Tag: Duke Ellington

 Duke’s Satorial Style Was as Elegant as his Music

Magic Moments at Duke’s Place

On April 29, 1999, the centennial of the birth of  Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, I sat outside the elegant brick and stone building on ST. Nicholas avenue, in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem, and listened to some sonic gems from the late jazz master’s copious musical ouvre, a repertoire that includes over 2000 compositions.  Now a national historical landmark, the unassuming and well kept little building was the site of many of the Duke’s numerous compositions about his beloved Harlem.

Sitting outside Duke’s crib, listening to “Take The A Train,”  “Harlem Airshaft,” and “Black, Brown and Beige Suite,”  I could feel his presence; and it resurrected memories of an enchanted evening I once spent with him in his downtown digs back in the early seventies, when the master was in the twilight of his wonderful…