Duke cover art

Duke

A Life of Duke Ellington

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Duke

By: Terry Teachout
Narrated by: Peter Francis James
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About this listen

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."

©2013 Terry Teachout (P)2013 Penguin Audio Entertainment & Celebrities Music Celebrity Musician Witty

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All stars
Most relevant  
very balanced and well researched. perhaps not as charitable as most biographies.

provides a great deal of information about him and to a lesser extent the very many people who passed through his big band, as well as information and different views on his music and its context.

very revealing portrait of a multi faceted man

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10/10. A really enjoyable biography of Duke Ellington! Well read, brilliantly written and superbly researched.

Brilliant. would highly recommend!

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