to play when he got home. Soon later Duke’s music career started.Duke met Oliver “Doc” Perry and Louis Brown who helped teach him how to read music and helped improve his overall piano playing skills. Duke found some jobs playing at clubs and cafes in the Washington area. Three months before Duke graduated he dropped out of school and began his professional music career. Duke formed his own music group called, The Duke’s Serenaders, in late 1917. Between 1918 and 1919, Duke made three important steps towards independence. First, he moved out of his parents home and into a home he bought for himself. Second, Duke became his own booking agent for his band. By doing that Duke’s band was able to play through out the Washington area and into Virginia for private society balls and embassy parties. Finally, Duke married Edna Thompson and on March 11, 1919, Mercer Kennedy Ellington was born.Duke left the security that Washington offered him and moved to New York, in 1923. Through the power of radio, listeners through out New York had heard of Duke Ellington, making him a popular musician. Also in 1923 Duke mad his first recording.Ellington and his renamed band, The Washingtonians, established themselves during the prohibition era by playing at places like the Exclusive Club, Connie’s Inn, the Hollywood Club (Club Kentucky), Ciro’s the Plantation Club, and most importantly the Cotton Club. Thanks to the rise in radio receivers and the industry itself, Duke’s band was broadcast across the nation live on from the Cotton Club. The band’s music along with their popularity spread rapidly.In 1928, Ellington and Irving Mills signed an agreement in which Mills produced and published Ellington’s music. Recording companies like Brunswick, Columbia, Victor came calling. Duke’s band became the most sought after band in the United States and even throughout the world. Some of ...
