This spring marks both the 50th anniversary of Duke Ellington’s death, and what would have been his 125th birthday. Why is it that out of the hundreds of musicians who electrified the nightclubs ...

A new book by Larry Tye -- The Jazzmen -- traces how the popularity of musicians Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Count Basie affected the civil rights movement.

This year marks 125 years since the birth of jazz legend Duke Ellington. The bandleader, composer and pianist died 50 years ago. In the new book “The Jazzmen,” biographer Larry Tye sets out to ...

But Ellington stayed on one winter night in 1940 for a concert at the Crystal Ballroom that drew about 700 fans who, for the price of $1.30, got to hear the orchestra hitting on all cylinders.

Jason Moran has spent the past year living with the music of Duke Ellington, playing a series of concerts honoring the 125th anniversary of the great pianist, composer and bandleader’s birth.

Composer Duke Ellington poses for a portrait at the piano in circa 1930. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images. In 1971's Chinoiserie, the 10-bar modal melody harmonized in intervals of fourths is ...

To know Duke Ellington is to know his band — although few can name its other members today. The defining sound of his charter band came from drummer Sonny Greer.

A previous version of this op-ed incorrectly identified Duke Ellington as the first African American to receive the Medal of Freedom. Marian Anderson and Ralph Bunche received the medal in 1963.

The Duke Ellington Orchestra performs "Take the A Train" with singer Betty Roché in the film "Reveille with Beverly," released January 1943. Bettmann / Getty Images© Bettmann / Getty Images ...