Duke Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974). 

SoMA Alley, back southwest side of 606 Main Ave (Rhombus Guys’ Pizza).

One of the more interesting stories of a Grammy Award winning Album has its genesis in downtown Fargo. November 7, 1940 Duke Ellington and his orchestra got off the train in Fargo and set up in the Crystal Ballroom on the second floor of the Fargo City Auditorium (Amory) on the corner of Broadway and First Ave South across from Island Park (where the Crystal Square Apartments stand today). With Duke’s permission, Jack Towers and Richard Burris recorded the concert for their personal use. Captured on five and a half discs, the amateur recording was forgotten about until the 1970s when Towers remastered it and it was released by Book of the Month records as a club selection. Duke Ellington at Fargo, 1940 won the Grammy Award for Best large Jazz Ensemble Album in 1980. The original acetate disks are in the Smithsonian Institution. The album also found its way in to pop culture in the fourth season of the TV show Fargo. Set in the 1950s, episode 5 features two of the teen characters talking music and looking at records. A quick flash of “Duke Ellington Live at Fargo” is seen with the holder commenting it’s a great record. While in reality the album would not yet have been available for nearly 20 years, kudos to the production staff for tossing a little real Fargo history into the series. 

This piece of American music history is being celebrated with this mural the alley of the block where the recording was made in the heart of SoMA (South of Main Avenue) district, a sub-neighborhood of downtown.

This is the first in a planned series of Fargo Music Icon Murals. Future murals will feature Peggy Lee and Bobby Vee. Bob Dylan joined the icons courtesy international artist Jules Muck. Learn more about how these music icons intersect with Fargo on this site.

Special thanks to The Arts Partnership for initial funding and Rhombus Guys’ Pizza for hosting the mural on their building. 

This two story mural was created by local artist Jeff Knight.

While in the alley, don’t forget to view Standing for Us All, a large wet plate of Greta Thurnberg by photographer Shane Balkowitsch, Nostalgic Glass Wet Plate Studio.