(ThyBlackMan.com) Duke Ellington, a giant in jazz history, was more than just a composer and bandleader—he was a cultural architect whose music told the stories of Black excellence, struggle, and ...

Some music just stands out from the crowd, and certainly Billy Strayhorn's tunes do exactly that. What would the great composer/bandleader Duke Ellington have been without his collaborator? He still ...

Editor’s Note: Billy Strayhorn, who was a composer and musician with Duke Ellington and wrote some of the best-known jazz songs of the age, was born on Nov. 29, 1915 in Dayton. In recognition of that ...

Houston native Jason Moran has spent the past several months playing the works of Duke Ellington, marking last year’s 125th anniversary of the composer's birth. Last Thanksgiving I saw him play a ...