Duke Ellington was eulogized as "the supreme jazz talent of the past fifty years" by critic Alistair Cooke in a 1983 issue of Esquire. A prolific composer, Ellington created over two thousand pieces of music, including the standard songs "Take the A-Train" and "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" and the longer works Black, Brown, and Beige, Liberian Suite, and Afro-Eurasian Eclipse. With the variously named bands he led from 1919 until his death in 1974, Ellington was responsible for many innovations in the jazz field, such as "jungle-style" use of the growl and plunger, and the manipulation of the human voice as an instrument--singing notes without words.

The Duke Ellington Orchestra is the preeminent performer of the music of Duke Ellington and the Duke's tradition of constant touring and high-intensity, hard-driving jazz. Since 2007 The Duke Orchestra travelled throughout the world including two tours in Japan, Puerto Rico, United States  and played at prestigious Festivals as the Tokyo Jazz Festival and the Cape May Jazz Festival (USA), world famous jazz clubs like Blue Note New York and Nagoya and appeared with orchestras like the Grand Rapids Symphony, Detroit Symphony and Seattle Symphony.

Barnie Lee Hall was introduced to the Duke by jazz legend Arnett Cobb as "This is Barmie Lee Hall a trumpeter in the Texas Southern University Jazz Ensemble ". And Duke's reply was, "Ah, how come you're not playing in my band?"  He joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1973 and at the present still is a member of that organization.