Duke Ellington

Greenwich Village’s annual Village Trip Festival will return on Saturday, September 14th. The 2024 edition will feature two full weeks of musical performance, comedy, and lectures. Village Trip began in 2018, as a way to…

JazzBuffalo is hosting a free event to commemorate the legendary jazz artist Phil DiRe on Sunday, June 25. The celebration will take place in Slee Hall at the University of Buffalo. Before passing in May 2021, DiRe wrote and composed a…

On Saturday, November 27, 1943, Duke Ellington and his Orchestra performed in Buffalo at the Trico Products Factory, for a performance that was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network. The show was recorded for the Coca-Cola Spotlight…

From November 15 to 27, the world premiere of “Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker” will come to New York City Center after a stay in Pittsburgh from October 19-30. /* In-Read - Nysmusic.com */ (function() { var opts =…

The American Symphony Orchestra will be lead by music director Leon Botstein on March 24 in a tribute to the great Duke Ellington. The Duke Ellington tribute will be an all-Ellington symphonic concert at Carnegie Hall. The event will also…

In continuation of NYS Music’s series celebrating the Harlem Renaissance in its centennial years, it is important to highlight the Cotton Club which was instrumental in displaying Black talent. Before it was the Cotton Club, the…

In Western New York, you'll find plenty of music history, but none so unique as the Colored Musicians Club in Buffalo, on the edge of Willert Park. The only Black-owned and operated music club of its kind in America, the venue has played…

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was born on Christmas Day 1907 in Rochester, living on Sycamore Street. His mother was a teacher and church organist and his father was a lawyer. When Calloway was 11, they moved to Baltimore. After he was caught…

William James "Count" Basie was born in Red Bank, New Jersey in August 1904. Both of his parents played instruments: his dad on mellophone, his mom on piano. He dreamt of traveling, heavily inspired by touring carnivals. However, he spent…

On April 29, 1899, Edward Kennedy Ellington was born in Washington D.C.. Both of his parents were musicians, and so Ellington began his piano studies at the age of seven. Due to his easygoing nature, his friends began calling him "Duke." …