Duke Ellington

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Went to music school as a kid, immediately wanted to start a big band jazz band, and thus did so in Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. He could've been a classical composer so much that he could write in many different styles. There are 6 sets of books that are used that describe the styles of Duke Ellington:

  1. Impressionist Orchestral (think like impressionist painters)
  2. Romantic Ballads (ie: think of Mood Indigo)
  3. Exotic Pieces (ex: jungle music sound, all done to conjure up images to transport them to another place)
  4. Large Scale Suites (ex: more composed, less improvisation)
  5. The Big Swing Numbers (we all know these, like Take the A Train)
  6. Sacred Music (church music, or may be based on church texts)

Note that other bands like Benny Goodman's and Count Basie and His Orchestra's didn't really have this style.