Quite possibly the coolest, most elegant man who ever lived, Edward Kennedy Ellington ranks with Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis as one of the most influential artists in the history of jazz. Stylishly fusing gutbucket blues, Tin Pan Alley smarts and the grace of European classical music, Ellington never stopped evolving throughout his 50-plus years as a bandleader and composer. From perfecting the big band sound at New York's Cotton Club in the '20s to conducting his own extended tone poems with symphony orchestras in the '60s and '70s, he remained a timeless star long past his 1974 death.