Music: Still Loving Him Madly

Duke was born 100 years ago. His music is as fresh as it ever was

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Duke's true heirs are jazzmen like Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr., performers with a palpable love of swing and jazz tradition. Marsalis, like Duke, has composed works for Big Bands that take on cultural themes. And Connick, who has a swing CD due out titled Come by Me, has a sense of style that fits in comfortably with Ellington's aesthetic.

The critic and novelist Albert Murray once wrote that Ellington's music "was created for the express purpose of becoming an integral--nay, indispensable--element of the nation's most basic equipment for everyday existence." Duke's music was too connected to day-to-day life for it to be confined to history and centenaries. Known for writing compositions that were tailored to the talents of specific members of his band, Duke brought their voices into his own. The neo-swing craze will come and go; it may be going already. But years into the future, musicians will continue to find themselves in Ellington.

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