[Tradjazz] Duke Ellington on upcoming D.C. quarter!!

[Jon-Erik Kellso]

some interesting jazz/numismatic news:

The State Quarter series was supposed to conclude in 2008.  Congress has
added another
year (2009) to honor the territories such as Guam, District of Columbia,
etc.  The
District of Columbia  Mayor has just advised the U S Mint that Duke
Ellington will
be featured on the District's 2009 quarter!

The center of the coin is Duke in formal clothes holding a sheet of music
with a grand
piano behind him with Duke Ellington wording on the piano.  The sketch was
published
in the July 7th issue of Coin World Magazine.

~~~~~~~~~

D.C. Quarter Vote Winner: Duke Ellington
(Photo By David Nakamura/TWP)

Duke Ellington has edged out Frederick Douglass and Benjamin Banneker as the
most popular image to be etched on the D.C. quarter, according to today's
story<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/19/AR2008061904090.html>in
the Post by Mary Beth Sheridan. In all, 6,089 residents voted and
Mayor
Adrian Fenty sent the results to the U.S. Mint, though the final decision
belongs to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. A Washington Post on-line poll had
Douglass winning
easily<http://polls.washingtonpost.com/cgi-bin/multi_poll?section=metro&pollname=metro/dc_quarter_finalists.poll&template=metro/dc_quarter_finalists_results.htm&questions=1>last
month.

~~~~~
June 20, 2008 Duke is People's Choice for D.C. Quarter

[image: 2008_0620_quarter2.jpg]When an advisory committee to the U.S. Mint
proposed that Benjamin Banneker grace the District's commemorative
quarter<http://dcist.com/2008/05/20/banneker_likely.php>set to be
released next year, not many D.C. residents were too happy with
the decision. But thanks to a timely intervention by D.C. Del. Eleanor
Holmes Norton, voting was opened to
residents<http://dcist.com/2008/05/28/vote_online_for.php?gallery3853Pic=1>,
leaving them with the choice of Banneker, Duke Ellington, or Frederick
Douglass.

The city announced today that Ellington squeaked out a narrow victory in the
voting<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/19/AR2008061904090.html>,
defeating Douglass and Banneker with 36 percent of the 6,089 votes cast.
Douglass garnered 33 percent; Banneker 31 percent. You can download the
letter Mayor Adrian Fenty sent to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
over here<http://newsroom.dc.gov/show.aspx/agency/os/section/2/release/13818>,
which officially recommends he chooses the Ellington design. The ultimate
decision is up to Paulson, however, so let's hope he's more a jazz fan than
an astronomer.




-- 
Jon-Erik Kellso
www.kellsojazz.com
www.myspace.com/jonerikkellso