The African-American bandleader, pianist, and composer Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington
(1899–1974) was one of the most influential figures in the world of jazz and American music.
He received the nickname “Duke” from his childhood friends, owing to his elegant style of
dress and aristocratic manner. Duke Ellington’s impact cannot be overestimated. He has
been credited with nearly 1,000 compositions. Ellington first took an interest in religious
music in the 1960s. This part of his career began in 1963 when he wrote an oratorio-like
composition featuring intimate religious songs at the request of an African-American cultural
festival in Chicago. After 1965, he composed another three of these church pieces in which
the vocal and instrumental soloists were accompanied by dancers. In his book Duke, Derek
Jewell wrote that in the Sacred Concerts, “jazz is incorporated with elements of European
religious choral music… Duke decided to create his own songs in praise of God, who was very
important to him.”