Duke Ellington, pianist and orchestra leader, wrote and collaborated on over 1000 compositions, many of which have become Jazz Standards. Both of his parents were pianists, and he started piano lessons at seven years old. His mother surrounded him with dignified women to teach him manners and teach him elegance, which is why his childhood friends nicknamed him “Duke.” Influenced by pool hall ragtime pianists, he wrote his first composition at 15, and started playing gigs around his native Washington DC. Shows at cafes and clubs led to private balls and embassy parties, and eventually he and his band moved to the highly competitive jazz scene in Harlem, where they became a part of the Harlem Renaissance. The next few years were full of struggles and success, but by the end of the 1920s he was the leader of an 11 piece house band for Harlem’s Cotton Club, where they would perform music for the comedy, dance, vaudeville, and burlesque numbers. The Cotton Club’s radio show gave Ellington National exposure, and the hit “Creole Love Call” became a worldwide sensation. Opportunities increased, but the Great Depression of 1929 impacted the whole recording industry. In America his audience was African American, but his following overseas was quite significant, and he toured widely in 1933. By the mid 30s he returned to the Cotton Club, signed with the William Morris Agency, appeared in films, and performed on stage at the Carnegie Hall. Because of WWII era travel restrictions and military enlistment, big bands became too expensive to maintain, and Ellington’s career went into a decline. He went back to touring Europe in the 1950s, and his career was revived in 1956 after a legendary performance at the Newport Jazz Festival which made International headlines. By the 1960s he was making records with Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Coltrane, Mingus, Roach, and Sinatra. He had lived up to his name, and his songs had become a part of the Great American Songbook -the cultural cannon of significant early 20th century American Jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes. In 1967 Ellington came to Halsman’s studio to pose for a Saturday Evening Post assignment. Halsman rented a piano and a purple royal robe for Duke to wear. The next day Halsman traveled to the RCA recording studio on 24th street, to photograph Duke and his orchestra recording a track. The file is full of contact sheets, 4x5s, and polaroids which show Halsman was photographing on multiple cameras, and on color and B&W film. He photographed Duke against a black background so he could later sandwich the negatives together in the darkroom, and create an affect where multiple views of Ellington at the keys could be seen simultaneously. In music and in art, “It don’t mean a thing (if it ain’t got that swing).”
