Welcome to DESUK

The Duke Ellington Society UK’s purpose is to further the study, appreciation and dissemination of the music of Edward Kennedy ‘Duke’ Ellington.

We meet regularly in London to listen and socialise, and new arrivals are always welcome.

Our house publication Blue Light is released quarterly. The content is wide ranging and we are fortunate to have amongst our members jazz authors, journalists and critics, and equally fortunate to have many enthusiastic members who, because of their own deep interest, have become expert in particular niches of Ellingtonia.

You can read a sample issue here: Blue Light 31-1 (PDF, 8.9MB).

AGM 2025

Thanks to all who attended our AGM via Zoom!

DESUK TV: Uptown Lockdown

Past episodes are available on YouTube.

For more details on how to view and participate, or to make a donation to support the show, are on the Uptown Lockdown page.

Chat to us

We’re chatting online using Discord - join us at https://discord.gg/efQNUMa.

Non-society events

Got a gig coming up with an Ellington element? Pop us an email and we can publicise via our website.

Many of our members are musicians who perform Ellington material: * Frank Griffith: saxophonist, clarinettist, composer and educator. Find out more at www.frankgriffith.co.uk. * Quentin Bryar plays for the Louisiana Rhythm Kings. See louisianarhythmkings.co.uk.

Recent Tweets

Recent posts

Ron Drotos on Ellington

Spotted over at Ron Drotos’ wesbsite: The Beginner’s Guide To Duke Ellington. A nice introductory article with some good selections. One to share with Ellington newcomers.

Ron told us:

I got on board the Ellington train in the early 1980s, when I was 17-18 years old. My piano teacher Billy Taylor had known Ellington and Strayhorn and used to make me cassettes of out-of-print albums of theirs.

There are a few more Ellington-related blog posts on the site, including the surprising similarity between Duke Ellington, Keith Jarrett, and Elton John, as well as guides to playing some of the songs. We look forward to more!