A special tribute to legendary composer and bandleader Duke Ellington will take place on Sunday, September 28, from 2–4 PM at the Duke Ellington Statue, located at 5th Avenue and 110th Street in Harlem, Manhattan. This free, outdoor event is presented by The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts in collaboration with the American Tap Dance Foundation. This event is free and open to the public.
The celebration will be co-hosted by Mercedes Ellington—granddaughter of Duke Ellington and Founder and Artistic Director of The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts—and Tony Waag, Founding Director of the American Tap Dance Foundation.
The afternoon concert will feature a performance by The Duke Ellington Center Big Band (musical director Eli Yamin), delivering timeless Ellington compositions and beloved jazz standards. Joining the festivities will be a lineup of guest musicians, dancers, and vocalists, showcasing a vibrant fusion of jazz and tap dance that reflects Ellington’s profound influence on American music and the performing arts.
The cast for this special event includes dancers DeWitt Fleming Jr., AC Lincoln, Max Pollak, and Karen Callaway Williams. Featured vocalists are Marion Cowings, Nicholas King, Antoinette Montague, and Sharon Janda. Completing the program are stilt walker Mark Mindek and actor Miles Purinton.
The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which honors and preserves the legacy of Duke Ellington through performance and educational outreach. The Center focuses on scholarship, education, and documentation of accurate Ellington history, through performances connected to the legacy of Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899-1974).
The American Tap Dance Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the preservation and advancement of tap dance as an American art form. Ellington was inducted into the ATDF International Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2017. Learn more at www.atdf.org.
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