Background

Mercer Kennedy Ellington was born on March 11, 1919, in Washington, D.C., United States; the son of the composer, pianist, and bandleader Duke Ellington and Edna Thompson. His parents separated when their son was nine.

Education

Mercer was taught to read music and play the piano by his mother. He also took trumpet lessons. After graduating from Evander Childs High School in the Bronx, young Ellington studied at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in Manhattan. During World War II he was in the U.S. Army and worked at Republic Aircraft, meanwhile taking composition and orchestration classes at New York University. He also attended New College for the Education of Teachers at Columbia University.

Career

Following his military service, Ellington formed his own band, which included the vocalist Carmen McRae. This group was the house band at the Savoy Ballroom in New York City. At different times, Ellington organized other big bands for special performances, employing such musicians as Dizzy Gillespie, Cat Anderson, Chico Hamilton, and Clark Terry.

The younger Ellington worked as an arranger for his father's band as well as those of Charlie Barnet, Cootie Williams, and Count Basie. He also composed numbers including "Things Ain't What They Used to Be," "Blue Serge," and "Jumpin' Punkins." "Pigeons and Peppers," which he wrote at the age of eighteen, was the first of his pieces recorded by Duke, at a 1937 session with Cootie Williams presiding.

From 1950 to 1952, young Ellington operated his own company, Mercer Records; in 1954 he was with the trumpeter Cootie Williams as a sideman and band manager. From 1955 to 1959 he was the chief assistant to his father, and in the 1960s, Mercer led the Duke Ellington band and recorded with all-star musicians taken from the latter organization.

He was musical director for the singer Della Reese from 1960 to 1962, prior to becoming a disc jockey on New York City radio station WLIB for two years. At this point in his career, the elder Ellington induced him to join the main band as a trumpet player and manager. In that capacity (from 1965 to 1974) he gained more status within the band as he helped bring stability to the organization, which had been in financial disarray.

Following his father's death, Mercer took over the band on a regular basis. As leader and his father's replacement, young Ellington made European tours in 1975 and 1977. The Ellington revue Sophisticated Ladies (1981–1983), a Broadway musical comprised of Duke's tunes, was a successful venture with the younger Ellington conducting the score. He also expanded the orchestra's repertoire to include such works as Queenie Pie (Duke's only opera) and Three Black Kings, upon which he had worked with his father. At the 1982 Kool Jazz Festival he conducted the original score for Black, Brown, and Beige. In addition, he made occasional recordings.

In 1974, following Duke's death, Mercer moved to Holte, north of Copenhagen, continuing a practice begun by some jazz musicians in the 1970s. In 1978, he wrote a biography of his father, "Duke Ellington in Person."

Beginning in the late 1980s, while living in Copenhagen, Ellington booked only occasional band engagements. With Mercer living in Denmark, the band was not often seen in the United States. The Duke Ellington Orchestra, with Mercer Ellington conducting, did, however, tour in the United States during the early 1990s. It also performed at the New Orleans Super Bowl and made annual visits to Japan and Europe.

Achievements

• Mercer Ellington was a success in virtually every undertaking, with or without his father’s assistance. That Mercer succeeded is evident from the awards and recognition he received following his father’s death. Mercer received a Grammy Award in 1988 as the best jazz instrumental album for his Digital Duke. The CD Music Is My Mistress received a 1990 Grammy nomination.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Duke Ellington In Person

    (Duke Ellington's only son recalls his own relationship wi...)

    1978

• music

  • Music Is My Mistress

    (The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Mercer Ellington)

    1990
  • Stepping Into Swing Society 2008
  • Mercer Ellington Hot and Bothered
  • Continuum
  • Only God Can Make a Tree 1996
  • Black And Tan Fantasy
  • Digital Duke Ellington
  • Remembering Duke's World

Connections

Ellington was married three times. His first wife was Evelyn Walker from 1942 until 1976. The marriage produced two children - Gayl Ellington and Edward Ellington II. Ellington's second marriage was to singer and actress Della Reese.

In 1978 Mercer Ellington met and married a Danish woman, Lena Margrethe Anderson, who survived him. They had one child, Paul Ellington. After Mercer’s death, his son Paul took over the Ellington band.

Ellington also had a daughter, born in 1939 to Ellington and Ruth Batts, to whom he was never married.

Father:

Edward Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader. An originator of big-band jazz, he composed thousands of scores over his 50-year career.

Mother:

Edna Thompson

child:

Paul Ellington

Paul Ellington is the Executor of the Lene, Mercer & Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington Estates. He is also a writer and director from Denmark. He spent two years at Manhattan School of Music before touring with The Duke Ellington Orchestra, as its musical director, since 1996.

child:

Edward Ellington II

child:

Gayl Ellington

ex-wife:

Evelyn Walker

ex-wife:

Della Reese

Delloreese Patricia Early (July 6, 1931 – November 19, 2017), known professionally as Della Reese, was an American jazz and gospel singer, actress, and ordained minister whose career spanned seven decades.

Wife:

Lena Margrethe Anderson

References

• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music
  1997