Duke in Africa: Revisiting Duke Ellington’s Historic Journey to Dakar
Duke Ellington
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis returns to Hill Auditorium on Saturday, Feburary 7, 2026, with an unforgettable tribute to one of jazz’s greatest figures and cultural explorers, Duke Ellington. Their Duke in Africa program celebrates the legacy of Ellington’s groundbreaking music and his transformative 1966 trip to Dakar, Senegal.
Discover the history and sounds behind this historic musical journey.
Why Dakar Mattered
In the spring of 1966, Duke Ellington and his orchestra embarked on a journey that would become one of the most inspiring chapters in his long career. They traveled to Dakar, Senegal, to perform at the First World Festival of Negro Arts (Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres), a monumental cultural gathering that brought together artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers from Africa and the diaspora.
Founded under the leadership of Senegalese president and poet Léopold Sédar Senghor, the festival was conceived as a celebration of Black creativity and cultural achievement at a time when many African nations were recently independent and reasserting identity on the world stage. The event featured luminaries such as Josephine Baker, Aimé Césaire, James Baldwin, and Wole Soyinka, and Ellington was among the musical heroes who helped define the festival’s sound and spirit.
For Ellington, the trip was a musical homecoming. Years before, he had been composing jazz that drew from African musical ideas, long imagining the rhythms and textures of the continent in his work. In his own writings and recollections, Ellington described arriving in Africa as a profound affirmation: after decades of writing music influenced by African sounds, standing in Africa itself was a revelation.
Listen to a 1966 interview with Duke Ellington in UNESCO’s archives. (26 minutes)
Music Born from the Journey
The Dakar experience fueled Ellington’s creativity in ways that echo through jazz history, as the trip intensified his engagement with African themes and rhythms. Pieces like Afro-Bossa and Togo Brava Suite, which blend jazz orchestration with global influences, embody the sense of musical cross-pollination that Ellington championed.
Ellington’s composition African Flower (originally titled “La Plus Belle Africaine”) has been directly linked to his conceptualization of African influence in his music and was associated with the festival in Dakar.
Experience Duke’s Legacy Live
This February, hear the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra channel Duke Ellington’s adventurous spirit with precision, energy, and deep reverence for jazz’s roots. Don’t miss this special opportunity to journey through Ellington’s most evocative compositions with some of today’s greatest jazz musicians!
Tickets start at just $26 (+ fees) with $15–20 student tickets available.
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