Duke Ellington decided after a few years of piano lessons that it just wasn’t his talent. He focussed on other things until he discovered a different kind of piano playing which ignited a passion within him and pushed him forward to become a cornerstone of American culture and a legend in jazz history.
Dukes commitment to excellence went beyond the working or even waking hours of others and he would practice and play until his fingers bled. He had some breaks in his career but his commitment to his band, to the audience and to the music is what made him what he was.
The goal I will take from Duke Ellington’s life is to make a commitment to progress and practice every day in 2011.