Editing Duke Ellington (section)

===Last years===
[[File:Richard Nixon and Duke Ellington 1969.jpg|thumb|Ellington receiving the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] from [[Richard Nixon|President Nixon]] in 1969]]

Ellington was shortlisted for the [[Pulitzer Prize for Music]] in 1965. However, no prize was ultimately awarded that year.<ref name=Giddins>[[Gary Giddins]], "How Come Jazz Isn't Dead", pp. 39–55 in {{Harvnb|Weisbard|2004|pp=41–42}}. Giddins says that Ellington was denied the 1965 Music Pulitzer because the jury commended him for his body of work rather than for a particular composition. Still, his posthumous Pulitzer was granted precisely for that life-long body of work.</ref> Then 66 years old, he joked: "Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young."<ref>{{Harvnb|Tucker|1993|p=362}}</ref> In 1999, he was posthumously awarded a [[Pulitzer Prize Special Citations and Awards|special Pulitzer Prize]] "commemorating the centennial year of his birth, in recognition of his musical genius, which evoked aesthetically the principles of democracy through the medium of jazz and thus made an indelible contribution to art and culture."<ref name=pulitzer/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thedukeellingtonsociety.org/dukeellington/dukebio.asp |title=Duke Ellington – Biography |publisher=The Duke Ellington Society |date=May 24, 1974 |access-date=February 2, 2013 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112071049/http://www.thedukeellingtonsociety.org/dukeellington/dukebio.asp |archive-date=November 12, 2012 }}</ref>

In September 1965, he premiered the first of his [[Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts|Sacred Concerts]]. He created a jazz Christian liturgy. Although the work received mixed reviews, Ellington was proud of the composition and performed it dozens of times. This concert was followed by two others of the same type in 1968 and 1973, known as the Second and Third Sacred Concerts. Many saw the Sacred Music suites as an attempt to reinforce commercial support for organized religion. However, Ellington simply said it was "the most important thing I've done".<ref>{{Harvnb|Ellington|1976|p=269}}.</ref> The [[Steinway & Sons|Steinway]] piano upon which the Sacred Concerts were composed is part of the collection of the [[Smithsonian]]'s [[National Museum of American History]]. Like [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], Ellington conducted his orchestra from the piano—he always played the keyboard parts when the Sacred Concerts were performed.<ref name="NMAH">{{cite web|url=http://www.piano300.si.edu/collectn.htm|title=Ellington's Steinway Grand|publisher=National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution|access-date=August 26, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080810022114/http://piano300.si.edu/collectn.htm|archive-date=August 10, 2008}}</ref>

Duke turned 65 in the spring of 1964 but showed no signs of slowing down as he continued to make recordings of significant works such as ''[[The Far East Suite]]'' (1966), ''[[New Orleans Suite]]'' (1970), ''[[The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse]]'' (1971) and the ''[[Latin American Suite]]'' (1972), much of it inspired by his world tours. It was during this time that he recorded his only album with [[Frank Sinatra]], titled ''[[Francis A. & Edward K.]]'' (1967). In August 1972, he recorded several solo piano tracks at [[Mediasound Studios]] in New York, with the then brand-new assistant engineer [[Bob Clearmountain]].<ref name="SOSJun1999">{{cite web|last=Lockwood|first=Dave|title=Bob Clearmountain: Master Mixer|url=https://www.soundonsound.com/people/bob-clearmountain-master-mixer|website=Sound On Sound|date=1 June 1999|access-date=18 June 2023}}</ref> The session remained unreleased until 2017, when [[Storyville Records]] released it as ''An Intimate Piano Session''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Mosey|first=Chris|title=Duke Ellington On Storyville Records|url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/duke-ellington-on-storyville-records-by-chris-mosey|website=AllAboutJazz|date=20 March 2017|access-date=22 January 2025}}</ref> 

In 1972–1974 Ellington worked on his only opera, ''[[Queenie Pie]]'', together with [[Maurice Peress]]. Ellington got an idea to write an opera about a black beautician in the 1930s, but did not finish it.<ref name=peress>{{cite book |first=Maurice |last=Peress |title=Dvorak to Duke Ellington |date=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press, US |isbn=978-0-19-509822-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/dvoraktodukeelli00pere |chapter=Ellington’s Queenie Pie |pages=161–171}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Duke Ellington's Lost Opera, Forever A Work In Progress |url=https://www.npr.org/2014/02/02/269524876/duke-ellingtons-lost-opera-forever-a-work-in-progress |website=npr.org |access-date=March 8, 2023}}</ref>

Among the last shows Ellington and his orchestra performed were one on March 21, 1973, at [[Purdue University]]'s Hall of Music, two on March 22, 1973, at the Sturges-Young Auditorium in [[Sturgis, Michigan]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Vail|first=Ken|title=Duke's Diary: The Life of Duke Ellington|year=2002|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0810841192|pages=449–452|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B9b-fWBgzVQC&pg=PA449}}</ref> and the ''[[Eastbourne Performance]]'' on December 1, 1973, later issued on LP.<ref>{{harvnb|Green|2015|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Mq30BQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Eastbourne+Performance%22+%22Duke+Ellington%22&pg=PT47 47–48]}}</ref> Ellington performed what is considered his final full concert in a ballroom at [[Northern Illinois University]] on March 20, 1974. Since 1980, that ballroom has been dedicated as the "Duke Ellington Ballroom".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.niu.edu/PubAffairs/RELEASES/2003/nov/ellington.shtml|title=NIU to rededicate Duke Ellington Ballroom during Nov. 6 NIU Jazz Ensemble concert|last=McGowan|first=Mark|date=November 3, 2003|publisher=Northern Illinois University|access-date=July 14, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090625194727/http://www.niu.edu/PubAffairs/RELEASES/2003/nov/ellington.shtml|archive-date=June 25, 2009}}</ref>