If American music had a Mount Rushmore, Duke Ellington surely would be on it.
Ellington (1899-1974) helped raise jazz to the status of art, putting together bands that defined the American soundtrack for a generation, stretching and teasing popular music in directions that spoke to audiences around the world.
But he's always been a little hard to figure. He's one of America's greatest composers, but he became so by appropriating others' music — and taking all the credit. His public persona was sophisticated, but his private life was a mess.
In Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington
, cultural critic Terry Teachout sets out to
untangle the contradictions surrounding the life and music of the jazz
genius. By Teachout's own admission, he doesn't exactly decode the Duke —
the man was never candid enough to honestly reveal himself — but "Duke"
does provide rich context for the story of one of America's singular
artists. MORE HERE
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