A Night at The Ellington, A Special Event with Performances by Musicians, Vocalists and Dancers

Tony Waag, Executive Director of The American Tap Dance Foundation, and Mercedes Ellington, CEO/Artistic Director of The Duke Ellington Center for the Arts, have announced a special event on Sunday, April 30 honoring the birthday of jazz great Duke Ellington at The Ellington Restaurant, 2745 Broadway (105th St and Broadway) in NYC, 6-9pm. Duke Ellington was born on April 29, 1899.

The evening will feature performances by vocalists Marion Cowings, Sharon K. Janda and Antoinette Montague, and tap dancers A.C. Lincoln, Karen Callaway Williams plus surprise guests. The April birthdays of musical and theatrical greats will be acknowledged. There is no cover charge, but reservations are required.

“Duke Ellington was a key figure in perpetuating the idea that tap dance is music, and tap dancers are musicians that create music with their feet. Tap and jazz are undeniably attached at the hip, and Duke Ellington created a marriage between the two,”said Mr. Waag, curator of the tap dance portion of the program. Duke Ellington was inducted into the American Tap Dance Foundation’s International Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2017.

Duke Ellington called his music “American Music” rather than jazz and liked to describe those who impressed him as “beyond category.” He remains one of the most influential figures in jazz, if not in all American music and is widely considered as one of the twentieth century’s most prolific composer and best-known African American personalities.

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.

The American Tap Dance Foundation (ATDF) is a non-profit 501c3 organization committed to establishing and legitimizing Tap as a vital component of American dance through creation, presentation, education, and preservation.  ATDF is recognized as a local, national, and international leader in the field and continues to further three main objectives: to perpetuate tap dance as a flourishing contemporary art form on a National and International level; to provide a basis for the growth of tap dance by teaching new generations through comprehensive educational programs; and to preserve the artistry of the early generations of tap masters.