Duke Ellington: Lesson 1

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Lesson 1: The Color of Ellington's Vision

When Duke Ellington was a child, his talent as a visual artist surpassed his musical inclination. But by the time he was sixteen, it was his musical not his art talent that Ellington chose to develop. He declined an art scholarship at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and put his efforts into music. Yet even this would be shaped by Ellington's artistic beginnings.

Compositions would be conceived as colors, and many of his works attest to this by name: Black and Tan Fantasie, Black Beauty, Black, Tan and Beige, Mood Indigo, Carnegie Blues, Blue Serge, Transbluency (A Blue Fog You Can Almost See Through).

Colors often described Ellington's music, color helped define the orchestrations, and color communicated the social and racial tensions of the day.

The audio clips used in the lessons require the RealPlayer software, which can be acquired free from Real Networks web site.

Listen to Black and Tan Fantasie. This piece dates from October 1927. Largely written by Bubber Miley who joined Ellington's band in 1923, it is a variation on the blues, beginning in minor and modulating to major.

What is so colorful about this piece? [Select a, b, or c]
1. The electronic keyboard solo
2. The trumpet solo is played with a plunger mute
3. The entrance of the string section
Which words and phrases describe the sounds in this piece? [Select a, b, or c]
1. growling and horse whinny
2. snorts
3. barking
Write [in the space below] your own list of adjectives describing the sounds you hear in the piece.

Listen to Creole Love Call. Here, Ellington's vocalist Adelaide Hall turns her voice into an instrument with wordless singing, a technique known as singing scat.

Which of these sounds does Hall's voice make? [Select a, b, or c]
1. growls and wah-wah
2. nonsense syllables
3. Creole language
What other solo instruments do you hear? [Select a, b, or c]
1. snare drum
2. piano
3. trumpet and clarinet

Listen to Mood Indigo. Mood Indigo makes a permanent mark in music history because of its novel combination of instruments--and more specifically which instruments take the high notes and which ones play the low. Here Ellington displays his artistic ability to paint with sound in a way no one else was able to at this time.

What combination of instruments do you hear at the beginning of the piece? [Select a, b, or c]
1. Trombone, clarinet and muted trumpet
2. Trumpet, French horn, flute
3. Jazz violin, piano, tom-toms
In the opening phrase, which instrument takes the high notes? [Select a, b, or c]
1. clarinet
2. oboe
3. muted trumpet
In the same phrase, which instrument plays the low notes? [Select a, b, or c]
1. muted trumpet
2. clarinet
3. string bass
Think about why Ellington named this piece Mood Indigo.

Listen to Moon Mist. Ellington nicknamed Ray Nance "Floorshow" because of his talents with the trumpet, violin, and voice along with his skill as a dancer. In Moon Mist, Ellington uses Nance to create different shadings and feelings in the music.

Nance shows off his skills as a soloist in this song. On what instrument do you hear him perform? [Select a, b, or c]
1. trumpet
2. violin
3. voice
How would you describe the expressions in sound presented here? [Select a, b, or c]
1. quieting and contemplative
2. angry and intense
3. energetic and driving

What does "color" really mean in Ellington's music--or any music?

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