| Reminiscing in Tempo: A Portrait of Duke Ellington (Sale, paperback) |
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Duke Ellington (1899-1974) was one of the most romantic, flamboyant, and charismatic figures in the world of jazz, acclaimed by the likes of Igor Stravinsky as "one of the greatest living composers." This illustrated life of Ellington from the biographer of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday—both New York Times Notable Books of the Year—draws on rare archival material, a wealth of memorabilia, and interviews with Ellington himself and many others to re-create the jazz great's life and musical artistry against the background of his times.
Nicholsons lively, unconventional biography of the great jazz composer, bandleader and pianist amounts to a kind of jazz collage. Keeping third-person historical narrative to a minimum, Nicholson (Billie Holiday) presents Ellingtons life through block quotes, arranging bits and pieces of some 70 years worth of painstakingly gathered interviews, Variety articles, press releases, handbills and even declassified FBI files into a composite narrative of the Dukes life. Among the notables whose words turn up are longtime Ellington collaborator Billy Strayhorn, show business impresario Irving Mills, saxophone great Johnny Hodges, New York congressman Adam Clayton Powell and, of course, Ellington himself. These accounts give a remarkably coherent picture: the Duke was widely beloved and clearly driven, a musician whose energy, appetites and inventiveness remain startling a quarter century after his death. Rich in personal anecdote and period detail, Nicholsons book charts Edward Kennedy Ellingtons childhood among Washington, D.C.s African-American middle class, his rise to fame in the storied speakeasies of Depression-era Harlem and his lifelong devotion to his crafta commitment that remained firm even as swing, and then rock n roll, threatened his cultural prominence. Nicholsons prodigious (and well-footnoted) archival research and his thoughtful orchestration of source material, let him combine accessibility with scholarly authority. The books title comes from a 1934 number Ellington penned to mourn the death of his mother; it sums up the sweetly nostalgic mood that this richly detailed biography creates. Illustrations.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal:
Deftly weaving numerous and varied quotations from Ellington and his family, friends, and fellow musicians with an ongoing narrative, Nicholson, biographer of Ella Fitzgerald (LJ 5/1/94) and Billie Holiday (LJ 9/1/95), successfully brings a humanness and warmth to Americas finest composer, musician, and bandleader in this centennial year of his birth. Delving into a wide assortment of archival materials from the Smithsonian Institution and Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies, Nicholson covers Ellingtons life from the early 1920s to his glorious period of dominance (mid1930s to 1944) and continuing through his death in 1974. Nicholsons selected quotes, constituting the bulk of the book, occasionally seem oddly juxtaposed, but generally this is a free-flowing portrait. The enormous amount of credited source material suggests potential for further scholarly insight into Ellingtons life. This book is a strong addition to other recent works on Ellington, including John Hasses Beyond Category (LJ 9/15/93) and Mark Tuckers The Duke Ellington Reader (LJ 9/1/93).William Kenz, Moorhead State Univ. Lib., MN
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Authors: Stuart Nicholson.
Pages/Length: 538
Publisher: Northeastern University Press
Publication Date: 1999
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