Edward Kennedy Ellington, better known as Duke Ellington, born on April 29, 1899, was a composer, pianist, and bandleader whose contributions shaped the very fabric of jazz.

Duke Ellington, whose contours have something of ... smeary things like a goddam woman singing in the night.” He likes, too, to sit next to the window, his chin in his hand, and, in a trancelike ...

Houston native Jason Moran has spent the past several months playing the works of Duke Ellington, marking last year’s 125th anniversary of the composer's birth. Last Thanksgiving I saw him play ...