Duke Ellington wasn’t afraid to take chances on himself or his people. Across more than 3,000 works, he purposely included solos for his band members that would train these top musicians to trust their genius and take risks within his compositions.
And his work was much deeper than just making music.
These works were a love letter to the craft of music and the beauty of Black people. “My men and my race are the inspiration of my work,” he once confessed. “I try to catch the character and mood and feeling of [Black] people.”
The sheer volume of music he produced was impressive, but Ellington also crossed into unexpected genres as a leading jazz artist. He defied expectations, whether it was a classical jazz suite, musical, opera, or soundtrack.
No matter the sound, the music had a message.
Ellington used his music to tell Black stories and resist white supremacy. He pioneered protest music with his famous “Black, Brown, and Beige” composition. The song explores Black life from enslavement to the Harlem Renaissance and what that meant for his people struggling in a racist world.
Like Duke Ellington, we must speak honestly about our experiences despite how white supremacy might try to stop us. Whether through music or another medium, we deserve to have ways to express ourselves in the liberation struggle.