Ellington, the child of his father’s older brother, John In his autobiography, Music Is My Mistress, Duke never mentions his father’s family, with the exception of Sonny Yet, there is evidence of a large extended family on J.E.’s side: Estimates vary from fourteen to twenty members Perhaps his. .. solved this problem by changing the rag’s tempo and rhythm to come up with a one-step, two-step, waltz, tango, and fox trot It was Ellington s close friend Edgar McEntree who dubbed him Duke around this time They had just met at a party where Ellington was playing his first musical composition, and McEntree was taken with Ellington s sartorial elegance and his flashy piano playing McEntree named him Duke. .. cost five cents and a glass of whiskey ten cents Although Ellington achieved professional and financial success at this point in his life, he continued to be plagued by his ambivalent feelings toward women, particularly his mother He tried to handle his discomfort by using the psychological defense Freud and others have described as “splitting.” In other words, while Ellington venerated his mother almost... pact that they would not accept a job unless Duke Ellington and his world 14 there was work for the other two This agreement was put to the test in early 1923, when clarinetist Wilbur Sweatman and his band came to the Howard Theater on a tour that would finish in New York Unhappy with his drummer, and taking note of Greer’s playing in the Howard pit orchestra band, Sweatman offered Greer a job Greer made... told them he and his musicians had left the show, and that Robinson was bringing in an unknown band At that point, the agency canceled the remainder of the tour Feeling lost, angry, and upset, the group (instigated by Duke Ellington and his world 16 Greer) sent Ellington an ambiguously worded telegram, suggesting he come to the city as soon as possible Assuming things were going well, Duke left Washington,... Mercer felt his father had a “basic contempt for women.” Ellington s unconscious feelings of affection, contempt, love, hatred, sexuality, and rage would be played out with every woman who shared his bed In a set of unfinished Duke Ellington and his world 10 lyrics titled “Shame on You, Suffer,” written at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montreal, Duke made a graphic statement about the way he viewed and treated... names of a few hustlers and pimps from Long Branch that he said he and Smith both knew Greer introduced Duke, they shook hands, and Smith got up from the piano and asked Duke to sit in for a few numbers Smith went to the back of the room and began talking to some of the musicians Soon after Ellington began playing, another pianist asked him to surrender the seat Ellington got up, and the musician sat . write a history o f that era. I pointed out that others had already done that. As we shared a drink that Saturday afternoon more than a decade later and talked about our past, Russell said he was. Sara Cooke, Ms. Joanna Donovan, Dr. Stuart Feder, Dr. Kendra Schecter, and Dr. Richard Sens who read this manuscript in whole or in part and offered valuable comments and feedback. Also, many. for his prowess in baseball and track. He taught Duke how to swim, and a year later, Ellington saved a boy from drowning. That child, Rex Stewart, would later play in Ellington s orchestra. Duke