Ellington recorded “Black and Tan Fantasy” several times in 1927 with a small orchestra, showing off the ensemble’s tightly honed, potently expressive sound. Moran converted it into a solo, which he ...

Still, it became synonymous with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. This song served as the band’s ... “Mood Indigo” was one of the first jazz compositions to challenge conventional harmonies ...

Sometimes writing a song in no more than fifteen minutes ... daylight when they climb into their beds, Duke first having said his prayers. Ellington may stare up at the ceiling a moment before ...

In 1925 the Jazz Age was in full swing. It was the year Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington made their first recordings.The Phantom of the Opera opened at movie theaters. The Ku Klux Klan marched ...

"Ellington came up, and her appreciation of music and instruments and how they're amplified just floored me for about a minute," British jazz musician Gary Crosby said of his conversation with the ...

Moran talks about his performance, “Duke Ellington ... Moran reflects on the time he first heard Ellington's music. It was a recording of Thelonius Monk playing Ellington's Black and Tan ...

The first part of the show will showcase ... for the Visual and Performing Arts, to jam on some songs originally performed by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. For Moran, who grew up ...