King of Jazz: Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington is definitely not one of my favorite musicians, but I have a lot of respect for him. Edward Kennedy Ellington was born April 29, 1899 in D.C. Around when he turned seven or eight he began to take lessons for the piano, but he hated it. He actually preferred sports, particularly baseball, rather than music, particularly the piano.
He got over his stage fright at his first job selling peanuts at baseball games, because he wasn’t used too being around a lot of people. When he was 14, he began to sneak into pool rooms. That’s where he learned to deal with a lot of different ...