Director
Ken Burns
DIRECTOR
Stars (in credits order)
Keith David
Narrator
Wynton Marsalis
Self
Gary Giddins
Delroy Lindo
Kevin Conway
Gerald Early
Samuel L. Jackson
Philip Bosco
ACTOR
Artie Shaw
Arvell Shaw
Stanley Crouch
Jimmy Rowles
Margo Jefferson
Courtney B. Vance
Branford Marsalis
Ann Duquesnay
Jackie McLean
George Wein
James Lincoln Collier
Harry Connick Jr.
Ossie Davis
Duke Ellington
Cassandra Wilson
Dave Brubeck
Studs Terkel
Self - writer
Sidney Bechet
Mercedes Ellington
Milt Hinton
Lester Bowie
Phil Schaap
Michael Cuscuna
Stan Levey
Matt Glaser
James Maher
Lorraine Gordon
Matthew Broderick
Wendy Makkena
Derek Jacobi
Avery Brooks
Joe Morton
Charles Durning
Tom Bower
James Naughton
Louis Armstrong
Bertrand Tavernier
Billie Holiday
Ethel Waters
Norma Miller
Paul Whiteman
Bessie Smith
Benny Goodman
Fletcher Henderson
Hodding Carter III
Vernel Bagneris
Frankie Manning
Jon Hendricks
Ferdinand 'Jelly Roll' Morton
James P. Johnson
Bix Beiderbecke
Willie 'The Lion' Smith
Joshua Redman
Joya Sherrill
Buck O'Neil
Jay McShann
Harry Edison
Earl 'Fatha' Hines
Joe Lovano
King Oliver
Helen Oakley Dance
James Reese Europe
Quincy Troupe
Phoebe Jacobs
Self - Publicist
Buddy Bolden
Cherry Jones
Adam Arkin
Amy Madigan
Bruce Davison
Anthony LaPaglia
Eriq La Salle
Herbie Hancock
Abbey Lincoln
Allen Ginsberg
Dianne Reeves
Ron Carter
Lionel Hampton
Frances Taylor
Kevin Ramsey
Clark Terry
M.C. Solaar
James Carter
Gene Lees
Nicholas Payton
Jimmy Cobb
Regina Carter
Dan Morgenstern
John Sanders
Self - trombonist
Doc Cheatham
Self - trumpeter
Keith Lee Grant
Nat Hentoff
Jerry Jerome
Albert Murray
Self - Writer
Benny Waters
Self - saxophonist
Johnny Collins
Eric George
Self - Former Ellington Trombone Player
Richard M. Sudhalter
Self - biographer
Gonzalo Rubalcaba
Richard Nixon
Self (presents Duke Ellington with Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1969)archiveFootage
Edward R. Murrow
Self (interviews Duke Ellington)uncredited,archiveFootage
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Selfuncredited,archiveFootage
Charles J. Correll
Andrew 'Andy' Brown (from 'Check and Double Check' (1930))uncredited,archiveFootage
Freeman F. Gosden
Amos (from 'Check and Double Check' (1930))uncredited,archiveFootage