Smithsonian Celebrates Ellington, Strayhorn

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The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., has opened its new exhibition, Jazz Composers: Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.

The exhibit focuses on two of the greatest composers in jazz and uses music manuscripts, orchestrations, arrangements, and other documents from the Museum’s collection to shed light on two signature pieces: “Take the ‘A’ Train” and “Caravan.”

Curated by music historian-educator John Edward Hasse, the exhibit runs through August.



  • John_Hammond_courtesy_johnhammond.com.jpg

    Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.

  • Flea_by_Gus_Van_Sant_copy.jpg

    “Cerebral and academic thought is a different way to approach music,” Flea says of his continuing dive into jazz. “I’ve always relied on emotion and intuition and physicality.”

  • Dee_Dee_Bridgewater_Courtesy_Dee_Dee_Bridgewater.jpg

    Vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater will be among the headliners at this year’s DC JazzFest.

  • Ted_Panke_Nicole_Zuraitis_copy.jpg

    Blindfold Test proctor Ted Panken, left, with the Grammy-winning Nicole Zuraitis.

  • Maria_Schneider_%C2%A92026_Mark_Sheldon_-07_copy.jpg

    “These days, with curated news, where people only get half the story, people can’t even speak to family members anymore,” Schneider laments.


On Sale Now
May 2026
Miles Davis
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