Duke Ellington was eulogized as "the supreme jazz talent of the past fifty years" by critic Alistair Cooke in a 1983 issue of Esquire. A prolific composer, Ellington created over two thousand pieces of music, including the standard songs, "Take the A-Train" and "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" and the longer works "Black, Brown, and Beige," "Liberian Suite," and "Afro-Eurasian Eclipse." With the variously named bands he led from 1919 until his death in 1974, Ellington was responsible for many innovations in the jazz field, such as "jungle-style" use of the growl and plunger, and the manipulation of the human voice as an instrument - singing notes without words. ...

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