Trumpet player and bandleader Mercer Ellington dies on this day. Ellington, son of the legendary Duke Ellington, was a talented band leader and performer in his own right. He studied at Julliard and formed a band with Dizzy Gillespie in 1939. He wrote several songs recorded by his father, with whom he worked closely until Duke's death in 1974. Mercer's book, Duke Ellington in Person: An Intimate Memoir, was published in 1978.