Ellington did this by never fitting into a restrictive category or chasing musical fads. No other ensemble sounded so fresh, relevant and groundbreaking for such a long period of time. However, Ellington bucked all of the trends and, whether it was 1926, 1943, 1956 or 1973, his orchestra ranked among the top five in the modern jazz scene of the era. Most ensembles of the 1920s were largely obsolete by the swing era of the 1930s and nearly all of the swing bands fell out of favor by the late 1940s when bebop had become the mainstream. Jazz’s evolution moved so quickly from 1920 to 1970 that if a band stood still musically for more than five years, it would fall behind the times and sound dated.
During periods when he was eating excessively (he always loved good food), Ellington knew just the right clothes to wear that could keep him looking slim no matter what his weight.Įllington kept his band's sound fresh, transcending the different eras of jazz Ellington always did his best to look good but he had a potentially huge appetite that led trombonist Tricky Sam Nanton to once say, “He’s a genius, all right, but Jesus how he eats!” Ellington found that when he went on a diet consisting of nothing but steak, hot water, grapefruit juice and coffee, he could lose weight very quickly. While Edward Kennedy Ellington was given the nickname of "Duke" early in life due to his suave nature and classy manners, he was also called “Dumpy” by some of his sidemen due to his eating habits.
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