Lecture: Ellington on Film - John Hasse

John Edward Hasse is one of the world's most respected experts on Duke Ellington. In his lecture he shows the importance of Ellington in the context of film music and shows rarely seen archive material from the Duke Ellington Collection at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.

John Edward Hasse is a writer, speaker, and Curator Emeritus of American Music at the National Museum of American History.  During his 33-year tenure at the Smithsonian, Hasse led an initiative to create the world’s largest museum collection of jazz history at the museum, including archives of Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Carter, Ray Brown, Doc Cheatham, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, James Moody, et al.  Hasse curated exhibitions on Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Ray Charles.  He also founded the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, now in its 28th season, and Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM), now celebrated in 50 states and 40 countries.   
 
Hasse’s books include Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington, Discover Jazz (co-author), and Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology (co-author).  He is a contributor to The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, ten books, and eight encyclopedias. 
 
Hasse earned a B.A. Cum Laude from Carleton College, M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University, and two Honorary Doctorates.  He has received two Grammy Award nominations and two ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards for excellence in writing on music.  The Jazz Education Network named him a “Legend of Jazz Education,” an honor he shares with Ellis Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, and David Baker.   
 
Active in cultural diplomacy for the U.S. State Department, he has lectured on leadership, the arts, and music in 25 countries on six continents.