After a rocky start in New York, Ellington and his Washington colleagues landed an engagement at the Kentucky Club on Broadway. They stayed four years. During this time Ellington began opening door after door for himself and his band.

In 1923, he hired a musician named Bubber Miley--a master of trumpet mutes and unusual growling sounds. Miley's playing transformed the group from a polite society band to a bona fide jazz band. Each time Ellington added a member to his orchestra, it gave him more volume, variety, and colors with which to compose and arrange.