Details

Subject(s)

• Ellington, Duke 1899-1974—Criticism and interpretation [Browse]
• Jazz musicians—United States—Biography [Browse]

Editor

• Green, Edward, 1951- [Browse]
• Spring, Evan [Browse]

Series

Cambridge companions to music [More in this series]

Summary note

• "Duke Ellington is widely held to be the greatest jazz composer and one of the most significant cultural icons of the twentieth century. This comprehensive and accessible Companion is the first collection of essays to survey, in-depth, Ellington's career, music, and place in popular culture. An international cast of authors includes renowned scholars, critics, composers, and jazz musicians. Organized in three parts, the Companion first sets Ellington's life and work in context, providing new information about his formative years, method of composing, interactions with other musicians, and activities abroad; its second part gives a complete artistic biography of Ellington; and the final section is a series of specific musical studies, including chapters on Ellington and song-writing, the jazz piano, descriptive music, and the blues. Featuring a chronology of the composer's life and major recordings, this book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Ellington's enduring artistic legacy"-- Provided by publisher.
• "In the view of a large and ever-increasing number of people, Duke Ellington is America's greatest composer. I share this opinion. I also think a good case can be made that, all in all, Ellington, who lived from 1899 to 1974, was the most influential composer of the twentieth century - for jazz, with its various stylistic offspring, has had more impact worldwide than any other form of modern music. And Ellington is acknowledged almost universally as the greatest of all jazz composers"-- Provided by publisher.

Bibliographic references

Includes bibliographical references (pages 274-281) and index.

Contents

Machine generated contents note: Chronology Evan Spring; Editor's introduction: Ellington, jazz, and aesthetic realism Edward Green; Part I. Ellington in Context: 1. Artful entertainment: Ellington's formative years in context John Howland; 2. The process of becoming: composition and recomposition David Berger; 3. Conductor of music and men: Duke Ellington through the eyes of his nephew Stephen D. James and J. Walker James; 4. Ellington abroad Brian Priestley; 5. Edward Kennedy Ellington as a cultural icon Olly W. Wilson and Trevor Weston; Part II. Duke Through the Decades: The Music and Its Reception: 6. Ellington's afro-modernist vision in the 1920s Jeffrey Magee; 7. Survival, adaptation and experimentation: Duke Ellington and his orchestra in the 1930s Andrew Berish; 8. The 1940s: The Blanton-Webster Band, Carnegie Hall, and the challenge of the postwar era Anna Harwell Celenza; 9. Duke in the 1950s: renaissance man Anthony Brown; 10. Ellington in the 1960s and 1970s: triumph and tragedy Dan Morgenstern; Part III. Ellington and the Jazz Tradition: 11. Ellington and the blues Benjamin Givan; 12. 'Seldom seen, but always heard': Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington Walter van de Leur; 13. Duke Ellington and the world of jazz piano Bill Dobbins; 14. Duke and descriptive music Marcello Piras; 15. Sing a song of Ellington, or, the accidental songwriter Will Friedwald; 16. The land of suites: Ellington and extended form David Berger; 17. Duke Ellington's legacy and influence Benjamin Bierman.

ISBN

• 9780521881197 (hardback)
• 0521881196 (hardback)
• 9780521707534 (paperback)
• 0521707536 (paperback)

LCCN

2014026370

OCLC

883748847

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