On a recent chilly evening, this reporter had the wonderful opportunity to attend a Duke Ellington Society meeting at the St. Peter's Church located on 54th street and Lexington Avenue.

Celebrating the centennial of one of America's greatest composers, The Ellington Society founded in New York in 1959, with the blessing of "the Duke," was one of the first of many non-profit Ellington societies worldwide. In the beginning of the session people were just talking and getting to know each other. Then they played a taste of Duke's music to give the people a feel of the atmosphere that Duke's music provided.

Minutes later I had the privilege of interviewing Duke Ellington's grandchildren, Mercedes and Paul Ellington. They were really fun to interview. Mercedes has had an illustrious career in dance and choreography embodying many accomplishments. She spoke about how being the only girl in a family of male musicians caused her to be different and choose dance. As captain of the June Taylor Dancers, known for their television performance with Jackie Gleason, she broke the color barrier in dance/television for Black women. She told of how Jackie Gleason was afraid to fly so they traveled by train. It was called the "Gleason Express" where they had lots of food and laughs. Mercedes Ellington has designed, performed and scripted numerous shows on Broadway. She still performs at Carnegie Hall and is going on tour with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

Paul Ellington, the youngest of Duke Ellington's grandchildren, who seemed kind of shy said things changed a lot when his father Mercer Ellington died in 1996. Reminiscing about two years ago, he recalled he was not doing much of anything outside of going to school and returning home. Now at 20 years of age he has assumed the leadership of the Ellington Orchestra . A pianist and composer like his famous grandfather, Paul also plays the saxophone. The orchestra plays mostly Duke's music. The new Duke Ellington Orchestra under Paul's direction now performs in many cities and will be performing in many more to promote their new album which is a collaboration of new forms of Duke Ellington's music. Paul said they should win a Grammy real soon, especially since other performers have received them for playing Duke's music.

Paul tries to perform with the Orchestra in a variety of environments like The Duke who played in all types of venues and was the first to have music and dance performed in the church as part of the Sacred Music Concerts. Paul also owns his own record company and is producing many projects.

My grandfather, Max "The Saxman" Lucas, played the Tenor Alto in the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Maxwell Lucas has been playing the sax for many years, he also plays the Baritone saxophone. He has played in various trios but has had the most success with big bands such as Ellington and Count Basie. Max was most involved playing under the direction of Mercer Ellington. Thanks to "The Duke",Max Lucas has been able to continue a great career path carved by the Ellington experience. My grandfather, Maxwell Lucas, is arguably one of the best sax players today. He currently plays every Friday night on the East coast.

According to Richard Ehrenzeller, a member of the Ellington Society and an avid record collector focusing on "Ellingtonia", Duke Ellington's music, unlike most jazz artists, is constantly evolving in an ever changing style because of his great abilities as a composer. This versatility of composition promises continuation of this great composer in renditions created by present and future musicians.