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 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.

Jazz greats Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Louis Armstrong gave their own sentimentalized retelling of their nomadic existence from the 1930s onward, portraying the jaunts as being as amorous as ...

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 ...

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.

Essentially Ellington once again brought the world’s best high school jazz musicians to New York. Over the last 30 years, the event has reshaped how jazz is taught.

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.

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 ...