Ellington

Ballet Theatre of Annapolis has announced a new season, to open in two weeks, that will offer classical ballets to delight the most ardent traditionalist and treasured favorites to please the family.This 19th season of the BTA, which since 1980 has been under the artistic direction of Edward Stewart, promises to be one of BTA's most exciting and ambitious ones.The 1999-2000 season will offer four full-length productions to be presented at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts.The season will open Oct. 22 with the company's only modern dance program of the season, "Ellington Suite," choreographed by Stephanie Powell, in celebration of the centennial of the birth of musician-composer Duke Ellington.

If jazz is America's classical music, why aren't there more groups like the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra?Clearly, if one accepts the idea that jazz has more than its share of great composers, then the need for a jazz repertory company seems obvious. How can the work of a genius like Duke Ellington be treasured if his compositions and arrangements are no longer being played?But as the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra made plain during its performance at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall Tuesday, hearing another jazz band play Ellington is not the same thing as hearing the Ellington Band itself.

Surely, Duke Ellington would have loved "madly" all the hoopla surrounding his 100th birthday. Among the many concerts honoring the elegant composer's birth April 29 was a tribute by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra at Kennedy Center in Washington. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will offer another Ellington concert in June, conducted by Marvin Hamlisch. And locally, John Tegler, the broadcaster who says he has "spent a lifetime studying Ellington and his music," will narrate a concert telling the Ellington story Sunday at Chesapeake Music Hall as part of the Jazz at the Music Hall Series.

WASHINGTON -- You can see him from a block away, his profile dominating a brilliantly colored, 24-foot by 35-foot mural.The eyes with their familiar bags underneath seem to follow passers-by along this revitalized stretch of U Street. In this painting, Duke Ellington looks as if he might have been up all night, composing, thinking about music.Ellington, born 100 years ago today, grew up here. He lived in the 1200 block of T Street, a block from where this mural casts a steady eye over the old neighborhood.

Who was the greatest American composer of the 20th century? Some would say it was Aaron Copland, who evoked the American landscape as vividly in music as John Ford did in film. Others would argue that it was Charles Ives, who composed music unlike anything heard before or since. Still others would strike up the band for George Gershwin, who brought the blues to symphony hall.Yet as admirable as those men were, another composer towers over them: Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, who was born in Washington 100 years ago this Thursday.

Editor's note: The story of the musician and composer who helped shape the future of jazzDuke's name fit him rightly. He was a smooth-talkin', slick-steppin', piano-playin' kid. But his piano playing wasn't always as breezy as his stride. When Duke's mother, Daisy, and his father, J.E., enrolled him in piano lessons, Duke didn't want to go. Baseball was Duke's idea of fun. But his parents had other notions for their child.Duke had to start with the piano basics, his fingers playing the same tired tune -- one-and-two-and-one-and-two.

THE NAME Duke Ellington brings images of sophisticated gents and satin dolls to mind. It brings echoes of the sweet sounds of a brilliantly crafted jazz orchestra to the ear. Ellington, whom many hail as the greatest jazz composer ever, is synonymous with music that is thoughtful, distinctive and elegant. Strangely, however, most of his music remains a mystery. Next Thursday marks the 100th birthday of Edward Kennedy Ellington. A yearlong celebration in honor of the Duke is in full swing, led by Wynton Marsalis and his Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

NEW YORK -- Publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux had a good day yesterday, winning two awards in the Pulitzer Prize arts categories: in fiction for "The Hours," a novel by Michael Cunningham, and non-fiction for "Annals of the Former World" by John McPhee."

The music world is paying homage to Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington this month, which would have marked his 100th birthday. In Annapolis, jazz vocalist Ethel Ennis will lead the celebration."

Percy Zell Michener, 92, a master builder whose crowning achievement in 40 years as a civil engineer was the 18-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, died Feb. 2 in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he lived.Mr. Michener oversaw the $200 million project for nine years from its conception to opening day on April 15, 1964.Mercer Ellington, 76, a trumpet player, arranger, composer and conductor who had led the Duke Ellington Orchestra after his father's death in 1974, died of heart failure Thursday in Copenhagen, Denmark.