(1899–1974)
a US jazz musician who played the piano and wrote music for the band he led. It became well known at the Cotton Club in Harlem (1927–31) and played a concert at Carnegie Hall (1943). Ellington wrote more than 2 000 pieces, including Mood Indigo (1930), It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing (1932) and Sophisticated Lady (1933). He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969.