ABSTRACT
Fall Ellington begins hanging out at Frank Holliday’s poolroom, a gathering place for Washington’s black musicians
Later 1914-early 1915
Ellington composes his first piece, “Soda Fountain Rag”
1915 Midyear Ellington’s close friend Edgar McEntree dubs him “Duke” around this time, because of Ellington’s sartorial elegance and his flashy piano playing
August Ruth Ellington born
1916 Ellington joins with a group of high school friends to form a band
1917 Winter Arthur Whetsol on trumpet and Otto (“Toby”) Hardwick on saxophone join Duke’s teenage band. They also play with local banjoist Elmer Snowden
Spring Duke drops out of high school; begins an affair with Edna Thompson, a neighborhood girl
1918 Early Ellington plays his first date with the “Serenaders,” as his high school group is now known
July 2 Duke and Edna get married
1919 J.E. is promoted to role of caretaker and general handyman in the Cuthbert home; Duke forms his first professional band, and begins a booking agency and a signpainting business (to promote the dances and events that he booked)
In New York City, Jack and Irving Mills found the music publishing business that would bear their name
March 11
Duke’s son, Mercer Kennedy, is born
1920 Early A second child of Duke and Edna Ellington dies at birth; Duke meets James P. Johnson when Johnson is playing in Washington, D.C., and impresses him with his rendition of Johnson’s tour-de-force piano solo, “Carolina Shout”
1921 March 10
Duke makes his first trip to New York, accompanied by Sonny Greer, Toby Hardwick, Artie Whetsol, and Elmer Snowden; Duke sees James P.Johnson again, and meets Willie “The Lion” Smith
1923 Early Clarinetist Wilbur Sweatman hires Greer and Hardwick to join his New Yorkbased band; Ellington turns down the opportunity to move to New York, preferring to maintain his booming Washington-based band business
Week of March 5
Ellington finally joins the Sweatman band in New York
April Ellington, Hardwick, and Greer return to Washington and continue to play jobs around town, often with trumpeter Whetsol and banjoist Elmer Snowden
June Ellington, Snowden, Hardwick, Greer, and Whetsol are hired by a vaudeville troupe to accompany their show in New York and on a subsequent tour; all except Ellington go to New York only to discover the show is canceled. Unaware of the problem, Duke comes to New York a week after the others have arrived; the five musicians begin to look for work
July The band, under the nominal leadership of Snowden, begins working at Harlem’s Exclusive Club, managed by Barron Wilkins, on the recommendation of singer Ada “Bricktop” Smith. Ellington hired as rehearsal pianist for a revue opening at Connie’s Inn on the 21st; Ellington’s wife, Edna, demands to come to New York and is soon hired at Connie’s Inn as a showgirl
July 26 Ellington makes his first recording as part of Snowden’s “Novelty Orchestra”
Late July Whetsol leaves the band to go to Howard University in Washington; he is replaced by trumpeter James “Bubber” Miley
August The band plays the Music Box Theater in Atlantic City; Ellington leads a group backing up blues singer Trixie Smith on his first radio broadcast
September 1
Snowden and his “Black Sox Orchestra” are hired to work at the Hollywood Club (located on Broadway and 49th Street) on a six-month contract
October 18
The Snowden band records for Victor
Late fall Snowden breaks with the rest of the band; Ellington and Greer form new group called the Washingtonians, featuring Miley, Hardwick, and banjo player George Irvis to replace Snowden
1924 January The band’s contract is renewed at the Hollywood Club, but it is soon out of
work due to a mysterious fire that closes the club
April Ellington’s Washingtonians tour New England, the first tour sponsored by impresario Charlie Shribman
May The Hollywood Club reopens and the band returns to perform there; Ellington and Jo Trent sell their first song to a sheet music publisher, “Pretty Soft for You”
June Saxophonist Sidney Bechet sits in with the band and is hired to join it
July The band returns to New England for another tour
Fall Bechet leaves the band after failing to show up for three dates
November Thanks to Jo Trent, Ellington and the band have the opportunity to work as accompanists on three sessions for popular singers, including Trent himself; they also record two sides on their own
1925 January Another fire closes the Hollywood Club
February The band tours New England
March The Ellington band makes its first appearance at a Harlem theater, the Lincoln
Mid-April The band returns to the Hollywood Club, now known as the Kentucky Club; banjoist Freddie Guy replaces George Francis
May Chocolate Kiddies opens in Berlin, Germany, with a score by Ellington and Jo Trent; it features the singer Adelaide Hall
June 8 Ellington accompanies Irving Mills on a test recording of Mills’s song “Everything Is Hotsy Totsy Now,” with lyrics by Jimmy McHugh
Summer Ellington meets composer/bandleader Will Marion Cook, who becomes a teacher/mentor to the young composer
Fall Ellington begins studying music with both Cook and Cook’s disciple, Will Vodery; the band leaves the Kentucky Club to go uptown and play at Harlem’s Cameo Club but is fired after one night
Late November
The band returns to the Kentucky Club; Fats Waller is a featured act during the band’s intermission
1926 February The band records for Pathé, with the addition of Don Redman on saxophone
May The Kentucky Club is closed for violating the Prohibition Act
June/July/ August
The band plays various one-nighters in New England while also working at the Plantation Club in Harlem; the band is expanded to a ten-piece unit, and “Tricky Sam” Nanton joins as a replacement for Irvis on trombone; Harry Carney joins the band during the summer tour
Mid-August –Mid-Sept.
