Duke
Subtitle: the life of Duke Ellington
By: Terry Teachout
Publisher: The Robson Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 483
ISBN-13: 9781849546294
Subjects: Jazz musicians; Biography
Description: Edward Kennedy 'Duke' Ellington was arguably the greatest jazz composer of the twentieth century - and an impenetrably enigmatic personality whom no one, not even his closest friends, claimed to understand. His music, too, was powerful and entirely original. Andre Previn compared him to Stravinsky and Prokofiev, Percy Grainger to Bach and Delius. But in fact he was very much his own man. The grandson of a slave, Ellington dropped out of high school to become a musical showman of incomparable suavity, as comfortable in Carnegie Hall as in the nightclubs where he honed his famous style. When he raised his fingers, the music that blazed out had its own unique richness and range. He wrote hundreds of compositions, many of which remain beloved standards, and sought inspiration in an endless string of transient lovers, concealing himself behind a smiling mask of flowery language and ironic charm. In this revealing biography, Terry Teachout skillfully peels away the countless layers of Ellington's evasion to tell the unvarnished truth about a creative genius and musical pioneer.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 369-382) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: 1."I Just Couldn't Be Shackled" Fortunate Son, 1899; title: 1917; title: 2."Soft And Gut-Bucket" Becoming a Professional, 1917; title: 1926; title: 3."Only My Own Music" With Irving Mills, 1926; title: 1927; title: 4."The Utmost Significance" At the Cotton Club, 1927; title: 1929; title: 5."I Better Scratch Out Something" Becoming a Genius, 1929; title: 1930; title: 6."A Higher Plateau" Becoming a Star, 1931; title: 1933; title: 7."The Way The President Travels" On The Road, 1933; title: 1936; title: 8."Swing Is Stagnant" Diminuendo in Blue, 1936; title: 1939; title: 9."The Eyes In The Back Of My Head" With Billy Strayhorn, 1938; title: 193; title: 10."The Sea Of Expectancy" The Blanton-Webster Band, 1939; title: 1940; title: 11."A Message For The World" Jump for joy, 1941; title: 1942; title: 12."I Don't Write Jazz" Carnegie Hall, 1942; title: 1946; title: 13."More A Business Than An Art" Into The Wilderness, 1946; title: 1955; title: 14."I Was Born In 1956" Crescendo In Blue, 1955; title: 1960; title: 15."Fate's Being Kind To Me" Apotheosis, 1960; title: 1967.