Duke Ellington disliked the term 'jazz', preferring to refer to his style of
music simply as 'American'. Duke Ellington wrote more than a thousand songs in
his career which spanned five decades, making a name for himself as one of
America's great composers and band leaders, heading up an orchestra of jazz
greats. His parents were both pianists and the young Edward Ellington was
himself playing piano by the time he was seven, though at the time he had a
greater interest in playing baseball and pool. With a growing interest in
ragtime he composed his first tune Soda Fountain Rag at...