Duke Ellington and the Washingtonians Arrive in New York

In 1923, Duke Ellington moved to New York City and joined the Washingtonians, a group of transplanted Washington D.C. musicians including Sonny Greer, Otto Hardwicke, and Bubber Miley. The ensemble took up residency at the Club Kentucky on Broadway, where it expanded from a quintet to a ten-piece orchestra between 1923 and 1927. Under Fats Waller's tutelage there, Ellington's compositional voice began to develop—the seeds of his future Cotton Club sound.