Duke Ellington, born on April 29, 1899, to this day is one of the most influential and biggest names in the Jazz world. With hits such as “Take the A Train” and “Caravan”, he has left behind a huge legacy for Jazz musicians as an innovator. Creating and leaving behind over 1,000 compositions for the world to enjoy, Ellington paved the way for musical change and collaboration. He expressed how adamant he is in the way he performs and his methodology for it by explaining how important the originality was to him:

“We do not use any printed orchestrations…. For a band to keep in the top flight today, it must be original” (Rattenbury, 8).

As mentioned previously, the improvisation and individuality of Jazz musicians is what has pushed the music as far as it has and to be able to acknowledge how different each musician in the band is, but also create a unity amongst all of them, Ellington paved the way for how Jazz musicians and composers developed over the century. He aimed to break away from the typical music that people were used to in order to create a vibrant and new sense of performing art. 

Duke Ellington playing the Piano.