Duke Ellington: An Oil Voice

Duke Ellington is an American Director of the jazz orchestra, a jazz composer, and a pianist. He is one of the most prominent jazz musicians of the twentieth century. Besides, he looks creative at the painting of a famous artist, Leonid Afremov. Being made with Ellington oil, the artwork here is called “Duke Ellington.” How did he contribute to the musical world? Feel free to read below:

1. Happy Childhood

Duke Ellington had quite a happy childhood unlike many of his black compatriots. His father, James Edward was a butler, and he worked in the White House for some time. Later, he worked as a copyist in the Navy. In parallel, Duke`s mother was deeply religious, and she played the piano well. Therefore, religion and music played a significant role in the musician’s upbringing.

2. Musical Awards

As a composer, he won the Grammy awards for eleven times since the mid-1960s. Ellington also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Richard Nixon in 1969. He was awarded the prize in the category of “best large jazz ensemble” for the album known as “Ellington ’66” in 1965. The track “In the Beginning, God” was also noted in 1966 as the best jazz composition ever.

3. Concert Tours

The band performed in the White House, on the Virgin Islands and came back to Europe again. Duke also played with the Boston Symphony orchestra. Both in 1966 and 1967, Ellington had two series of European concerts with Ella Fitzgerald. Not many people have such achievements to consider …

4. Numerous Discoveries

The career of Ellington was full of discoveries. He created the style of the jungle, the style of mood, and then turned to academic European musical forms, such as the suites, rhapsodies, ballets, and operas. His original orchestral works had an enormous aesthetic impact on the development of the 20th century-culture. Every famous jazz orchestra experiences this effect directly or indirectly based on the contribution.

Ellington changed the role of bass, tenor and baritone saxophones in a big band. He started using a human voice as an instrument. “The oil voice” also marked the beginning of a Latin jazz by a composition “Caravan.”

As a pianist, Duke Ellington upgraded his style by showing the art of “percussive piano.” Surely, it is a talented person. That`s why many artists, as Leonid Afremov painted him. Take a look at the painting and you will see that Ellington still inspires millions of people worldwide!

The History of Brushes

The brush is an artistic device made of natural or synthetic fibers set into a handle. It is used for cleaning, grooming, polishing, writing, or painting. The men started using brushes in the Paleolithic Period about 2,500,000 years ago. The purpose of using was to apply a pigment. The Ancient Egyptians used brushes to create their intricate tomb paintings while the early Chinese took a tip of a long-haired brush to make many fancy characters of their writing.

The most expensive brushes were made of bristle and sable foxes while the cheapest — of bristle cats or rats. They bound a brush beam with thread, coated its base with rosin and inserted it in the bamboo sticks. The tassel had a conical shape.

The best brushes for watercolors are sable brushes. But they are not recommended for young artists since they are not suitable enough and very expensive.  At least, so are the brushes of significant size. Now, there are many synthetic brushes, for example, a mixture of sable fur and synthetics. You can also find brushes made of other furs, such as bovine or squirrel.  If you are an artist, you can always find you a great variety of brushes to satisfy your most sophisticated tastes for painting.

Black & White Duo

I am Lillian Prince and I can say that creating something from nothing is a great way to explore yourself. It is not just a process of making a useful or interesting piece of art but realizing your sub-national fusion. I live in Copenhagen and prefer working with dark colors. My favorite classic color duo is black and white. They are perfect to display simplicity and beauty at the same time. The audience could see the inner sense without additional elements of the color palette. I respect and like all colors, just prefer my ‘old couple.’ By the way, I like taking photos and posting them. Besides, it is an excellent way to share my work and find new clients all over the world.