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the day the world was graced by the wonderful Duke Ellington
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Edward (Duke) started piano lessons at the age of 7 and his mother would always surround him with ladies that tried to teach him manners and his friends dubbed him "Duke" Ellington because of it
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At first Duke didn't plan on being a musician he instead wanted to be a baseball player and landed a job as a soda jerk where we would write music.
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Duke's first song he wrote as a soda jerk
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here he began to follow his dream of music by playing at various different parties
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The time Duke started creating music till the day he died playing it.
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During this time duke decided he was talented enough and joined the cotton club gaining a huge boost in popularity as well as some helpful friends.
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By this time he was such a talented musician and began playing for radio stations
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one of Duke's most popular songs was made during The Great Depression and was labeled "It Don't Mean a Thing"
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Now Duke Ellington had a partner when he hired on Billy Strayhorn as they went on to create many songs together
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On this day he played at the prestigious Carnegie Hall.
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Duke was one of the five musicians to ever make the cover of time magazine after he preformed one of his hits Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue
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the day we lost an amazing man
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Many know him just for his musical genius or just from his impact on jazz but one of the most memorable happenings is his 9 Grammy nominated songs along with other awards