Ellington

I wanted to play like Duke Ellington's guys, Cat Anderson and those guys.

Phil for an evening devoted to the compositions of Ravel and Duke Ellington.

Meanwhile, a host of American jazz greats were serving as cultural ambassadors — Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie among them — ostensibly to promote Yankee goodwill and democratic values.

Black history novels filled the shelves in their home, and Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday records, among others, formed the soundtrack of their lives.

The first thing he talked about with Washington was Duke Ellington in the late 1930s and early ’40s — “a great moment in the sound of his orchestra,” Desplat says.