Was duke ellington gay

As a LGBT composer and pianist himself, he produced well-known pieces like “Take The ‘A’ Train” and “Chelsea Bridge.”. Duke Ellington, the renowned jazz composer and musician, was known by several nicknames throughout his career. Some of the most common nicknames associated with him . As the world celebrates Ellington's birthday, we look back on his openly gay pianist, composer, and friend Billy Strayhorn.

This was one of my first interviews for a now-finished biography of his former employer, Chet Baker. Billy Strayhorn, pianist and writer with the Duke Ellington orchestra, was openly gay. It's been suggested that he was content to stay in the background of the Ellington orchestra in part because he did not want attention drawn to his personal life, but that's been disputed.

On Jazzcorner. I know gay musicians who are in the closet who have become almost caricatures of the macho straight jazz musician—stylistically inhibited, emotionally constipated in their music-making. The prevailing image of a jazz band involves a bunch of guys in tight quarters, holding their instruments like mighty swords, rarely letting anyone in too close.

His instrument was the piano. It's been suggested that he was content to stay in the background of the Ellington orchestra in part because he did not want attention drawn to his personal life, but that's been disputed. Did Duke Ellington attend college? These are topics most people in the business—Albertson aside—would rather ignore. The jazz world is a microcosm of the real world.

Since then, Hersch has used his musical prominence—he records frequently for Nonesuch, a prestigious classical label—to help numerous AIDS-related causes. Duke Ellington was a Big Band orchestra leader and composer. The article infuriated Fred Hersch. They turn that on any target. Duke Ellington's parents were Daisy Kennedy Ellington and James Edward Ellington.

What counts is the music, they argue, not who anyone is sleeping with. While composing some of the most harmonically rich jazz of its time — often in Ellington's shadow — Strayhorn was an outlier in that he led an openly gay life as a black man in the s, an era. As a LGBT composer and pianist himself, he produced well-known pieces like “Take The ‘A’ Train” and “Chelsea Bridge.”.

A group of fans debated the subject this year on Jazzcorner. Billy Strayhorn was a close contemporary of Duke Ellington for many decades. Billy Strayhorn was a close contemporary of Duke Ellington for many decades. But Strayhorn worked mostly behind the scenes, and until recently it was easy to think that jazz, like the Boy Scouts, had no gay element at all.

Hajdu caught plenty of heat for it. Imagine if I was really gay. He also brushed off a quote by the late bandleader Mercer Ellington, who told David Hajdu that his father, Duke, may well have had a sexual relationship with Billy Strayhorn. While composing some of the most harmonically rich jazz of its time — often in Ellington's shadow — Strayhorn was an outlier in that he led an openly gay life as a black man in the s, an era.

Bessie Smith, Billy Tipton, Johnny Mathis, Ma Rainey, Jackie Shane, Billy Strayhorn (Ellington's right hand man), Ethel Waters, Cole Porter and Beverly Glenn-Copeland are some early jazz/soul/blues musicians who were LGBQT+ in their own right. No he never went he drooped out of school. One guy in the et section makes some idiotic remark, they all collapse in laughter.

Bessie Smith, Billy Tipton, Johnny Mathis, Ma Rainey, Jackie Shane, Billy Strayhorn (Ellington's right hand man), Ethel Waters, Cole Porter and Beverly Glenn-Copeland are some early jazz/soul/blues musicians who were LGBQT+ in their own right. Billy Strayhorn, pianist and writer with the Duke Ellington orchestra, was openly gay.

So many contributors pounced on him that he withdrew his postings. Where does he think homophobia in jazz starts? After gorging himself, grunting and burping, on Chinese food, he listened with me to a vocal recording that Baker had made in , when his singing suggested a shy little fawn. His instrument was the piano. Duke . Duke Ellington most often played the piano.

The male-dominated jazz community was hardly so open-minded. As the world celebrates Ellington's birthday, we look back on his openly gay pianist, composer, and friend Billy Strayhorn. When Duke Ellington toured the south where did his black fans have to sit to hear the band? EDIT: Mistakenly called out Duke Ellington as gay, edited to remove. The jazz world is one of the last cultural frontiers of old-fashioned macho, and in it, homophobia runs rampant.

They were all straight, basically. EDIT: Mistakenly called out Duke Ellington as gay, edited to remove. What else? Is Duke Ellingtons parents white or black? What else can I help you with? On his southern tours Duke Ellingtons black fans had to sit in the balcony when he .