[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 60 (Thursday, April 29, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E811-E812]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          THE WORLD CELEBRATES THE DUKE'S CENTENNIAL BIRTHDAY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 29, 1999

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, today is a historic day for jazz lovers all 
over the world, because today marks Duke Ellington's 100th birthday. 
Edward Kennedy Ellington was born right here in the Nation's capital on 
April 29, 1899. The nickname Duke was given to him by his friends 
because of his regal air and his love of fancy clothes with elegant 
style. He retained those traits throughout his life, but he wore his 
sophistication without a hint of pretentiousness. The Duke was a genius 
at instrumental combinations, improvisions, and jazz arranging which 
brought the world the unique ``Ellington'' sound that found consummate 
expression in works like ``Mood Indigo,'' and ``Sophisticated Lady.''
  He said he decided to become a musician when, in his youth, he 
realized that ``when you were playing piano there was always a pretty 
girl standing down at the bass clef end of the piano.'' It became 
obvious that he was truly talented when he played his first musical 
composition, ``What You Gonna Do When the Bed Breaks Down?'' When he 
finished the crowd went wild and demanded more, however, since he had 
not written any other music he changed the arrangement and style right 
there on the spot. Thus, began the Duke's magnificent career as one of 
the world's greatest composers.
  A pioneer, an innovator and an inspiration to generations, Duke 
Ellington personified elegance and sophistication. Also, he was a 
creative genius who never stopped exploring new dimensions of his 
musical world. By the end of his life, he would declare, ``Music is my 
mistress.'' And so it was. No other lover was ever better kept, or in 
grander style. Duke Ellington knew how to treat his Muse. And she 
returned the favor.
  The power of his presence was as strong off the stage as on. 
Ellington's nephew, Stephen James, says, ``When you were in his 
presence, you felt it. If no one knew him and he were in . . . [a] 
room, everybody would be drawn to him. It was just the nature of his 
aura, his magnetism.''
  Ellington's career as a bandleader lasted more than fifty years; 
during at least forty-five of which he was a public figure of some 
prominence. It is often said that there were three high-water marks in 
that span. The first occurred in the late 1920s, when he attained the 
security and prestige of a residency at the Cotton Club, where the best 
black entertainers of the day worked for gangsters and performed at 
night for all-white audiences. Duke survived those years with his 
dignity intact--no small achievement--and he learned from his 
musicians, some of whom were then more skilled than he. By the end of 
the twenties, he had begun to experiment as a composer and arranger, 
and had several hits under his belt.
  In the early thirties, he sharpened his skills, and made his first 
attempts at composing longer works. By the late thirties, he had 
assembled the best collection of players he ever had under his command 
at one time. Duke showed off his musicians in miniature masterpieces, 
three-minute concertos that displayed a single soloist against the 
backdrop of a tightly-knit ensemble. Many of these pieces are among his 
most enduring. Others from this time, equally memorable, explore a 
dizzyingly shifting labyrinth of textures, as different instruments 
take the lead and the accompaniment moves from one section of the band 
to another.
  Billy Strayhorn, a brilliant young arranger who had joined the band 
in 1939, became increasingly important as Duke's principle collaborator 
in composition. By most accounts, Strayhorn was a musical genius of 
Mozartean proportions for whom composing music was as natural as 
breathing. Capable of doing almost anything musically, he chose to 
spend

[[Page E812]]

most of his adult life as an adjunct to Ellington, matching his 
compositional style to the maestro's, but also introducing some new 
musical concepts that would become part of Duke's palette. Ellington 
always learned from his musicians, but Strayhorn was his postdoctoral 
fellowship.
  Duke Ellington created a body of music that endures and always 
rewards. His place in the sweep of American music is unique, and his 
stature is the equal of that of any of the acknowledged European 
masters.
  In 1988, Congress appropriated funds for the acquisition and care of 
Duke Ellington's vast archives. Today I went before the Subcommittee on 
Labor, Health and Human Services and Education and requested that $1 
million be added to the FY 2000 appropriation for the Department of 
Education Program and that it be earmarked for the Smithsonian 
Institution's Jazz Program.
  We must continue to keep Duke's music alive for all generations.

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