Life and Music of Duke Ellington - Essay Example

Reflecting upon Ellington's total adult life and career, in my opinion, the meaning of 'success' according to Duke Ellington in his total adult life and career is being 'beyond category'. For someone as great as him and a very eminent renowned artist who revolutionized music and changed the prior concepts that were prevailed this resulted in extraordinary work. For him something that was outstanding, remarkable or very appealing was meant to be exceeding all the categories. This phrase is the best description of his own work which was undoubtedly beyond all the existing categories. He was a revolutionist, who changed music and introduced a genre which was never heard or worked upon before. In my opinion success for him was being original and establishing his or her own self by their hidden qualities and discovering yourself. He was beyond all boundaries and crossed all perimeters of extraordinary work and therefore was beyond all the prevailing categories. Therefore he is an inspiration for many of us out there exceeding all the categories. 2.The two isolated principles or method that The Duke Ellington applied it life and music. These can help others to succeed in the following manner. According to him he applied innovation to his music. He was a revolutionist who brought new concept in the field of music which is the best example of innovation is his Jazz music. He brought changes which reshaped and revolutionized the present standards. That was set by his ancestors. Another thing that was remarkable and seen in his era was thathis efforts showcased unity. He was the first one to bring a change so he gathered so many people under one platform and formed a band. Ellington gathered them and amalgamated them into a single band which was formed to propagate this form of music. This is a great example of success through unity. He knew that he was not anything until and unless people supported him with the cause so he accumulated many men with the same mindset and propagated music formulating a band which is his greatest achievement. Another thing that led to success was that he did not care about gaining fame and popularity. He only worked to spread music therefore he gathered everyone and worked together in benefit of the cause which was to spread jazz music everywhere. 3. Looking at Ellington from the view point and perspective of my major and music, many of his achievement are as followsof Duke Ellington is the most prominent composer in the history of jazz music. He was the leader of a band who was managing a huge group simultaneously for about a time period of almost 50 years. The two features of his career that are very prominent are related to the usage of Ellington's band as a laboratory to experiment music where he created new compositions and sculptured his writing in such a manner that would exhibit the qualities, talent and strength of his band members. Many of his band members were his partners from a very long time. Ellington was also in writing scores for films and also prepared musical programs for the stage. He devised various musical instruments which were incorporated in his songs that became standardized. While he was travelling a lot years he was in and years he was out, he continued to record extensively. Which eventually led to formation of a gigantic body of work he did which is still being accessed and admired by many of his followers even after a quarter of a century after he has departed from us. He still lives to serve as an inspiration for many. He is a revolutionist who was very devoted to his work and devoted his entire life for music. 4.The characteristics of Ellingtonia music is as follows: Ellington's style encompassed five different and distinct tunes and compositions that were dance numbers, the style of jungle or the numbers of production for the cotton club, the mood pieces or the blue pieces, pop pieces which were initially work of others but later he produced his own and finally those musical compositions which were initially written for a particular occasion or purpose but which were completely abstract but were later termed as works of musical composition. These categories were not purposely developed but were formed due to the need of time. And the requirement of the particular genre. Secondly within these categories the music of Ellington can be specified according to certain musical concepts. By that I mean a kind of progression that can be seen, a particular form of voicing, or it can also be scoring. In that what they basically do is show progression by a certain type of musical arrangement which is continuously repeated following a method of trial and error till he finds the exact conclusion of his problem. After he is done then he would move on to counter the next hurdle. (Schuller, Pg 339) By this I mean that his music had its own charm and persona as well as a purpose. It was intentional and involved serious thought process which helped in building it according to the requirement of time. He incorporated a lot of new instruments which were never used previously which determines that he was exploring all mediums. He further worked on the clarity and the execution of his work which indicates that he even considered how the overall impact might be. In a nutshell he was a master in his field therefore studied, worked upon and finally executed the entire thing with great effort and perfection. His work was intense but abstract and was eventually so intricate that dealt with the minor details involved in music composition. 5. The most famous five elements/devices used by Ellington that made him different from the rest of the people working on the same type of genre and producing similar music that made him distinct and a professional within his own field are as follows: The first thing that I would like to mention here is using dissonance while producing music. Secondly, the art he possessed of blending African American music with the European music. Thirdly, the way he used and incorporated mutes in his composition. Fourthly, how he used baritone sax to playing the lead and finally, the way clarinet lead was used. All these things made Ellington's music an abstract musical composition and made it so different and greatly influencing. He was so good and devoted to his work that he made and introduced such elements and devices which changed music for the better. 6. Ellington produced new extended work each time for every concert. And mainly these extended works were focusing the issue of black history. Some of his famous extended works written on the serious concern of blacks are" Black, Brown and Beige", He also wrote "New World A-Comin" in the year 1943. In the year 1946 came the ever so famous "The Deep South Suite". Later in 1947 the Liberian government commissioned him to write the "The Liberian Suite" in order to commemorate the centenary of the country as a republic. He also worked upon "A Tone Parallel to Harlem" which was very much programmatic like the previous "Black, Brown and Beige" and was positioned by Ellington as a "tone parallel". For more than two decades his work had been only inspired and based on the social, ethical and racial differences that prevailed during that time. 7. In many ways the film, "Love You Madly" reflects the importance of Duke Ellington as an American and as an Afro-American. The film "Love You Madly" is a tribute to the great Ellington. This movie is a brilliant execution of how music is incorporated in a film to honor someone as great as Duke Ellington. This film mainly comprises of his works and shows sequence of glimpses of his work amalgamated beautifully in the form of a very well executed movie. Duke Ellington was a Black America who was very patriotic and deeply felt the problem because of the racial differences that existed in the western world. He wanted to sort these problems out for a peaceful and prosperous world therefore he chose music as his medium and addressed the problems of the Blacks that existed. Many of his works are written particularly on the black history which indicates that he had great affiliation with his people. All this is clearly shown in the film "Love You Madly" which touches this issue and his concern in a very subtle manner. He was a proud American and a far more proud Afro-American therefore the film showcases how much affection, pride and honor he had within him because of his own identity. The film had various parts of those works which were written in favor of Afro-American's as well as American's which shows that he was a patriot Works cited: Schuller, Gunther. The history of jazz. New York: Oxford University Press, 19681989. Print. Read More