A Portrait of Duke Ellington: Reminiscing in Tempo Book

The quarter of a century since the death of Duke Ellington has only made clearer how crucial was the contribution he made to the music of the 20th Century; his 50 years as performer, arranger, bandleader and composer crystallised our sense of jazz as a rich musical world of possibilities. Stuart Nicholson has assembled a comprehensive account of his life and work from his own words and the words of those around him, interviewing survivors of those years and looking at what seems like every interview ever given by or about Ellington. In the process, he gives what seems like a definitive account of many vexed questions--Ellington's almost vampiric ability to get the best out of his many collaborators, his complex stance on civil rights, his involvement in Cotton Club days with figures from organised crime and his complicated emotional life. Above all, the book gives an impression of the boundless energy which he managed to communicate in different ways to his international audiences and to his gifted sidemen. The book comes illustrated with record sleeves and posters that are, in themselves, a history of changing degrees of respect for Black Americans, from the patronising caricatures of early days to Blue Note cool. --Roz KaveneyRead More