Duke Ellington at The Hurricane, New York 1943
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Duke Ellington (1899-1974) was known as America’s Genius of Jazz and led his own orchestra from 1924 until his death. Among his best-known works are Take the ‘A’ Train, It Don’t Mean A Thing If You Ain’t Got that Swing), Sophisticated Lady and Creole Rhapsody.
Raised in a refined, middle-class family in Washington DC, Duke’s mother Daisy was a housewife and his father James worked as a butler and caterer. Both parents played the piano and encouraged their son’s musical talents. (Ellington was also mad about baseball.) They enrolled him for piano lessons with the wonderfully-named Mrs Clinkscale.
Edward Kennedy Ellington got the nickname Duke at school because of his gentlemanly manners and stylish clothes. He wrote his first song Soda Fountain as a teenager while home with a cold and chose Duke as his professional name.
In 1927, he got his big break when he was hired by the famous Cotton Club in New York City. The performances at the Harlem club were broadcast over the radio, bringing the aspiring young band leader more attention.
Ellington worked closely with jazz pianist and composer Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967) who wrote the iconic jazz standard Take the ‘A’ Train in 1939, referring to the A-line express on the New York City subway, when he joined Ellington’s organization.
Strayhorn also wrote the important jazz standard Lush Life, about lost love and nightlife, first performed in 1948 by Ellington and vocalist Kay Davis.
Ellington referred to his musical collaborator as ‘my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine.’
In 1950, Ellington began pushing for integration at concerts and in 1961 formally added a non-segregation clause in his contracts.
In 1965, Ellington was cited for a Pulitzer Prize for Music for his 'contribution to American music…mainly in the idiom of jazz.' However, the Board declined to honor him. He was finally awarded a posthumous citation in 1999 on what would have been his 100th birthday.
Ellington married his high school sweetheart Edna Thompson in 1918 when he was 19 years old and they had a son Mercer. He managed his father’s band and took over leadership of the Duke Ellington band when his father passed away in 1974. He died in 1996.
The famous band leader separated from his wife but never divorced her. He did have other women in life, notably Beatrice ‘Evie’ Ellis, who he referred to as his "first lady".
The Hurricane was a legendary Broadway nightspot featuring tiki-style décor and this menu is from Ellington’s famous six-month residency that started in April 1943.
Each order includes a print of the interior menu.
All printed in USA.
