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.”
epub
Muchas gracias!!!
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