A PORTRAIT OF DUKE ELLINGTON: REMINISCING IN TEMPO

by Stuart Nicholson

Published on the centenary of his birth, this distinctive biography about Duke Ellington draws on rare archival material to interweave his own observations and reminiscences with those who knew and worked with him.

Genres: Music, Jazz

560 pages, Paperback

First published April 9, 1999

Reviews

[Jeffrey Bumiller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very thorough and interesting oral history of one of the most important artists of the 20th century. All of the amazing people you would expect to pop up in an oral history about Ellington are here: Sidney Bichet, Count Basie, Ben Webster, Billy Strayhorn, Johnny Hodges, Cab Calloway, and of course, Ellington himself and so many others as well. This book wasn't as dramatic as I thought it might be, but if you're in awe of Ellington's music like I am, you'll love this.

[Tiny Red Dragons Radio · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very thorough and interesting oral history of one of the most important artists of the 20th century. All of the amazing people you would expect to pop up in an oral history about Ellington are here: Sidney Bichet, Count Basie, Ben Webster, Billy Strayhorn, Johnny Hodges, Cab Calloway, and of course, Ellington himself and so many others as well. This book wasn't as dramatic as I thought it might be, but if you're in awe of Ellington's music like I am, you'll love this.

[Deborah Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because in Ellington's own autobiography, he deliberately avoided too many tidbits about himself and he talked more about music colleagues, associates, and family.
This book is quite like a compilation of interviews made by Ellington and company, which uses bits of interviews relative to each chapter with each person talking very candidly 'in his own voice'.
(The author, Nicholson, even discloses parts of FBI files on Duke, when they were suspicious of his involvement with the communist moment - at a time when almost every public figure was suspicious.)
It was an interesting way to make a biography, one that I hadn't seen before.
Through this book I learned many new details that I had never knew about Ellington.