Duke Ellington was an American jazz composer, pianist, and bandleader who led one of the greatest orchestras in music history for nearly fifty years. He wrote thousands of pieces of music, blending jazz, blues, and classical influences into a sound entirely his own, work so significant that in 1965 the Pulitzer Prize music jury recommended him for a special award — only for the Pulitzer board to overrule them and give no music prize that year at all. He is remembered as one of the most important composers in American musical history.