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Duke

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Published on Oct 17, 2013 | 17 Hours 44 Minutes

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Published on Oct 17, 2013 | 17 Hours 44 Minutes

Buy from Other Retailers:

A major new biography of Duke Ellington from the acclaimed author of Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong

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 musicians, a showman of incomparable suavity who was as comfortable in Carnegie Hall as in the nightclubs where he honed his style. He wrote some fifteen hundred compositions, many of which, like “Mood Indigo” and “Sophisticated Lady,” remain beloved standards, and he sought inspiration in an endless string of transient lovers, concealing his inner self behind a smiling mask of flowery language and ironic charm.

As the biographer of Louis Armstrong, Terry Teachout is uniquely qualified to tell the story of the public and private lives of Duke Ellington. Duke peels away countless layers of Ellington’s evasion and public deception to tell the unvarnished truth about the creative genius who inspired Miles Davis to say, “All the musicians should get together one certain day and get down on their knees and thank Duke.”

Praise for DUKE

“Compelling narrative flow…poised impartiality. . . .Teachout writes in an earthbound style marked by sound scholarship and easy readability. . . . DUKE humanizes a man whom history has kept on a pedestal.”
–The New York Times Book Review

“A thorough and fascinating portrait.”
–USA Today

“[a] grand and engrossing biography…Thanks to this frank and sympathetic biography–whose every page is studded with sharp phrases and keen insights–we now seem to know Duke Ellington as well as we ever will or need to.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“Teachout adroitly chronicles how Ellington coaxed from his ensemble such timeless hits as “Mood Indigo.” And he adeptly evokes the personalities of the ducal band…”
—The Economist

“an impressively lucid, compact narrative”
–The Boston Globe

“A thoroughly researched homage…Teachout delivers a Duke unlike any we’ve seen in previous biographies…At last, Teachout affirms that music was Ellington’s greatest mistress – and to her, the composer was unrelentingly loyal.”
–Essence Magazine

“Swinging.”
–Elle Magazine

“This well-researched biography is sure to appeal to longtime jazz fans who revel in their memories of Ellington’s work and others who may want to learn more about his fascinating life.”
–Associated Press

“Mr Teachout adroitly chronicles how Ellington coaxed from his ensemble such timeless hits as ‘Mood Indigo’. . . . evokes the personalities of the ducal band.”
–The Economist

“Descriptively rich, the book is not so much a scholarly tome as it is a delightful and entertaining read. Teachout writes with clarity and verve, presenting an astonishing amount of detail in a flowing narrative that brings to life not just Ellington and his music, but much of American culture of the period.”
–National Review

“[A] grand and engrossing biography…Thanks to this frank and sympathetic biography – whose every page is studded with sharp phrases and keen insights – we now seem to know Duke Ellington as well as we ever will or need to.”
–San Francisco Chronicle

“Teachout’s exhaustive mining of archives, including a number of unpublished memoirs of some of the principals in his story, gives the musical history in Duke an impressive heft.”

–The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“By penetrating behind the curtain, this author has delivered a book that even those who think they know Ellington will need to read.”
–Dallas Morning News

“Teachout does a commendable job of contextualizing Ellington’s career.”

–Austin Chronicle

“The definitive Ellington biography thus far…valuable…[one of] the most important books of 2013.”
–The Buffalo News

“Teachout captures the breadth of [Duke’s] life… with verve and insight.”
–The Huffington Post

“Teachout’s book, as in the case of his earlier one on Armstrong, is the masterwork.”

– Jazz Journal

“Dimensional, thoughtful, and rigorously researched, Duke is an enthralling read from cover to cover.”
–BrainPickings.org

“Teachout…bring[s] a worthy level of scholarship to the telling of the notoriously secretive Ellington’s life.”
–The Virginia Quarterly Review (Online)

“With this exhaustive, engaging study of the greatest jazz composer of his era, Wall Street Journal drama critic Teachout solidifies his place as one of America’s great music biographers.”

– Kirkus, Starred Review

“Comprehensive and well-researched…important….[an] entertaining and valuable biography.”
– Booklist, Starred Review

“Teachout gives much insight into Ellington’s life, personality, working habits, and compositions. This work should appeal to Ellington enthusiasts as well as casual jazz fans.”
– Library Journal

“Revealing…Teachout neatly balances colorful anecdote with shrewd character assessments and musicological analysis, and he manages to debunk Ellington’s self-mythologizing, while preserving his stature as the man who caught jazz’s ephemeral genius in a bottle.”

– Publishers Weekly

“Terry Teachout’s biography is destined to be the definitive biography of bandleader, composer, and complex man—Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington.”
– The American Rag

“a fascinating account…Teachout gives us a rich portrait of the man, his music and his era.. “
–Tampa Bay Tribune

Praise for Pops; A Life of Louis Armstrong:

“Teachout restores this jazzman to his deserved place in the pantheon of American artists.”
–The New York Times

“Thirty-eight years after Louis Armstrong’s death, Terry Teachout has made the possible, possible: He has written a definitive narrative biography of the greatest jazz musician of the twentieth century.”
–San Francisco Chronicle

“A masterpiece.”
–Seattle Times

“Teachout excels at conveying the interplay between Armstrong the artist and Armstrong the entertainer, and at examining the particular challenge of his legacy.”
–The New Yorker

“[An] exceptional biography… Upon finishing this definitive biography, the reader is instructed to flip to the discography, download every last song, listen and grin the hell back.”
–The Washington Post

Amazon Best Books of the Month, December 2009

“Crafted with a musician’s ear and an historian’s eye, Pops is a vibrant biography of the iconic Louis Armstrong that resonates with the same warmth as ol’ Satchmo’s distinctive voice. Wall Street Journal critic Terry Teachout draws from a wealth of previously unavailable material – including over 650 reels of Armstrong’s own personal tape recordings – to create an engaging profile that slips behind the jazz legend’s megawatt smile. Teachout reveals that the beaming visage of “Reverend Satchelmouth” was not a mark of racial subservience, but a clear symbol of Louis’s refusal to let anything cloud the joy he derived from blowing his horn. “Faced with the terrible realities of the time and place into which he had been born,” explains Teachout, “he didn’t repine, but returned love for hatred and sought salvation in work.” Armstrong was hardly impervious to the injustices of his era, but in his mind, nothing was more sacred than the music.
–Dave Callanan

“Teachout turns to another mighty pillar of 20th-century American culture, Louis Armstrong, a black man born at the turn of the century in the poorest quarter of New Orleans who by the end of his life was known and loved in every corner of the earth. … Teachout brings a fresh perspective… Teachout’s portrait reminds us why we fell in love with Armstrong’s music in the first place.”
–Publishers Weekly Starred Review

“To this fine, exhaustively researched…biography, Teachout brings an insider’s knowledge–he was a jazz musician before launching a career as cultural critic and biographer.”
–National Post The Afterword

“No one does better in exploring Armstrong’s social context than Teachout.”
–Montreal Gazette

“Compelling narrative flow…poised impartiality. . . .Teachout writes in an earthbound style marked by sound scholarship and easy readability. . . . Duke humanizes a man whom history has kept on a pedestal.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Teachout is a sensitive writer, and one reason his biographies are moving is that he has obviously been giving himself an education in the realities of American racial history as he writes them.”
—The New Yorker

“A thorough and fascinating portrait.”
—USA Today

“A thoroughly researched homage…Teachout delivers a Duke unlike any we’ve seen in previous biographies…At last, Teachout affirms that music was Ellington’s greatest mistress – and to her, the composer was unrelentingly loyal.”
—Essence Magazine

“This well-researched biography is sure to appeal to longtime jazz fans who revel in their memories of Ellington’s work and others who may want to learn more about his fascinating life.”
—Associated Press

“Mr. Teachout adroitly chronicles how Ellington coaxed from his ensemble such timeless hits as ‘Mood Indigo’. . . . evokes the personalities of the ducal band.”
—The Economist

“Descriptively rich, the book is not so much a scholarly tome as it is a delightful and entertaining read. Teachout writes with clarity and verve, presenting an astonishing amount of detail in a flowing narrative that brings to life not just Ellington and his music, but much of American culture of the period.”
—National Review

“The definitive Ellington biography thus far…valuable…[one of] the most important books of 2013.”
—The Buffalo News

“Dimensional, thoughtful, and rigorously researched, Duke is an enthralling read from cover to cover.”
—BrainPickings.org

“Teachout does a first rate job…Teachout’s book is a worthy read. It successfully brings Duke Ellington and his music back into the public consciousness, reaffirming the man’s artistic genius while telling a fascinating story.”
—PopMatters.com

A Conversation with Terry Teachout, author of Duke

Exactly how important a composer was Duke Ellington?
Ellington was the most important jazz composer of the twentieth century, and one of the greatest composers in any genre of music. Not only was he a major composer of purely instrumental music, but he wrote some of the century’s most successful popular songs, including “Mood Indigo” and “Sophisticated Lady,” many of which continue to this day to be performed and recorded. No jazz composer has left a deeper mark on world culture.

What kind of a person was he in private life? Was he trustworthy? Loyal? Honest?
That’s a tricky question! Like many geniuses, Ellington was almost entirely self-centered, though his selfishness didn’t exclude kindness and benevolence—on his own terms. But a fair number of his sidemen considered him unscrupulous, and I can’t say that I blame them for feeling that way.

Was Ellington as great a lover as he’s said to have been?
Even greater, by all accounts. Throughout his life Ellington was catnip to women, and he rarely said “no” when they invited him into their beds. I didn’t even try to count his lovers—I can’t count that high.

Did Ellington really write all of his hit songs and instrumental compositions—or did he have unacknowledged collaborators?
He had many unacknowledged collaborators, starting with Billy Strayhorn, his closest musical associate. He wasn’t a plagiarist, but to an extent that’s not generally realized or fully understood by most of his fans, Ellington created his music collectively—though he was always the auteur, the man who made the ultimate decisions, and he was solely responsible for writing most of his major instrumental pieces. On the other hand, bits and pieces of the melodies of most of his big pop hits were written by his sidemen. To be sure, he usually gave credit where it was due, but not always, and he tried whenever possible to buy those bits and pieces for flat fees instead of cutting his collaborators in on the songwriting royalties.

What effect did Ellington’s middle-class family background have on his personality and music?
It was absolutely central to his personality—as well as to his music. Ellington saw himself as a member of the light-skinned black bourgeoisie, an elegant, cultivated gentleman who insisted on being taken seriously by the white world and performing not only in nightclubs but in concert halls.

For the uninitiated, what should be the three Ellington songs one should listen to first? Why?
I’d start with “Ko-Ko,” Ellington’s most perfect instrumental composition, written and recorded in 1940. It’s an explosively dynamic blues that comes as close as any record can to summing him up in three minutes. Then I’d choose the original 1930 recording of “Mood Indigo,” which shows us Ellington in a quiet, pensive mood. Last of all, I’d opt for the frenzied live recording of “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue” that he made in 1956 at the Newport Jazz Festival. Not only will that give you a taste of Ellington’s large-scale compositions, but it’s of enormous historical importance as well, for its popular success shaped the last part of his life.

What was the most surprising fact you came across in your research of his life?
Speaking as a musician and a scholar, I was most surprised by the extent of his borrowings from other musicians. I knew he was in the habit of doing so, but I didn’t fully realize the extent to which his compositional process was shaped by his need to collaborate—which arose in large part from the fact that he found it difficult to write memorable tunes. (I’ll admit, though, that the details of his very enthusiastic sex life occasionally surprised me as well!)

How did Duke get that scar on his face? Why was he so ashamed to show it?
Edna, his wife, attacked him with a razor when she found out in 1929 that he was sleeping with Fredi Washington, a beautiful black actress. I think he was ashamed of the scar because he hated the idea of anyone knowing that he’d ever been at the mercy of a woman. He had enormously complicated feelings about women, a fascinating mixture of attraction, hatred, and—above all—distrust.

Now that you’ve extensively researched Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, who do you have more of an affinity for? Why?
Again, that’s a tricky question. Louis Armstrong was clearly the more likable man, in part because his personality was so completely open and unguarded. Ellington, however, was far more intriguing, for the opposite reason: he only showed you what he wanted you to see, and nothing more. I guess I’d have to say that I would have preferred to be Armstrong’s friend—though I think it would have been great fun to hang out with Ellington on occasion. I’m not sure I would have wanted to work for him, though.

Author

Terry Teachout

Terry Teachout, the drama critic at The Wall Street Journal, is the author of Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong and Satchmo at the Waldorf, a one-man play about Armstrong’s life and times. He lives in New York City.

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Duke

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