title: DoorDash

text: On May 4, 2019, DoorDash confirmed 4.9 million customers, delivery workers and merchants had sensitive information stolen via a data breach. Those who joined the platform after April 5, 2018, were unaffected by the breach.


title: DoorDash

text: In July 2021, DoorDash drivers went on strike to protest lack of tip transparency and to ask for higher pay. At the time of the strike, and as of June 2022, DoorDash did not allow drivers to see the full tip amounts prior to accepting a delivery in the app. If customers tip over a set amount for the order total, Doordash hides a portion of the tip until the delivery is complete. The strike occurred after DoorDash rewrote its code to cut off access to Para, a third-party app that drivers had been using to see the full tip amounts.


title: DoorDash

text: In August 2021, the city of Chicago sued DoorDash and GrubHub. According to Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot, the companies broke the law by using "unfair and deceptive tactics to take advantage of restaurants and consumers who were struggling to stay afloat [during the COVID-19 pandemic]." DoorDash and GrubHub denied the suit's merits.


title: DoorDash

text: In 2017, a class action lawsuit was filed against DoorDash for allegedly misclassifying delivery drivers in California and Massachusetts as independent contractors. In 2022, a tentative settlement was reached in which DoorDash would pay $100 million total, with $61 million going to over 900,000 drivers, paying out just over $130 per driver, and $28 million for the lawyers. Gizmodo criticized the settlement, noting that the $413 million that DoorDash CEO Tony Xu received the previous year was one of the largest CEO compensation packages of all time.


title: DoorDash

text: In 2018, DoorDash launched Project DASH, a partnership with local food security organizations to deliver donations to those in need. By August 2019, the program had expanded to 25 cities in the United States and Canada and had delivered more than one million pounds of food. As of September 2021, Project DASH operated in more than 900 cities and had delivered more than 15 million meals.


title: DoorDash

text: DoorDash partnered with the National Urban League in 2020 as part of its Main Street Strong program, which included a pledge of $200 million over five years to support restaurants during the coronavirus pandemic. The partnership with the NUL includes $12 million in funding to assist drivers of color in building job skills and financial literacy.


title: DoorDash

text: In terms of delivery, DoorDash has an algorithm that plans routes automatically and can choose a faster route. DoorDash's delivery system can learn on its own and change based on things like the number of delivery people, the time of day, and how much food is expected to be ordered.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: Sophie Xeon (17 September 198630 January 2021), known mononymously as Sophie (stylised in all caps), was a Scottish music producer, songwriter, and DJ. Known for a brash and experimental take on pop music that helped pioneer the 2010s hyperpop microgenre, Sophie worked closely with artists from the PC Music label, including A.G. Cook and GFOTY, and produced for acts such as Charli XCX, Vince Staples, Kim Petras, Madonna, Let's Eat Grandma, and Namie Amuro.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: Sophie, who initially remained anonymous and later came out as a transgender woman, came to prominence with the breakthrough singles "Bipp" (2013) and "Lemonade" (2014), which were collected on the compilation album "Product" (2015). Sophie's only studio album "Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides" followed in 2018, earning a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: Sophie died in January 2021 after accidentally falling from the rooftop of a three-storey building in Athens. "The Fader" eulogized Sophie as a "pioneering Scottish artist whose vibrant electronic productions expanded modern pop music's scope," while "Pitchfork" credited Sophie's influential work with "mold[ing] electronic music into bracingly original avant-garde pop".


title: Sophie (musician)

text: Sophie was born on 17 September 1986 and raised in Glasgow, Scotland. Sophie's father would play cassettes of electronic music in the car and take Sophie to raves as a very young child, and Sophie quickly became enamoured with the music. In an interview published by "Lenny Letter", Sophie stated that in childhood: "I spent all my time listening to those cassette tapes. I'd steal them from the car." After receiving a keyboard as a birthday gift, Sophie then became interested in creating new music.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: At the age of approximately nine or ten, Sophie expressed the desire to drop out of school to become an electronic music producer (although Sophie's parents did not allow this). Sophie continued to create music throughout adolescence, regularly announcing "I'm just going to lock myself in my room until I've made an album." A half-sister asked Sophie to DJ her wedding; later Sophie admitted that the half-sister "didn't know what I was doing in my room on my own" and had assumed Sophie was a DJ. Around this time, Sophie learned to DJ in addition to production.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: Sophie's music career began in a band named Motherland, formed with bandmates Sabine Gottfried, Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, and Marcella Dvsi. Sophie played live shows in Berlin and the UK during 2008–2009. Sophie later collaborated with bandmate Matthew Lutz-Kinoy on a series of performance works. In October 2010, Sophie remixed the Light Asylum single, "A Certain Person", creating the Motherland Radio version, uploaded to Light Asylum's SoundCloud page the following month. In 2011, this remix was included on Light Asylum's "In Tension" EP as a bonus track for the CD release. In 2012, this track was given a 300-copy release for club deejays on 12-inch, 45 rpm clear vinyl by independent label Mexican Summer. In 2011, Sophie scored the short film "Dear Mr/Mrs" by Dutch team Freudenthal/Verhagen. Detroit deejay Jeffrey Sfire met Sophie in Berlin in 2013; the two formed the duo Sfire, releasing a 12-inch vinyl disc "Sfire" on the CockTail D'Amore label. Sophie vocalized on one song "Sfire 3", which was later remixed by John Talabot in 2016. Sophie became involved with artists affiliated with the PC Music label after encountering Dux Kidz, a project between A. G. Cook and Danny L Harle.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: Sophie's debut single "Nothing More to Say" was released in February 2013 via the London-based Glaswegian label Huntleys + Palmers. The single featuring vocals from UK songstress Jaide Green consisted of two mixes of the titular track (titled the "Dub" and "Vox"), as well as the B-side, "Eeehhh", which was initially posted on (and later deleted from) Sophie's SoundCloud in 2011. Its follow-up, "Bipp"/"Elle"—which had been released on SoundCloud as previews in the previous year along with a third track "OOH"—was released on Numbers later that year. "Bipp" in particular, featuring vocals from Sophie's former Motherland bandmate Marcella Dvsi, received considerable attention from music critics, topping "XLR8R"s year-end list and placing 17 on "Pitchfork"s. "Pitchfork" later ranked "Bipp" 56 on its list of the best tracks from 2010 to 2014. In mid-2014, Sophie collaborated with Japanese pop singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. Also in 2014, Sophie collaborated with A. G. Cook and the US-based artist Hayden Dunham for the project QT, co-producing her debut single "Hey QT" with Cook. The project included a fictional energy drink called the QT Energy Elixir. At Sophie's request, "Hey QT" repeats the drink's name for product placement.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: Sophie's next single, "Lemonade"/"Hard", was released in August 2014, with vocal contributions on the former from fellow musician Nabihah Iqbal and model Tess Yopp and vocal contributions on the latter from PC Music artist GFOTY. Numbers released "Lemonade"/"Hard" as a 12" single. Both tracks appeared on the "Billboard" Twitter Real-Time charts. "Lemonade" and "Hard" placed 68th and 91st respectively on the 2014 Pazz & Jop critics poll, and the single was included in the top ten of year-end singles lists by "The Washington Post", "Resident Advisor", "Complex", and "Pitchfork"; "Hard" was included in the top ten on lists by "Dazed" and "Dummy". "Lemonade" appeared in a 2015 commercial for McDonald's.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: In March 2015, Charli XCX announced a collaboration with Sophie. It was later revealed that the pair had worked on multiple songs for XCX's upcoming studio album. In September 2015, Sophie's debut album "Product" was made available for preorder. The eight tracks listed were the four Numbers singles from 2013 and 2014, as well as four new tracks: "MSMSMSM", "Vyzee", "L.O.V.E.", and "Just Like We Never Said Goodbye". "MSMSMSM" was released on 29 September, and "Just Like We Never Said Goodbye" followed on 15 October.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: In February 2016, Charli XCX released her "Vroom Vroom" EP, produced primarily by Sophie. It was later revealed that the extended play would act as a teaser for XCX's upcoming album, which would be produced by Sophie. After the extended play's release, Sophie embarked on tour with Charli XCX in promotion of new music. Sophie, along with A. G. Cook and Hannah Diamond also involved with the EP, received cameos in the official video for the lead single, "Vroom Vroom". The video was premiered on Apple Music and other platforms soon after.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: In late 2016, Sophie acted as an additional producer on Charli XCX's song "After the Afterparty", which features vocals from Lil Yachty. Sophie cameos in the single's official music video. Sophie also received production credits for two songs on XCX's 2017 mixtape "Number 1 Angel", and another for one song on XCX's second mixtape of 2017, "Pop 2", which was released later that year.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: Sophie collaborated with producer Cashmere Cat on several tracks from his album "9", including "Love Incredible" alongside Camila Cabello and "9 (After Coachella)" with MØ.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: In October 2017, Sophie released "It's Okay to Cry", the first new material from the artist in almost two years. The music video for the song was the first time Sophie's voice and image were used in a release. Sophie subsequently opened up to the press about being a trans woman. Later in the month, Sophie also debuted in live performance, premiering newly recorded songs from Sophie's second album with vocal performances by Cecile Believe. The single "Ponyboy" was released with a self-directed music video on 7 December 2017. The third single from the album, "Faceshopping", was released on 16 February 2018 with a music video on 4 April 2018.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: On 3 April 2018, Sophie announced via Instagram that the album was complete and that it would not be titled "Whole New World" as previously thought. On 1 May 2018, an interview with "Crack Magazine" revealed that the official album title is "Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides". It was released on 15 June 2018 by Sophie's own label, MSMSMSM, along with Future Classic and Transgressive. In early 2018, it was revealed in one of Sophie's tweets that the artist had contributed to and produced Lady Gaga's latest album. In a video posted on social media, when asked, Sophie said: "Yes. I mean whatever, you know. I work on a lot of different things. If it comes out, then it's cool. You can never tell. But she's a really cool person."


title: Sophie (musician)

text: In July 2018, Sophie revealed work on four new projects, including a newly released debut album, which were all going to be released that year. Sophie said, "I have the next one finished... I'm going to release four albums this year". In an interview with Lenny Letter, Sophie said that Sophie had done so much collaborating with other people that, "Basically, I've done a whole new album in the last two weeks." When asked to clarify whether this was a comment on EPs or albums, Sophie stated that it would be "a mix". Sophie had also been working with Kim Petras, Charli XCX, and Bibi Bourelly on new material within the year, as well as some rap collaborations in addition to the confirmed Lady Gaga collaboration.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: At the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, "Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides" was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album, and Sophie made history as both one of the first openly transgender artists to be nominated in this category and one of the three first openly transgender women to be nominated for a Grammy. During a red carpet interview at the ceremony, Sophie confirmed work on a remix album of "Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides".


title: Sophie (musician)

text: In July 2019, "Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides Non-Stop Remix Album" was announced as part of an exclusive 3-CD set that included the original "Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides" album as well as a clutch bag featuring its artwork. The remix album was later released as two videos on YouTube on 29 July.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: Sophie's September 2020 single "Metal" was a collaboration with Jimmy Edgar. In January 2021, the single "Unisil" was released two days before Sophie's death. Sophie had made the song alongside "Product" and initially released it as a digital bonus track.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: Sophie primarily used the Elektron Monomachine synth-sequencer and Ableton Live workstation to create music. Apart from vocals, Sophie created synthesized sounds from the elementary waveforms by using the Monomachine, eschewing the use of samples. Likening the construction of a track to building a sculpture out of different materials, Sophie synthesized sounds resembling "latex, balloons, bubbles, metal, plastic, [and] elastic". AllMusic wrote that Sophie's "sophisticated, hyperkinetic productions" feature a "surrealist, blatantly artificial quality", typically making use of high-pitched female vocals in addition to "sugary synthesizer textures, and beats drawing from underground dance music styles" as well as "experimental sound design."


title: Sophie (musician)

text: "The New York Times" described Sophie's work as "giddy fun, but [...] also an invitation to consider pop's pleasures, structures and gender expectations, and pop's commercial status as both a consumer item and an emotional catalyst." "The Fader" likened it to "K-Pop, J-Pop, Eurodance at its most chaotic, and even turn of the millennium American/UK boybandisms." Sophie told "Billboard" that the genre of music produced was "advertising". "Variety" and "The New York Times" described the work of Sophie as pioneering the 2010s style known as "hyperpop".


title: Sophie (musician)

text: Sophie's early visuals came from a series of colourful images described as "Homemade Molecular Cooking", with the singles' cover art often depicting objects made from plastic or other industrial materials, an idea that originated from discussions with John Roberts, a fellow electronic musician.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: Sophie was described as a reclusive figure, and a limit of the artist's media exposure promoted a sense of mystery about Sophie. The artist's identity was concealed in interviews through voice masking, as well as by covering parts of Sophie's body. Early in the artist's career, Sophie's real-life identity was the subject of press speculation. Prior to coming out as a trans woman, some commentators accused Sophie of "feminine appropriation", on the assumption that Sophie was a man using a female stage name. In a 2013 "Pitchfork" e-mail interview, when asked about the choice of "Sophie" as a stage name, the artist responded: "It tastes good and it's like moisturizer." At one Boiler Room show, drag performer Ben Woozy was recruited to mime a DJ set while Sophie pretended to be a bodyguard.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: The music video for "It's Okay to Cry", released in October 2017, was the first time Sophie's voice and image were used in a solo release, with Sophie appearing nude from the bust up against a backdrop of clouds. This was widely interpreted as a coming out announcement as a trans woman. Sophie confirmed a trans identity in subsequent interviews, also speaking of feeling boxed-in by labels and describing music as "my chosen method of communication" and self-expression. After Sophie's death, "Pitchfork" reported that one representative had said Sophie "preferred not to use gendered or non-binary pronouns" as an artist.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: At around 4 a.m. on 30 January 2021, at the age of 34, Sophie died at Attikon University Hospital in Athens. Sophie had been taken to the hospital after accidentally falling three storeys (approximately 42 feet or 13 metres) from the rooftop of a building while attempting to take a picture of the full moon. Sophie's partner, Evita Manji, said that "it took the police and fire brigade around 90 minutes to get her out" before their arrival to the hospital.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: Artists including Rihanna, Sam Smith, Vince Staples, Charli XCX, A. G. Cook, and Christine and the Queens expressed their condolences.


title: Sophie (musician)

text: On 4 June 2021, Sophie's brother announced plans to release some of Sophie's unreleased work. On 16 June, the International Astronomical Union announced that the minor planet was given the permanent name Sophiexeon.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington wrote or collaborated on more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, and many of his pieces have become standards. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan", which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz. At the end of the 1930s, Ellington began a nearly thirty-year collaboration with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his writing and arranging companion. With Strayhorn, he composed multiple extended compositions, or suites, as well as many short pieces. For a few years at the beginning of Strayhorn's involvement, Ellington's orchestra featured bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster and reached a creative peak. Some years later following a low-profile period (Hodges temporarily left), an appearance by Ellington and his orchestra at the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1956 led to a major revival and regular world tours. Ellington recorded for most American record companies of his era, performed in and scored several films, and composed a handful of stage musicals.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Although a pivotal figure in the history of jazz, in the opinion of Gunther Schuller and Barry Kernfeld, "the most significant composer of the genre", Ellington himself embraced the phrase "beyond category", considering it a liberating principle, and referring to his music as part of the more general category of American Music. Ellington was known for his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, as well as for his eloquence and charisma. He was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize Special Award for music in 1999.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington was born on April 29, 1899, to James Edward Ellington and Daisy (née Kennedy) Ellington in Washington, D.C. Both his parents were pianists. Daisy primarily played parlor songs, and James preferred operatic arias. They lived with Daisy's parents at 2129 Ida Place (now Ward Place) NW, in D.C.'s West End neighborhood. Duke's father was born in Lincolnton, North Carolina, on April 15, 1879, and moved to D.C. in 1886 with his parents. Daisy Kennedy was born in Washington, D.C., on January 4, 1879, the daughter of two former American slaves. James Ellington made blueprints for the United States Navy.


title: Duke Ellington

text: When Edward Ellington was a child, his family showed racial pride and support in their home, as did many other families. African Americans in D.C. worked to protect their children from the era's Jim Crow laws.


title: Duke Ellington

text: At age seven, Ellington began taking piano lessons from Marietta Clinkscales. Daisy surrounded her son with dignified women to reinforce his manners and teach him elegance. His childhood friends noticed that his casual, offhand manner and dapper dress gave him the bearing of a young nobleman, so they began calling him "Duke". Ellington credited his friend Edgar McEntee for the nickname: "I think he felt that in order for me to be eligible for his constant companionship, I should have a title. So he called me Duke."


title: Duke Ellington

text: Though Ellington took piano lessons, he was more interested in baseball. "President [Theodore] Roosevelt would come on his horse sometimes, and stop and watch us play", he recalled. Ellington went to Armstrong Technical High School in Washington, D.C. His first job was selling peanuts at Washington Senators baseball games.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington started sneaking into Frank Holiday's Poolroom at age fourteen. Hearing the music of the poolroom pianists ignited Ellington's love for the instrument, and he began to take his piano studies seriously. Among the many piano players he listened to were Doc Perry, Lester Dishman, Louis Brown, Turner Layton, Gertie Wells, Clarence Bowser, Sticky Mack, Blind Johnny, Cliff Jackson, Claude Hopkins, Phil Wurd, Caroline Thornton, Luckey Roberts, Eubie Blake, Joe Rochester, and Harvey Brooks.


title: Duke Ellington

text: In the summer of 1914, while working as a soda jerk at the Poodle Dog Café, Ellington wrote his first composition, "Soda Fountain Rag" (also known as the "Poodle Dog Rag"). He created the piece by ear, as he had not yet learned to read and write music. "I would play the 'Soda Fountain Rag' as a one-step, two-step, waltz, tango, and fox trot", Ellington recalled. "Listeners never knew it was the same piece. I was established as having my own repertoire." In his autobiography, "Music is my Mistress" (1973), Ellington wrote that he missed more lessons than he attended, feeling at the time that piano was not his talent.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington continued listening to, watching, and imitating ragtime pianists, not only in Washington, D.C., but also in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, where he vacationed with his mother during the summer. He would sometimes hear strange music played by those who could not afford much sheet music, so for variations, they played the sheets upside down. Henry Lee Grant, a Dunbar High School music teacher, gave him private lessons in harmony. With the additional guidance of Washington pianist and band leader Oliver "Doc" Perry, Ellington learned to read sheet music, project a professional style, and improve his technique. Ellington was also inspired by his first encounters with stride pianists James P. Johnson and Luckey Roberts. Later in New York, he took advice from Will Marion Cook, Fats Waller and Sidney Bechet. He started to play gigs in cafés and clubs in and around Washington, D.C. His attachment to music was so strong that in 1916 he turned down an art scholarship to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Three months before graduating, he dropped out of Armstrong Manual Training School, where he was studying commercial art.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Working as a freelance sign painter from 1917, Ellington began assembling groups to play for dances. In 1919, he met drummer Sonny Greer from New Jersey, who encouraged Ellington's ambition to become a professional musician. Ellington built his music business through his day job. When a customer asked him to make a sign for a dance or party, he would ask if they had musical entertainment; if not, Ellington would offer to play for the occasion. He also had a messenger job with the U.S. Navy and State departments, where he made a wide range of contacts.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington moved out of his parents' home and bought his own as he became a successful pianist. At first, he played in other ensembles, and in late 1917 formed his first group, "The Duke's Serenaders" ("Colored Syncopators", his telephone directory advertising proclaimed). He was also the group's booking agent. His first play date was at the True Reformer's Hall, where he took home 75 cents.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington played throughout the D.C. area and into Virginia for private society balls and embassy parties. The band included childhood friend Otto Hardwick, who began playing the string bass, then moved to C-melody sax and finally settled on alto saxophone; Arthur Whetsel on trumpet; Elmer Snowden on banjo; and Sonny Greer on drums. The band thrived, performing for both African American and white audiences, rare in the segregated society of the day.


title: Duke Ellington

text: When his drummer Sonny Greer was invited to join the Wilber Sweatman Orchestra in New York City, Ellington left his successful career in D.C. and moved to Harlem, ultimately becoming part of the Harlem Renaissance. New dance crazes such as the Charleston emerged in Harlem, as well as African American musical theater, including Eubie Blake's and Noble Sissle's (the latter of whom was his neighbor) "Shuffle Along". After the young musicians left the Sweatman Orchestra to strike out on their own, they found an emerging jazz scene that was highly competitive with difficult inroad. They hustled pool by day and played whatever gigs they could find. The young band met stride pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith, who introduced them to the scene and gave them some money. They played at rent-house parties for income. After a few months, the young musicians returned to Washington, D.C., feeling discouraged.


title: Duke Ellington

text: In June 1923, they played a gig in Atlantic City, New Jersey and another at the prestigious Exclusive Club in Harlem. This was followed in September 1923 by a move to the Hollywood Club (at 49th and Broadway) and a four-year engagement, which gave Ellington a solid artistic base. He was known to play the bugle at the end of each performance. The group was initially called Elmer Snowden and his Black Sox Orchestra and had seven members, including trumpeter James "Bubber" Miley. They renamed themselves The Washingtonians. Snowden left the group in early 1924, and Ellington took over as bandleader. After a fire, the club was re-opened as the Club Kentucky (often referred to as the Kentucky Club).


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington then made eight records in 1924, receiving composing credit on three including "Choo Choo". In 1925, Ellington contributed four songs to "Chocolate Kiddies" starring Lottie Gee and Adelaide Hall, an all-African American revue which introduced European audiences to African American styles and performers. Duke Ellington and his Kentucky Club Orchestra grew to a group of ten players; they developed their own sound via the non-traditional expression of Ellington's arrangements, the street rhythms of Harlem, and the exotic-sounding trombone growls and wah-wahs, high-squealing trumpets, and saxophone blues licks of the band members. For a short time, soprano saxophonist and clarinetist Sidney Bechet played with them, reportedly becoming the dominant personality in the group, with Sonny Greer saying Bechet "fitted out the band like a glove". His presence resulted in friction with Miley and trombonist Charlie Irvis, whose styles differed from Bechet's New Orleans influenced playing. It was mainly Bechet's unreliability—he was absent for three days in succession—which made his association with Ellington short-lived.


title: Duke Ellington

text: In October 1926, Ellington made an agreement with agent-publisher Irving Mills, giving Mills a 45% interest in Ellington's future. Mills had an eye for new talent and published compositions by Hoagy Carmichael, Dorothy Fields, and Harold Arlen early in their careers. After recording a handful of acoustic sides during 1924–26, Ellington's signing with Mills allowed him to record prolifically. However, sometimes he recorded different versions of the same tune. Mills regularly took a co-composer credit. From the beginning of their relationship, Mills arranged recording sessions on nearly every label including Brunswick, Victor, Columbia, OKeh, Pathé (and its subsidiary, Perfect), the ARC/Plaza group of labels (Oriole, Domino, Jewel, Banner) and their dime-store labels (Cameo, Lincoln, Romeo), Hit of the Week, and Columbia's cheaper labels (Harmony, Diva, Velvet Tone, Clarion) labels which gave Ellington popular recognition. On OKeh, his records were usually issued as The Harlem Footwarmers. In contrast, the Brunswick's were usually issued as The Jungle Band. Whoopee Makers and the Ten BlackBerries were other pseudonyms.


title: Duke Ellington

text: In September 1927, King Oliver turned down a regular booking for his group as the house band at Harlem's Cotton Club; the offer passed to Ellington after Jimmy McHugh suggested him and Mills arranged an audition. Ellington had to increase from a six to eleven-piece group to meet the requirements of the Cotton Club's management for the audition, and the engagement finally began on December 4. With a weekly radio broadcast, the Cotton Club's exclusively white and wealthy clientele poured in nightly to see them. At the Cotton Club, Ellington's group performed all the music for the revues, which mixed comedy, dance numbers, vaudeville, burlesque, music, and illicit alcohol. The musical numbers were composed by Jimmy McHugh and the lyrics by Dorothy Fields (later Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler), with some Ellington originals mixed in. (Here, he moved in with a dancer, his second wife Mildred Dixon). Weekly radio broadcasts from the club gave Ellington national exposure. At the same time, Ellington also recorded Fields-JMcHugh and Fats Waller–Andy Razaf songs.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Although trumpeter Bubber Miley was a member of the orchestra for only a short period, he had a major influence on Ellington's sound. As an early exponent of growl trumpet, Miley changed the sweet dance band sound of the group to one that was hotter, which contemporaries termed Jungle Style, which can be seen in his feature chorus in "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" (1926). In October 1927, Ellington and his Orchestra recorded several compositions with Adelaide Hall. One side in particular, "Creole Love Call", became a worldwide sensation and gave both Ellington and Hall their first hit record. Miley had composed most of "Creole Love Call" and "Black and Tan Fantasy". An alcoholic, Miley had to leave the band before they gained wider fame. He died in 1932 at the age of 29, but he was an important influence on Cootie Williams, who replaced him.


title: Duke Ellington

text: In 1929, the Cotton Club Orchestra appeared on stage for several months in Florenz Ziegfeld's Show Girl, along with vaudeville stars Jimmy Durante, Eddie Foy, Jr., Ruby Keeler, and with music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Gus Kahn. Will Vodery, Ziegfeld's musical supervisor, recommended Ellington for the show. According to John Edward Hasse's "Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington", "Perhaps during the run of "Show Girl", Ellington received what he later termed 'valuable lessons in orchestration from Will Vody." In his 1946 biography, "Duke Ellington", Barry Ulanov wrote:


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington's film work began with "Black and Tan" (1929), a 19-minute all-African American RKO short in which he played the hero "Duke". He also appeared in the Amos 'n' Andy film "Check and Double Check" released in 1930, which features the orchestra playing "Old Man Blues" in an extended ballroom scene. That year, Ellington and his Orchestra connected with a whole different audience in a concert with Maurice Chevalier and they also performed at the Roseland Ballroom, "America's foremost ballroom". Australian-born composer Percy Grainger was an early admirer and supporter. He wrote, "The three greatest composers who ever lived are Bach, Delius and Duke Ellington. Unfortunately, Bach is dead, Delius is very ill but we are happy to have with us today The Duke". Ellington's first period at the Cotton Club concluded in 1931.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington led the orchestra by conducting from the keyboard using piano cues and visual gestures; very rarely did he conduct using a baton. By 1932 his orchestra consisted of six brass instruments, four reeds, and a rhythm section of four players. As the leader, Ellington was not a strict disciplinarian; he maintained control of his orchestra with a combination of charm, humor, flattery and astute psychology. A complex, private person, he revealed his feelings to only his closest intimates. He effectively used his public persona to deflect attention away from himself.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington signed exclusively to Brunswick in 1932 and stayed with them through to late 1936 (albeit with a short-lived 1933–34 switch to Victor when Irving Mills temporarily moved his acts from Brunswick).


title: Duke Ellington

text: As the Depression worsened, the recording industry was in crisis, dropping over 90% of its artists by 1933. Ivie Anderson was hired as the Ellington Orchestra's featured vocalist in 1931. She is the vocalist on "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" (1932) among other recordings. Sonny Greer had been providing occasional vocals and continued to do in a cross-talk feature with Anderson. Radio exposure helped maintain Ellington's public profile as his orchestra began to tour. The other 78s of this era include: "Mood Indigo" (1930), "Sophisticated Lady" (1933), "Solitude" (1934), and "In a Sentimental Mood" (1935).


title: Duke Ellington

text: While Ellington's United States audience remained mainly African American in this period, the orchestra had a significant following overseas. They travelled to England and Scotland in 1933, as well as France (three concerts at the Salle Pleyel in Paris) and the Netherlands before returning to New York. On June 12, 1933, the Duke Ellington Orchestra gave its British debut at the London Palladium; Ellington received an ovation when he walked on stage. They were one of 13 acts on the bill and were restricted to eight short numbers; the booking lasted until June 24. The British visit saw Ellington win praise from members of the serious music community, including composer Constant Lambert, which gave a boost to Ellington's interest in composing longer works.


title: Duke Ellington

text: His longer pieces had already begun to appear. Ellington had composed and recorded "Creole Rhapsody" as early as 1931 (issued as both sides of a 12" record for Victor and both sides of a 10" record for Brunswick). A tribute to his mother, "Reminiscing in Tempo", took four 10" 78rpm record sides to record in 1935 after her death in that year. "Symphony in Black" (also 1935), a short film, featured his extended piece 'A Rhapsody of Negro Life'. It introduced Billie Holiday, and won the Academy Award for Best Musical Short Subject. Ellington and his Orchestra also appeared in the features "Murder at the Vanities" and "Belle of the Nineties" (both 1934).


title: Duke Ellington

text: For agent Mills, the attention was a publicity triumph, as Ellington was now internationally known. On the band's tour through the segregated South in 1934, they avoided some of the traveling difficulties of African Americans by touring in private railcars. These provided accessible accommodations, dining, and storage for equipment while avoiding the indignities of segregated facilities.


title: Duke Ellington

text: However, the competition intensified as swing bands like Benny Goodman's began to receive widespread attention. Swing dancing became a youth phenomenon, particularly with white college audiences, and danceability drove record sales and bookings. Jukeboxes proliferated nationwide, spreading the gospel of swing. Ellington's band could certainly swing, but their strengths were mood, nuance, and richness of composition, hence his statement "jazz is music, swing is business".


title: Duke Ellington

text: From 1936, Ellington began to make recordings with smaller groups (sextets, octets, and nonets) drawn from his then-15-man orchestra. He composed pieces intended to feature a specific instrumentalist, as with "Jeep's Blues" for Johnny Hodges, "Yearning for Love" for Lawrence Brown, "Trumpet in Spades" for Rex Stewart, "Echoes of Harlem" for Cootie Williams and "Clarinet Lament" for Barney Bigard. In 1937, Ellington returned to the Cotton Club, which had relocated to the mid-town Theater District. In the summer of that year, his father died, and due to many expenses, Ellington's finances were tight. However, his situation improved in the following years.


title: Duke Ellington

text: After leaving agent Irving Mills, he signed on with the William Morris Agency. Mills, though, continued to record Ellington. After only a year, his Master and Variety labels (the small groups had recorded for the latter) collapsed in late 1937. Mills placed Ellington back on Brunswick and those small group units on Vocalion through to 1940. Well-known sides continued to be recorded, "Caravan" in 1937, and "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" the following year.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Billy Strayhorn, originally hired as a lyricist, began his association with Ellington in 1939. Nicknamed "Swee' Pea" for his mild manner, Strayhorn soon became a vital member of the Ellington organization. Ellington showed great fondness for Strayhorn and never failed to speak glowingly of the man and their collaborative working relationship, "my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine". Strayhorn, with his training in classical music, not only contributed his original lyrics and music but also arranged and polished many of Ellington's works, becoming a second Ellington or "Duke's doppelganger". It was not uncommon for Strayhorn to fill in for Duke, whether in conducting or rehearsing the band, playing the piano, on stage and in the recording studio. The decade ended with a very successful European tour in 1939 just as World War II loomed in Europe.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Two musicians who joined Ellington at this time created a sensation in their own right, Jimmy Blanton and Ben Webster. Blanton was effectively hired on the spot in late October 1939, before Ellington was aware of his name, when he dropped in on a gig of Fate Marable in St Louis. The short-lived Blanton transformed the use of double bass in jazz, allowing it to function as a solo/melodic instrument rather than a rhythm instrument alone.Terminal illness forced him to leave by late 1941 after around two years. Ben Webster's principal tenure with Ellington spanned 1939 to 1943. An ambition of his, he told his previous employer, Teddy Wilson, then leading a big band, that Ellington was the only rival he would leave Wilson for. He was the orchestra's first regular tenor saxophonist and increased the size of the sax section to five for the first time. Much influenced by Johnny Hodges, he often credited Hodges with showing him "how to play my horn". The two men sat next to each other in the orchestra.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Trumpeter Ray Nance joined, replacing Cootie Williams who had defected to Benny Goodman. Additionally, Nance added violin to the instrumental colors Ellington had at his disposal. Recordings exist of Nance's first concert date on November 7, 1940, at Fargo, North Dakota. Privately made by Jack Towers and Dick Burris, these recordings were first legitimately issued in 1978 as "Duke Ellington at Fargo, 1940 Live"; they are among the earliest of innumerable live performances which survive. Nance was an occasional vocalist as well, although Herb Jeffries was the main male vocalist in this era (until 1943) while Al Hibbler (who replaced Jeffries in 1943) continued until 1951. Ivie Anderson left in 1942 for health reasons after 11 years, the longest term of any of Ellington's vocalists.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Once more recording for Victor (from 1940), with the small groups being issued on their Bluebird label, three-minute masterpieces on 78 rpm record sides continued to flow from Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Ellington's son Mercer Ellington, and members of the orchestra. "Cotton Tail", "Main Stem", "Harlem Air Shaft", "Jack the Bear", and dozens of others date from this period. Strayhorn's "Take the "A" Train", a hit in 1941, became the band's theme, replacing "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo". Ellington and his associates wrote for an orchestra of distinctive voices displaying tremendous creativity. The commercial recordings from this era were re-issued in the 3-CD collection, "", in 2003.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington's long-term aim, though, was to extend the jazz form from that three-minute limit, of which he was an acknowledged master. While he had composed and recorded some extended pieces before, such works now became a regular feature of Ellington's output. In this, he was helped by Strayhorn, who had enjoyed a more thorough training in the forms associated with classical music than Ellington. The first of these, "Black, Brown and Beige" (1943), was dedicated to telling the story of African Americans and the place of slavery and the church in their history. "Black, Brown and Beige" debuted at Carnegie Hall on January 23, 1943, beginning an annual series of Ellington concerts at the venue over the next four years. While some jazz musicians had played at Carnegie Hall before, none had performed anything as elaborate as Ellington's work. Unfortunately, starting a regular pattern, Ellington's longer works were generally not well received.


title: Duke Ellington

text: A partial exception was "Jump for Joy", a full-length musical based on themes of African American identity, debuted on July 10, 1941, at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles. Hollywood actors John Garfield and Mickey Rooney invested in the production, and Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles offered to direct. At one performance, Garfield insisted that Herb Jeffries, who was light-skinned, should wear makeup. Ellington objected in the interval and compared Jeffries to Al Jolson. The change was reverted. The singer later commented that the audience must have thought he was an entirely different character in the second half of the show.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Although it had sold-out performances and received positive reviews, it ran for only 122 performances until September 29, 1941, with a brief revival in November of that year. Its subject matter did not make it appealing to Broadway; Ellington had unfulfilled plans to take it there. Despite this disappointment, a Broadway production of Ellington's "Beggar's Holiday", his sole book musical, premiered on December 23, 1946, under the direction of Nicholas Ray.


title: Duke Ellington

text: The settlement of the first recording ban of 1942–44, leading to an increase in royalties paid to musicians, had a severe effect on the financial viability of the big bands, including Ellington's Orchestra. His income as a songwriter ultimately subsidized it. Although he always spent lavishly and drew a respectable income from the orchestra's operations, the band's income often just covered expenses. However, in 1943 Ellington asked Webster to leave; the saxophonist's personality made his colleagues anxious and the saxophonist was regularly in conflict with the leader.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Musicians enlisting in the military and travel restrictions made touring difficult for the big bands, and dancing became subject to a new tax, which continued for many years, affecting the choices of club owners. By the time World War II ended, the focus of popular music was shifting towards singing crooners such as Frank Sinatra and Jo Stafford. As the cost of hiring big bands had increased, club owners now found smaller jazz groups more cost-effective. Some of Ellington's new works, such as the wordless vocal feature "Transblucency" (1946) with Kay Davis, were not going to have a similar reach as the newly emerging stars.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington continued on his own course through these tectonic shifts. While Count Basie was forced to disband his whole ensemble and work as an octet for a time, Ellington was able to tour most of Western Europe between April 6 and June 30, 1950, with the orchestra playing 74 dates over 77 days. During the tour, according to Sonny Greer, Ellington did not perform the newer works. However, Ellington's extended composition, "Harlem" (1950), was in the process of being completed at this time. Ellington later presented its score to music-loving President Harry Truman. Also during his time in Europe, Ellington would compose the music for a stage production by Orson Welles. Titled "Time Runs" in Paris and "An Evening With Orson Welles" in Frankfurt, the variety show also featured a newly discovered Eartha Kitt, who performed Ellington's original song "Hungry Little Trouble" as Helen of Troy.


title: Duke Ellington

text: In 1951, Ellington suffered a significant loss of personnel: Sonny Greer, Lawrence Brown, and, most importantly, Johnny Hodges left to pursue other ventures. However, only Greer was a permanent departee. Drummer Louie Bellson replaced Greer, and his "Skin Deep" was a hit for Ellington. Tenor player Paul Gonsalves had joined in December 1950 after periods with Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie and stayed for the rest of his life, while Clark Terry joined in November 1951.


title: Duke Ellington

text: André Previn said in 1952: "You know, Stan Kenton can stand in front of a thousand fiddles and a thousand brass and make a dramatic gesture and every studio arranger can nod his head and say, "Oh, yes, that's done like this." But Duke merely lifts his finger, three horns make a sound, and I don't know what it is!" However, by 1955, after three years of recording for Capitol, Ellington lacked a regular recording affiliation.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington's appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 7, 1956, returned him to wider prominence. The feature "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" comprised two tunes that had been in the band's book since 1937. Ellington, who had abruptly ended the band's scheduled set because of the late arrival of four key players, called the two tunes as the time was approaching midnight. Announcing that the two pieces would be separated by an interlude played by tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves, Ellington proceeded to lead the band through the two pieces, with Gonsalves' 27-chorus marathon solo whipping the crowd into a frenzy, leading the Maestro to play way beyond the curfew time despite urgent pleas from festival organizer George Wein to bring the program to an end.


title: Duke Ellington

text: The concert made international headlines, led to one of only five "Time" magazine cover stories dedicated to a jazz musician, and resulted in an album produced by George Avakian that would become the best-selling LP of Ellington's career. Much of the music on the LP was, in effect, simulated, with only about 40% actually from the concert itself. According to Avakian, Ellington was dissatisfied with aspects of the performance and felt the musicians had been under-rehearsed. The band assembled the next day to re-record several numbers with the addition of the faked sound of a crowd, none of which was disclosed to purchasers of the album. Not until 1999 was the concert recording properly released for the first time. The revived attention brought about by the Newport appearance should not have surprised anyone, Johnny Hodges had returned the previous year, and Ellington's collaboration with Strayhorn was renewed around the same time, under terms more amenable to the younger man.


title: Duke Ellington

text: The original "Ellington at Newport" album was the first release in a new recording contract with Columbia Records which yielded several years of recording stability, mainly under producer Irving Townsend, who coaxed both commercial and artistic productions from Ellington.


title: Duke Ellington

text: In 1957, CBS (Columbia Records' parent corporation) aired a live television production of "A Drum Is a Woman", an allegorical suite which received mixed reviews. Festival appearances at the new Monterey Jazz Festival and elsewhere provided venues for live exposure, and a European tour in 1958 was well received. "Such Sweet Thunder" (1957), based on Shakespeare's plays and characters, and "The Queen's Suite" (1958), dedicated to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, were products of the renewed impetus which the Newport appearance helped to create. However, the latter work was not commercially issued at the time. The late 1950s also saw Ella Fitzgerald record her "Duke Ellington Songbook" (Verve) with Ellington and his orchestra—a recognition that Ellington's songs had now become part of the cultural canon known as the 'Great American Songbook'.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Around this time Ellington and Strayhorn began to work on film scoring. The first of these was "Anatomy of a Murder" (1959), a courtroom drama directed by Otto Preminger and featuring James Stewart, in which Ellington appeared fronting a roadhouse combo. Film historians have recognized the score "as a landmark—the first significant Hollywood film music by African Americans comprising non-diegetic music, that is, music whose source is not visible or implied by action in the film, like an on-screen band." The score avoided the cultural stereotypes which previously characterized jazz scores and rejected a strict adherence to visuals in ways that presaged the New Wave cinema of the '60s". Ellington and Strayhorn, always looking for new musical territory, produced suites for John Steinbeck's novel "Sweet Thursday", Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" and Edvard Grieg's "Peer Gynt".


title: Duke Ellington

text: "Anatomy of a Murder" was followed by "Paris Blues" (1961), which featured Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as jazz musicians. For this work, Ellington was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Score.


title: Duke Ellington

text: In the early 1960s, Ellington embraced recording with artists who had been friendly rivals in the past or were younger musicians who focused on later styles. The Ellington and Count Basie orchestras recorded together with the album "First Time! The Count Meets the Duke" (1961). During a period when Ellington was between recording contracts, he made records with Louis Armstrong (Roulette), Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane (both for Impulse) and participated in a session with Charles Mingus and Max Roach which produced the "Money Jungle" (United Artists) album. He signed to Frank Sinatra's new Reprise label, but the association with the label was short-lived.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Musicians who had previously worked with Ellington returned to the Orchestra as members: Lawrence Brown in 1960 and Cootie Williams in 1962.


title: Duke Ellington

text: The writing and playing of music is a matter of intent... You can't just throw a paint brush against the wall and call whatever happens art. My music fits the tonal personality of the player. I think too strongly in terms of altering my music to fit the performer to be impressed by accidental music. You can't take doodling seriously.


title: Duke Ellington

text: He was now performing worldwide and spent a significant part of each year on overseas tours. As a consequence, he formed new working relationships with artists from around the world, including the Swedish vocalist Alice Babs, and the South African musicians Dollar Brand and Sathima Bea Benjamin ("A Morning in Paris", 1963/1997).


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington wrote an original score for director Michael Langham's production of Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens" at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada, which opened on July 29, 1963. Langham has used it for several subsequent productions, including a much later adaptation by Stanley Silverman which expands the score with some of Ellington's best-known works.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1965. However, no prize was ultimately awarded that year. Then 66 years old, he joked: "Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young." In 1999, he was posthumously awarded a special Pulitzer Prize "commemorating the centennial year of his birth, in recognition of his musical genius, which evoked aesthetically the principles of democracy through the medium of jazz and thus made an indelible contribution to art and culture."


title: Duke Ellington

text: In September 1965, he premiered the first of his Sacred Concerts. He created a jazz Christian liturgy. Although the work received mixed reviews, Ellington was proud of the composition and performed it dozens of times. This concert was followed by two others of the same type in 1968 and 1973, known as the Second and Third Sacred Concerts. Many saw the Sacred Music suites as an attempt to reinforce commercial support for organized religion. However, Ellington simply said it was "the most important thing I've done". The Steinway piano upon which the Sacred Concerts were composed is part of the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Like Haydn and Mozart, Ellington conducted his orchestra from the piano—he always played the keyboard parts when the Sacred Concerts were performed.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Duke turned 65 in the spring of 1964 but showed no signs of slowing down as he continued to make recordings of significant works such as "The Far East Suite" (1966), "New Orleans Suite" (1970), "The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse" (1971) and the "Latin American Suite" (1972), much of it inspired by his world tours. It was during this time that he recorded his only album with Frank Sinatra, entitled "Francis A. & Edward K." (1967).


title: Duke Ellington

text: Among the last shows Ellington and his orchestra performed were one on March 21, 1973, at Purdue University's Hall of Music, two on March 22, 1973, at the Sturges-Young Auditorium in Sturgis, Michigan and the "Eastbourne Performance" on December 1, 1973, later issued on LP. Ellington performed what is considered his final full concert in a ballroom at Northern Illinois University on March 20, 1974. Since 1980, that ballroom has been dedicated as the "Duke Ellington Ballroom".


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington married his high school sweetheart, Edna Thompson (d. 1967), on July 2, 1918, when he was 19. The next spring, on March 11, 1919, Edna gave birth to their only son, Mercer Kennedy Ellington.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington was joined in New York City by his wife and son in the late twenties, but the couple soon permanently separated. According to her obituary in "Jet" magazine, she was "homesick for Washington" and returned. In 1929, Ellington became the companion of Mildred Dixon, who traveled with him, managed Tempo Music, inspired songs, such as "Sophisticated Lady", at the peak of his career, and raised his son.


title: Duke Ellington

text: In 1938, he left his family (his son was 19) and moved in with Beatrice "Evie" Ellis, a Cotton Club employee. Their relationship, though stormy, continued after Ellington met and formed a relationship with Fernanda de Castro Monte in the early 1960s. Ellington supported both women for the rest of his life.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington's sister Ruth (1915–2004) later ran Tempo Music, his music publishing company. Ruth's second husband was the bass-baritone McHenry Boatwright, whom she met when he sang at her brother's funeral. As an adult, son Mercer Ellington (d. 1996) played trumpet and piano, led his own band, and worked as his father's business manager.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha and was a freemason associated with Prince Hall Freemasonry.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington died on May 24, 1974, of complications from lung cancer and pneumonia, a few weeks after his 75th birthday. At his funeral, attended by over 12,000 people at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Ella Fitzgerald summed up the occasion: "It's a very sad day. A genius has passed."


title: Duke Ellington

text: Numerous memorials have been dedicated to Duke Ellington in cities from New York and Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles.


title: Duke Ellington

text: In Ellington's birthplace, Washington, D.C., the Duke Ellington School of the Arts educates talented students who are considering careers in the arts by providing art instruction and academic programs to prepare students for post-secondary education and professional careers. In 1974, the District renamed the Calvert Street Bridge, originally built in 1935, as the Duke Ellington Bridge. Another school is P.S. 004 Duke Ellington in New York.


title: Duke Ellington

text: In 1989, a bronze plaque was attached to the newly named Duke Ellington Building at 2121 Ward Place NW. In 2012, the new owner of the building commissioned a mural by Aniekan Udofia that appears above the lettering "Duke Ellington". In 2010 the triangular park, across the street from Duke Ellington's birth site, at the intersection of New Hampshire and M Streets NW, was named the Duke Ellington Park.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington's residence at 2728 Sherman Avenue NW, during the years 1919–1922, is marked by a bronze plaque.


title: Duke Ellington

text: On February 24, 2009, the United States Mint issued a coin with Duke Ellington on it, making him the first African American to appear by himself on a circulating U.S. coin. Ellington appears on the reverse (tails) side of the District of Columbia quarter. The coin is part of the U.S. Mint's program honoring the District and the U.S. territories and celebrates Ellington's birthplace in the District of Columbia. Ellington is depicted on the quarter seated at a piano, sheet music in hand, along with the inscription "Justice for All", which is the District's motto.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington lived out his final years in Manhattan, in a townhouse at 333 Riverside Drive near West 106th Street. His sister Ruth, who managed his publishing company, also lived there, and his son Mercer lived next door. After his death, West 106th Street was officially renamed Duke Ellington Boulevard.


title: Duke Ellington

text: A large memorial to Ellington, created by sculptor Robert Graham, was dedicated in 1997 in New York's Central Park, near Fifth Avenue and 110th Street, an intersection named Duke Ellington Circle.


title: Duke Ellington

text: A statue of Ellington at a piano is featured at the entrance to UCLA's Schoenberg Hall. According to "UCLA" magazine:


title: Duke Ellington

text: The Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival is a nationally renowned annual competition for prestigious high school bands. Started in 1996 at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the festival is named after Ellington because of the significant focus that the festival places on his works.


title: Duke Ellington

text: After Duke died, his son Mercer took over leadership of the orchestra, continuing until he died in 1996. Like the Count Basie Orchestra, this "ghost band" continued to release albums for many years. "Digital Duke", credited to The Duke Ellington Orchestra, won the 1988 Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. Mercer Ellington had been handling all administrative aspects of his father's business for several decades. Mercer's children continue a connection with their grandfather's work.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington composed incessantly to the very last days of his life. Music was indeed his mistress; it was his total life and his commitment to it was incomparable and unalterable. In jazz he was a giant among giants. And in twentieth century music, he may yet one day be recognized as one of the half-dozen greatest masters of our time.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Martin Williams said: "Duke Ellington lived long enough to hear himself named among our best composers. And since his death in 1974, it has become not at all uncommon to see him named, along with Charles Ives, as the greatest composer we have produced, regardless of category."


title: Duke Ellington

text: In the opinion of Bob Blumenthal of "The Boston Globe" in 1999: "[i]n the century since his birth, there has been no greater composer, American or otherwise, than Edward Kennedy Ellington."


title: Duke Ellington

text: In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Duke Ellington on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.


title: Duke Ellington

text: His compositions have been revisited by artists and musicians worldwide as sources of inspiration and a bedrock of their performing careers:


title: Duke Ellington

text: There are hundreds of albums dedicated to the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn by artists famous and obscure. "Sophisticated Ladies", an award-winning 1981 musical revue, incorporated many tunes from Ellington's repertoire. A second Broadway musical interpolating Ellington's music, "Play On!", debuted in 1997.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Duke Ellington was one of hundreds of artists whose material was reported to have been destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.


title: Duke Ellington

text: Ellington earned 14 Grammy awards from 1959 to 2000 (three of which were posthumous) and a total of 24 nominations


title: Duke Ellington

text: Recordings of Duke Ellington were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings at least 25 years old that have qualitative or historical significance.


title: Triangle of Sadness

text: Triangle of Sadness () is a 2022 satirical black comedy film written and directed by Ruben Östlund in his English-language feature film debut. The film stars Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean, Dolly de Leon, Zlatko Burić, Henrik Dorsin, Vicki Berlin, and Woody Harrelson. It is the last film Dean starred in before her death in August 2022.


title: Triangle of Sadness

text: "Triangle of Sadness" had its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2022, where it received an eight-minute standing ovation and won the Palme d'Or, and was released in France on 28 September, in the United States and Sweden on 7 October, in Germany on 13 October, and in the United Kingdom on 28 October. The film received generally positive reviews.


title: Triangle of Sadness

text: Carl, a model, and Yaya, an influencer, are dating. Carl resents Yaya for expecting him to pay for meals though she earns more than him; they argue about money and gender roles. They are invited on a luxury cruise aboard a superyacht in exchange for promoting it on social media. Among the wealthy guests are the Russian oligarch Dimitry and his wife Vera; the elderly couple Clementine and Winston, who have made their fortune manufacturing weapons; Therese, who is only capable of speaking a single sentence in German following a stroke; and a lonely tech millionaire, Jarmo. The guests relax on the yacht, oblivious to the crew working to meet their every need and whim. The head of staff, Paula, demands they obey the guests' absurd requests, including having every crew member swim in the pool. Meanwhile, the yacht's captain, Thomas Smith, spends his time drunk in his cabin.


title: Triangle of Sadness

text: Paula gets Thomas to sober up and attend the captain's dinner as a storm hits the yacht. Several guests become ill, vomiting and defecating, and panic breaks out. The drunken Thomas and Dimitry argue about socialism and capitalism over the intercom, and several guests are injured as the ship struggles in the storm and the power goes out. When morning arrives, pirates attack, killing Clementine and Winston with one of their own grenades, and capsizing the yacht.


title: Triangle of Sadness

text: A small group of survivors consisting of Carl, Yaya, Dimitry, Therese, Paula, Jarmo, ship mechanic Nelson, and cleaner Abigail manage to escape to an island. Abigail establishes herself as the only one with survival skills and quickly takes command, shedding her lowly crewmember status and demanding to be referred to as the captain. As the survivors bond and come to terms with their new situation, Abigail gains more power, getting her own private bed inside the lifeboat. She and Carl begin a sexual relationship in exchange for Carl getting special privileges and food. Yaya grows jealous, and Carl considers leaving her for Abigail.


title: Triangle of Sadness

text: Yaya decides to hike to the other side of the island, and Abigail volunteers to go with her despite Carl's concerns. They discover an elevator and realize they have been stranded near a luxury resort. Back at their camp, Therese encounters a beach vendor but is unable to communicate with him about her situation. Yaya celebrates finding the elevator, but Abigail hesitates to enter. When Abigail prepares to attack her with a rock, she hesitates and the oblivious Yaya offers Abigail work as her assistant. Carl is then seen frantically running through the jungle.


title: Triangle of Sadness

text: "Triangle of Sadness" was announced by the director, Ruben Östlund, in June 2017, after his film "The Square" won the Palme d'Or at the 70th Cannes Film Festival the previous month. He said the film was to be called "Triangle of Sadness", a "wild" satire set against the world of fashion and the uber-rich, with "appearance as capital" and "beauty as currency" as the underlying themes. The English title refers to a term used by plastic surgeons for the worry wrinkle that forms between the eyebrows, which can be fixed with botox in 15 minutes.


title: Triangle of Sadness

text: Research for some parts of the script took place in May 2018. Casting took place from August to November 2018 in Berlin, Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles and Gothenburg, and continued in Moscow in March 2019. Location scouting began in January 2019 and lasted intermittently until October 2019. Östlund fine-tuned the last details of pre-production from November 2019 to the first half of February 2020.


title: Triangle of Sadness

text: In February 2020, it was reported that "Triangle of Sadness" would begin principal photography on 19 February in Sweden and Greece, with a 70-day shoot, and that the cast would include Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean and Woody Harrelson. About 120 actors were considered for the role that Dickinson landed. On 26 March, production paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic with about 37% of shooting completed. Editing started during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Production resumed on 27 June in Sweden, allowing Harrelson to finish his scenes, but was halted again on 3 July.


title: Triangle of Sadness

text: Production resumed on 18 September on location at Chiliadou Beach, Euboea, Greece, for the last 38 days. Photography wrapped on 13 November 2020, concluding a 73-day shoot. Östlund mentioned that the production carried out 1,061 COVID-19 tests throughout filming and all were negative. Filming also took place on other Greek islands, on the stages of Film i Väst in Trollhättan, Sweden, and in the Mediterranean Sea on the "Christina O", the yacht formerly owned by Aristotle Onassis and Jackie Kennedy. Post-production lasted 22 months. According to the actors, Östlund shot as many as 23 takes for each scene.


title: Triangle of Sadness

text: "Triangle of Sadness" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2022, and on 28 May won the festival's Palme d'Or. It was an official selection of the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, where it held its North American premiere on 8 September, and the 2022 New York Film Festival (1 October).


title: Triangle of Sadness

text: Neon acquired North American distribution rights for $8 million, winning a bidding war with A24, Searchlight Pictures/Hulu, Focus Features and Sony Pictures Classics. The film was released in France on 28 September 2022, in the United States and Sweden on 7 October, in Germany on 13 October, and in the United Kingdom on 28 October.


title: Triangle of Sadness

text: , "Triangle of Sadness" has grossed $4 million in the United States and Canada, and $11.3 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $15.3 million.


title: Triangle of Sadness

text: In the United States, "Triangle of Sadness" opened in 10 locations in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco to a debut of $210,074, for a per theater average of $21,007. In its second weekend, it grossed $657,051 on 31 screens. In its third weekend, it grossed $600,000 on 280 screens, finishing tenth at the box office. In its fourth weekend, it grossed $548,999 on 610 screens.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: Marcus Luttrell (born November 7, 1975) is a retired United States Navy SEAL who received the Navy Cross and Purple Heart for his actions in June 2005 against Taliban fighters during Operation Red Wings in which he was the lone survivor. Luttrell became a SO1 by the end of his eight-year career in the United States Navy.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: Luttrell co-hosts "After Action", a TV show in which former special operations veterans talk about issues in the United States. Glenn Beck is the executive producer of the show, which airs on TheBlaze.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: Luttrell was born in Houston, Texas, on November 7, 1975. He began training for the U.S. Navy SEALs at the age of 14, with U.S. Army veteran Billy Shelton, who lived near Luttrell's home. Luttrell trained every day with his twin brother, Morgan, and others who aspired to join the U.S Navy and other special operations forces. Shelton trained them using various weight and endurance exercises. After high school at Willis High School, Willis, Texas, Luttrell attended Sam Houston State University where he was a member of the Epsilon Zeta chapter of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. In 1998 he graduated with a B.S in International Business.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: Luttrell enlisted in the U.S. Navy in March 1999. After graduating from boot camp and Hospital Corpsman A-school, he transferred to Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) Class 226. However, due to a fractured femur he suffered from falling off a rope, he graduated with Class 228 on April 21, 2000. After completing BUD/S, Luttrell attended Army jump school and SEAL Qualification Training (SQT). Luttrell earned his Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) 5326 Combatant Swimmer (SEAL) and Naval Special Warfare Insignia on February 2, 2001, after completing SQT. He was then sent to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, for the Special Operations Combat Medic (SOCM) course. SOCM was an additional six months of advanced training in conventional and unconventional medical skills, ranging from diagnosis and treatment of many conditions to advanced emergency medicine and battlefield life support.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: He was deployed to Iraq with SEAL Team 5 on April 14, 2003, during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, to root out and destroy leftover Iraqi resistance and joined in the search for WMDs. Afterward, he carried out operations to eliminate or capture terrorists.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2005 with SEAL Team Ten as part of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One (SDV-1). While in Afghanistan, he was involved in Operation Red Wings, during which the four-man Special Reconnaissance element with SDV-1 was noticed by local herdsmen. The team understood that the local herdsmen might reveal their whereabouts to Taliban fighters but also recognized that the herdsmen were unarmed and did not appear to be combatants. Despite the risk, the SEAL team allowed the herdsmen to leave. Soon thereafter, the SEAL team was ambushed, and only Luttrell survived. Luttrell was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions during the operation.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: During the ambush of Operation Red Wings the four SEALs were attacked from three sides and took fire from RPK machine guns, AK-47s, RPG-7s, and 82mm mortars. The attack forced the SEALs into the northeast gorge of the Shuryek Valley side of Sawtalo Sar. The SEALs made a number of attempts to contact their combat operations center with a PRC-148 MBITR (Multi Band Inter/Intra Team Radio) and then with an Iridium satellite phone. They could not establish consistent communication, however, other than for a period long enough to indicate that they were under attack. Three of the four team members were killed, and Luttrell, the only survivor, was left unconscious with a number of fractures, a broken back, and numerous shrapnel wounds. Members of SEAL Team 10 attempted a rescue during the firefight, but their helicopter was shot down, and all aboard were killed. Luttrell regained consciousness and evaded the pursuing enemy, with the help of local Pashtun villagers, one of them being Mohammad Gulab, who eventually sent an emissary to the nearest U.S. base to secure Luttrell's safe rescue and ultimately saved his life. He was rescued on July 2 by Army Rangers and Afghan National Army soldiers in the woods when Gulab and several villagers were trying to get Luttrell to a safe location. Luttrell was treated by Capt. Joshua Appel and Technical Sergeant Christopher Piercecchi of the United States Air Force Pararescue.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: The target of Operation Red Wings, Mohammad Ismail alias Ahmad Shah, survived the American operation but was killed during a firefight with Pakistani police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in April 2008.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: After recovering from his injuries, Luttrell returned to full-duty and deployed to Ramadi during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2006, as part of SEAL Team Five. He later had his knees blown out and fractured his spine again. These injuries ultimately led to his discharge.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in actions against the enemy while serving in a four-man Special Reconnaissance element with SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team ONE, Naval Special Warfare Task unit, Afghanistan from 27 to 28 June 2005, in the vicinity of Asadabad, Konar Province, Afghanistan. Operating in the middle of an enemy-controlled area, in extremely rugged terrain, his Special Reconnaissance element was tasked with locating a high-level Anti-Coalition Militia leader, in support of a follow-on direct action mission to disrupt enemy activity. On 28 June 2005, the element was spotted by Anti-Coalition Militia sympathizers, who immediately revealed their position to the militia fighters. As a result, the element directly encountered the enemy. Demonstrating exceptional resolve and fully understanding the gravity of the situation and his responsibility to his teammates, the unidentified SEAL fought valiantly against the numerically superior and positionally advantaged enemy force. By his undaunted courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and absolute devotion to his teammates, Petty Officer Luttrell will long be remembered for the role he played in the Global War on Terrorism. Petty Officer Luttrell's courageous and selfless heroism reflected great credit upon him and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: In 2007, Luttrell was medically discharged from the Navy. In 2009, he was granted a medical retirement through the Board for the Correction of Naval Records.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: In May 2012, Little, Brown and Company released Luttrell's latest book, co-authored with James D. Hornfischer, "Service: A Navy SEAL at War".


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: In 2010, Luttrell established the Lone Survivor Foundation. The mission of the foundation, headquartered in Houston, Texas, is to "restore, empower, and renew hope for our wounded warriors and their families through health, wellness, and therapeutic support."


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: Luttrell and The Lone Survivor Foundation partnered with The Boot Campaign to help show tangible appreciation of America's active-duty military, raise awareness of the challenges they face upon return, and support the transition home.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: Luttrell married Melanie Juneau on November 27, 2010, in Texas. Their son Axe, named after fallen SEAL comrade Matthew Axelson, was born on May 8, 2011. On January 14, 2012, at an event for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Luttrell announced that he and his wife were expecting their second child. Their daughter, Addie, was born on August 26, 2012.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: Luttrell's twin brother Morgan Luttrell is also a retired Navy SEAL; he left the Navy with the rank of lieutenant. Morgan served as advisor to Energy Secretary Rick Perry during the Donald Trump administration. On November 8, 2022, Morgan was elected to represent Texas's 8th congressional district.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: Luttrell endorsed the 2016 presidential campaign of former Texas governor Rick Perry and was present, alongside his twin brother Morgan, at Perry's formal announcement on June 4, 2015. Luttrell spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention in support of Donald Trump.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: There is some conflict over the exact number of Taliban forces involved in the engagement. Luttrell filed an official after-action report in which he estimated the size of the Taliban force to be around 20–35. He claims in his book that his team were told in their briefing that around 80 to 200 fighters were expected to be in the area. Initial intel estimates were approximately 10 to 20. Official media reports from the military estimated that the Taliban force was around 20 as well, while the Navy cited 30–40 enemies in the Medal of Honor citation for LT Michael P. Murphy. In the Summary of Action related to the same Medal of Honor, the Navy cites an "enemy force of more than 50 anti-coalition militia". Ed Darack cites a military intelligence report in his book "Victory Point: Operations Red Wings and Whalers", stating that the Taliban force was 8–10, compared to the 80–200 claimed by Luttrell in "Lone Survivor". The military intelligence estimate cited by Darack is based on research from intelligence reports and aerial and eye-witness studies of the battlefield after the fact, including the men sent in to rescue Luttrell, as well as reports from Afghan intelligence.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: Luttrell claimed in "Lone Survivor" that Lieutenant Murphy considered executing the unarmed civilians who stumbled upon the SEAL reconnaissance team and even put it to a vote, but this has been criticized and dismissed by many as fiction. Navy Special Warfare Command spokesman Lieutenant Steve Ruh stated that "the senior guy ultimately has the ultimate authority" for making decisions in the field. He also stated that "this is the first time I've ever heard of anything put to a vote like that. In my 14 years of Navy experience, I've never seen or heard of anything like that." Michael P. Murphy's father claims in the June 12, 2007 article "Survivor's book dishonors son's memory" in "Newsday" that his son would never have considered executing unarmed civilians, let alone putting such a grave decision up for a vote. Military protocol and rules of engagement strictly forbid harming unarmed non-combatant civilians.


title: Marcus Luttrell

text: Mohammad Gulab, the Afghan villager who rescued Luttrell, also disputes Luttrell's version of the story. Luttrell claims that he fired off nearly all of his rounds, but Gulab said that he was found with all 11 magazines of ammunition. Gulab also said that the Taliban heard the helicopter drop off the SEAL team, then tracked their footprints. When the Taliban found them, they were debating about what to do with the herdsmen, so they held back. After they released them, the Taliban decided to attack. Gulab claims that the locals heard the firefight, searched the hills afterward, and found no Taliban corpses. Andrew MacMannis is a former Marine Colonel who helped plan the mission and was on location for the recovery operation, and he says that there were no reports of any enemy casualties. Two videos that the Taliban shot during the firefight only show 7 men in Ahmad Shah's militia. Gulab claims that he was never given the chance to tell his side of the story, and that his interpreter before a "60 Minutes" interview told him, "Whatever Marcus says in the interview, say yes."


title: Manipur

text: Manipur () () is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanmar, Sagaing Region to the east and Chin State to the south. The state covers an area of . Manipur has been at the crossroads of Asian economic and cultural exchange for more than 2,500 years. It connects the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia to Southeast Asia, East Asia, Siberia, regions in the Arctic, Micronesia and Polynesia enabling migration of people, cultures and religions.


title: Manipur

text: During the days of the British Indian Empire, the Kingdom of Manipur was one of the princely states. Between 1917 and 1939, some people of Manipur pressed the princely rulers for democracy. By the late 1930s, the princely state of Manipur negotiated with the British administration its preference to continue to be part of the Indian Empire, rather than part of Burma, which was being separated from India. These negotiations were cut short with the outbreak of World War II in 1939. On 11 August 1947, Maharaja Budhachandra signed an Instrument of Accession, joining India. Later, on 21 September 1949, he signed a Merger Agreement, merging the kingdom into India, which led to its becoming a Part C State. This merger was later disputed by groups in Manipur, as having been completed without consensus and under duress. The dispute and differing visions for the future has resulted in a 50-year insurgency in the state for independence from India, as well as in repeated episodes of violence among ethnic groups in the state. From 2009 through 2018, the conflict was responsible for the violent deaths of over 1000 people.


title: Manipur

text: The Meitei represent around 53% of the population of Manipur state, followed by various Naga ethnic groups at 24% and various Kuki/Zomi tribes at 16%. The official and most widely spoken language is Meitei. Native to the Meitei people, it is also used as a lingua franca by smaller communities, who speak a variety of other Sino-Tibetan languages. Manipur's ethnic groups practice a variety of religions. According to 2011 census, Hinduism is the major religion in the state, closely followed by Christianity. Other religions include Islam, Sanamahism, Buddhism, and Judaism, etc.


title: Manipur

text: Manipur has primarily an agrarian economy, with significant hydroelectric power generation potential. It is connected to other areas by daily flights through Imphal airport, the second largest in northeastern India. Manipur is home to many sports and the origin of Manipuri dance, and is credited with introducing polo to Europeans.


title: Manipur

text: The word "Manipur" is made-up of two Sanskrit words (Maṇi), which means jewel and (Purǝ), which means land/place/abode, Manipur is translated as "Jewelled land".


title: Manipur

text: Manipur is mentioned in historic texts as Kangleipak (Meitei: ) or Meeteileipak. Sanamahi Laikan wrote that officials during the reign of Meidingu Pamheiba in the eighteenth century adopted Manipur's new name.


title: Manipur

text: Neighbouring cultures each had differing names for Manipur and its people. The Shan or Pong called the area "Cassay", the Burmese "Kathe", and the Assamese "Meklee". In the first treaty between the British East India Company and Meidingu Chingthangkhomba (Bhagyachandra), signed in 1762, the kingdom was referred to as “Meckley”. Bhagyachandra and his successors issued coins engraved with "Manipureshwar", or "lord of Manipur", and the British discarded the name Meckley. Later on, the work "Dharani Samhita" (1825–34) popularised the Sanskrit legends of the origin of Manipur's name.


title: Manipur

text: The term "Kanglei", meaning "of Manipur/Kangleipak", is used to refer to items associated with the state where the term "Manipuri" is a recently given name.


title: Manipur

text: One of the most remarkable records of the history of Manipur, documented in the Guinness Book of Records is:


title: Manipur

text: The history of Manipur Meities is chronicled in Puyas or Puwaris (stories about the forefathers), namely, the Ninghthou Kangbalon, Cheitharol Kumbaba, Ningthourol Lambuba, Poireiton Khunthokpa, Panthoibi Khongkul, and so forth in the archaic Meitei script, which is comparable to the Thai script. The historical accounts presented here were recordings from the eyes and the judgment of Meitei kings and (Meitei scholars). Hill tribes have their own folk tales, myths, and legends. Manipur was known by different names at various periods in its history, such as, Tilli-Koktong, Poirei-Lam, Sanna-Leipak, Mitei-Leipak, Meitrabak or Manipur (present day). Its capital was Kangla, Yumphal or Imphal (present day). Its people were known by various names, such as Mi-tei, Poirei-Mitei, Meetei, Maitei or Meitei. The Puwaris, Ninghthou Kangbalon, Ningthourol Lambuba, Cheitharol Kumbaba, Poireiton Khunthokpa, recorded the events of each King who ruled Manipur in a span of more than 3500 years until 1955 CE (a total of more than 108 kings). A 14th century inscription from Pagan mentions Kasan (Manipur) to be one of the 21 states under Mong Mao ruler Thonganbwa (1413–1445/6) who was later captured by the Governor of Taungdwingyi. (15th century BCE) is regarded as the first and foremost king of Manipur. There were times when the country was in turmoil without rulers, and long historical gaps exist between 1129 BCE and 44 BCE. In 1891 CE, after the defeat of the Meiteis by the British in the Anglo-Manipuri war of Khongjom, the sovereignty of Manipur which it had maintained for more than three millenniums, was lost. In 1926, it became a part of Pakokku Hill Tracts Districts of British Burma until 4 January 1947. It regained its freedom on 14 August 1947. On 15 October 1949, Manipur was unified with India.


title: Manipur

text: By the medieval period, marriage alliances between the royal families of Manipur, Ahom kingdom and Burma had become common. Medieval era manuscripts discovered in the 20th century, particularly the "Puya", provide evidence that Hindus from the Indian subcontinent had married Manipur royalty by at least the 14th century. In centuries thereafter, royal spouses came also from what is now Assam, Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh and from other South Indian kingdoms as well. Another manuscript suggests that Muslims arrived in Manipur in the 17th century, from what is now Bangladesh, during the reign of Meidingu Khagemba. The socio-political turmoil and wars, particularly the persistent and devastating Anglo-Burmese wars, affected the cultural and religious demography of Manipur.


title: Manipur

text: In 1824, the ruler of Manipur entered into a subsidiary alliance with the British Empire in the Indian subcontinent, which became responsible for Manipur's external defence. The British recognised that the state remained internally self-governing, as a princely state. During World War II, Manipur was the scene of many fierce battles between Japanese invaders and British Indian forces. The Japanese were beaten back before they could enter Imphal, which was one of the turning points of the overall war in South Asia.


title: Manipur

text: After the war, British India moved towards independence, and the princely states which had existed alongside it became responsible for their own external affairs and defence, unless they joined the new India or the new Pakistan. The Manipur State Constitution Act of 1947 established a democratic form of government, with the Maharaja continuing as the head of state. Maharaja Bodhchandra was summoned to Shillong, to merge the kingdom into the Union of India. He is believed to have signed the merger agreement under duress. Thereafter, the legislative assembly was dissolved, and in October 1949 Manipur became part of India. It was made a Union Territory in 1956. and a fully-fledged State in 1972 by the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971.


title: Manipur

text: Manipur had a long record of insurgency and inter-ethnic violence. The first armed opposition group in Manipur, the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), was founded in 1964 and declared that it wanted to gain independence from India and form Manipur as a new country. Over time, many more groups formed in Manipur, each with different goals, and deriving support from diverse ethnic groups in Manipur. In 1977 the People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) was formed, and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), formed in 1978 which Human Rights Watch said had received arms and training from China. In 1980, the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) was formed. These groups began a spree of bank robberies and attacks on police officers and government buildings. The state government appealed to the central government in New Delhi for support in combating this violence.


title: Manipur

text: From 1980 to 2004, the Indian government referred to Manipur as a "disturbed area." This term (designated by the Ministry of Home Affairs or a state governor) refers to a territory where extraordinary laws under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act can be used. The laws allow the military to treat private and public spaces, in the same manner, detain individuals up to 24 hours with unlimited renewals, to perform warrantless searches, and to shoot and kill individuals that break laws, carry weapons, or gather in groups larger than four as well as giving legal immunity to the military. Since 1980, the application of AFSPA has been at the heart of concerns about human rights violations in the region, such as arbitrary killings, torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and forced disappearances. Its continued application has led to numerous protests, notably the longstanding hunger strike by Irom Sharmila Chanu.


title: Manipur

text: In 2004, the government lifted the "disturbed" status after a violent attack on a local woman. The rape of a manipuri woman, Thangjam Manorama Devi, by members of the Assam Rifles paramilitary had led to wide protests including a nude protest by the Meira Paibis women association.


title: Manipur

text: The state lies at a latitude of 23°83'N – 25°68'N and a longitude of 93°03'E – 94°78'E. The total area covered by the state is . The capital lies in an oval-shaped valley of approximately , surrounded by blue mountains, at an elevation of above sea level. The slope of the valley is from north to south. The mountain ranges create a moderated climate, preventing the cold winds from the north from reaching the valley and barring cyclonic storms.


title: Manipur

text: The state is bordered by the Indian states of Nagaland to its north, Mizoram to its south, Assam to its west, and shares an international border with Myanmar to its east.


title: Manipur

text: The state has four major river basins: the Barak River Basin (Barak Valley) to the west, the Manipur River Basin in central Manipur, the Yu River Basin in the east, and a portion of the Lanye River Basin in the north. The water resources of Barak and Manipur river basins are about 1.8487 Mham (million hectare metres). The overall water balance of the state amounts to 0.7236 Mham in the annual water budget. (By comparison, India receives 400 Mham of rain annually.)


title: Manipur

text: The Barak River, the largest of Manipur, originates in the Manipur Hills and is joined by tributaries, such as the Irang, Maku, and Tuivai. After its junction with the Tuivai, the Barak River turns north, forms the border with Assam State, and then enters the Cachar Assam just above Lakhipur. The Manipur river basin has eight major rivers: the Manipur, Imphal, Iril, Nambul, Sekmai, Chakpi, Thoubal and Khuga. All these rivers originate from the surrounding hills.


title: Manipur

text: Almost all the rivers in the valley area are in the mature stage and therefore deposit their sediment load in the Loktak lake. The rivers draining the Manipur Hills are comparatively young, due to the hilly terrain through which they flow. These rivers are corrosive and become turbulent in the rainy season. Important rivers draining the western area include the Maku, Barak, Jiri, Irang, and Leimatak. Rivers draining the eastern part of the state, the Yu River Basin, include the Chamu, Khunou and other short streams.


title: Manipur

text: Manipur may be characterised as two distinct physical regions: an outlying area of rugged hills and narrow valleys, and the inner area of flat plain, with all associated landforms. These two areas are distinct in physical features and are conspicuous in flora and fauna. The valley region has hills and mounds rising above the flat surface. The Loktak lake is an important feature of the central plain. The total area occupied by all the lakes is about 600 km. The altitude ranges from 40 m at Jiribam to 2,994 m at Mount Tempü peak along the border with Nagaland.


title: Manipur

text: The soil cover can be divided into two broad types, viz. the red ferruginous soil in the hill area and the alluvium in the valley. The valley soils generally contain loam, small rock fragments, sand, and sandy clay, and are varied. On the plains, especially flood plains and deltas, the soil is quite thick. The topsoil on the steep slopes is very thin. Soil on the steep hill slopes is subject to high erosion, resulting in gullies and barren rock slopes. The normal pH value ranges from 5.4 to 6.8.


title: Manipur

text: Natural vegetation occupies an area of about , nearly 64% of the total geographical area of the state, and consists of short and tall grasses, reeds and bamboos, and trees. Broadly, there are four types of forests: Tropical Semi-evergreen, Dry Temperate Forest, Sub-Tropical Pine, and Tropical Moist Deciduous.


title: Manipur

text: There are forests of teak, pine, oak, uningthou, leihao, bamboo, and cane. Rubber, tea, coffee, orange, and cardamom are grown in hill areas. Rice is a staple food for Manipuris.


title: Manipur

text: Manipur's climate is largely influenced by the topography of the region. Lying 790 metres above sea level, Manipur is wedged among hills on all sides. This northeastern corner of India enjoys a generally amiable climate, though the winters can be chilly. The maximum temperature in the summer months is . The coldest month is January, and the warmest July.


title: Manipur

text: The state receives an average annual rainfall of between April and mid-October. Precipitation ranges from light drizzle to heavy downpour. The capital city Imphal receives an annual average of . Rainfall in this region is caused by The South Westerly Monsoon picking up moisture from the Bay of Bengal and heading towards the Eastern Himalaya ranges. This normal rainfall pattern of Manipur enriches the soil and much of the agrarian activities are dependent on it as well.


title: Manipur

text: Manipur is already experiencing climate change, especially changes in weather, with both increased variability in rain as well as increasingly severe changes in temperature.


title: Manipur

text: Manipur has a population of 2,855,794 as per 2011 census. Of this total, 57.2% live in the valley districts and the remaining 42.8% in the hill districts. The valley (plain) is mainly inhabited by the Meitei speaking population (native Manipuri speakers). The hills are inhabited mainly by several ethno-linguistically diverse tribes belonging to the Nagas, the Kukis and smaller tribal groupings. Naga and Kuki settlements are also found in the valley region, though less in numbers. There are also sizable population of Nepalis, Bengalis, Tamils and Marwaris living in Manipur.


title: Manipur

text: The distribution of area, population and density, and literacy rate as per the 2001 Census provisional figures are as below:


title: Manipur

text: The Meiteis (synonymous to the Manipuris) constitute the majority of the state's population. In 1901, the Meiteis were recorded as the main ethnicity of Manipur.


title: Manipur

text: Nagas and Kuki/Zo are the major tribe conglomerates. The Nagas in Manipur are further sub-divided into sub-tribes like Anāl, Liangmai, Mao, Maram, Maring, Poumai, Rongmei, Tangkhul, Zeme, etc.


title: Manipur

text: The official language of the state is Meitei (also known as "Manipuri"). It is a scheduled language in the Republic of India, and serves as the lingua franca in Manipur.


title: Manipur

text: Besides Meitei, which is the language of just over half of the people in Manipur, there is a huge amount of linguistic diversity, as is the case in most of the Northeast. Almost all of the languages are Sino-Tibetan, with many different subgroups represented. There are multiple Kuki-Chin languages, the largest being Thadou. Another major language family is the Naga languages, like Tangkhul, Poula, Rongmei and Mao. Less than 5% speak Indo-European languages, mostly Nepali and Bengali, in its Sylheti dialect, which is the major language of Jiribam district.


title: Manipur

text: The Directorate of Language Planning and Implementation works for the development and the promotion of Meitei and other local vernaculars.


title: Manipur

text: The religious groups of the Meitei-speaking people include Sanamahists, Hindus, Meitei Christians and Meitei Pangals. Besides these, the non Meitei-speaking communities (tribesmen communities) are mostly Christians.


title: Manipur

text: The Meitei ethnicity (aka Manipuri people) is the majority group following Hinduism in Manipur, beside other minor immigrants following the same faith in the state. Among the indigenous communities of Manipur, Meiteis are the only Hindus as no other indigenous ethnic groups follow this faith.


title: Manipur

text: According to the 2011 Census of India, about 41.39% of the Manipuri people practice Hinduism. The Hindu population is heavily concentrated in the Meitei dominant areas of the Manipur Valley (Imphal Valley), among the Meitei people. The districts of Bishnupur, Thoubal, Imphal East, and Imphal West all have Hindu majorities, averaging 67.62% (range 62.27–74.81%) according to the 2011 census data.