Michael Kilpatrick has studied Duke Ellington's music for many years, working with the repository of Ellington's manuscripts at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, USA, and assisting with the identification of some of the vast quantity of unknown and untitles manuscripts, some of which form part of the repertoire of Harmony In Harlem. An appreciation of Ellington's style also allows compositions to be recreated from incomplete manuscripts combined with ear transcription of the original recordings of the Ellington orchestra. With this body of original and often rare material, Michael formed the Harmony In Harlem orchestra in 2006.

Michael's transcriptions of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn have been played by the late William Russo, by the london-based Echoes of Ellington orchestra and by many others around the world.

The core personnel of Harmony In Harlem have stayed with the orchestra since its inception. We are indebted to the William Westley Primary School in Whittlesford for a regular rehearsal venue.

In May 2008 Harmony In Harlem played for the Ellington 2008 international conference in London. With an audience of Ellington officianados and devotees from around the world we were joined in performance by three famous alumni of the Duke Ellington orchestra - Buster Cooper, John Lamb and Art Baron.

Michael Kilpatrick