Duke : a life of Duke Ellington / Terry Teachout.

"Edward Kennedy 'Duke' Ellington was the greatest jazz composer of the twentieth century--and an impenetrably enigmatic personality whom no one, not even his closest friends, claimed to understand. The grandson of a slave, he dropped out of high school to become one of the world's most famous musici...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Teachout, Terry
Language:English
Published: New York : Gotham Books, 2013.
New York, New York : [2013]
Subjects:
Ellington, Duke, > 1899-1974.
Jazz musicians > United States > Biography.
African American musicians > Biography.
Composers > United States > Biography.
African American composers > Biography.
Genre:
Biography.
Physical Description:483 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm
Variant Title:
Life of Duke Ellington.
Format: Book
Contents:
  • "I want to tell America"
  • "I just couldn't be shackled" : fortunate son, 1899-1917
  • "Soft and gut-bucket" : becoming a professional, 1917-1926
  • "Only my own music" : with Irving Mills, 1926-1927
  • "The utmost significance" : at the Cotton Club, 1927-1929
  • "I better scratch out something" : becoming a genius, 1929-1930
  • "A higher plateau" : becoming a star, 1931-1933
  • "The way the President travels" : on the road, 1933-1936
  • "Swing is stagnant" : diminuendo in blue, 1939-1939
  • "The eyes in the back of my head" : with Billy Strayhorn, 1938-1939
  • "The sea of expectancy" : the Blanton-Webster band, 1939-1940
  • "A message for the world" : jump for joy, 1941-1942
  • "I don't write jazz" : Carnegie Hall, 1942-1946
  • "More a business than an art" : into the wilderness, 1946-1955
  • "I was born in 1956" : crescendo in blue, 1955-1950
  • "Fate's being kind to me" : apotheosis, 1960-1967
  • "That big yawning void" : alone in a crowd, 1967-1974
  • Appendix. Fifty key recordings by Duke Ellington.