What I read was great. I just have too much to read.

Terry Teachout’s biography of Duke Ellington is a readable, compelling, and entertaining work – all that I’ve come to expect from a Teachout biography. He’s very good at presenting both sides of the story: he presents his subject with warts and all, acknowledging the Duke’s significant and unparalleled achievements in music without shying away from the fact that Ellington had significant formal limitations as a composer. His exploration of the man in his public and private lives is comprehensive and balanced – and not all that flattering.

Duke is a really good book.

The problem is that I can’t help but compare this book to Pops, Mr. Teachout’s previously published biography of Louis Armstrong. And I find that Duke doesn’t engage me the way Pops did.

There are two things in particular that make Pops an important work:

1) It’s the first non-scholarly, mass market popular biography of Armstrong to take full advantage of new and previously unexplored biographical material. As such, it offers a critical reassessment of the man.

2) Mr. Teachout uses Pops to take a strong position regarding the value of Armstrong’s middle age and late work that remains controversial amongst jazz aficionados and Armstrong scholars.

These aspects lend Pops an urgency that I find compelling. It’s a work that’s actively engaged in an ongoing discussion.

Duke doesn’t do anything similar. Despite Mr. Teachout’s statement in his “Afterward” that the book is a synthesis of work done by researchers and scholars who “have unearthed a wealth of new information” about Ellington, and aside from his appraisal of the full extent of the role that Billy Strayhorn played in Ellington’s works (which understanding is relatively new to Ellington scholarship), I don’t see that Duke adds much to our already extant understanding of the man.

Indeed, I find this book most valuable because of the information about Strayhorn, not Ellington.

Mr. Teachout’s assessment of Ellington’s music – while comprehensive, insightful, and balanced (this book is more explicitly musicological than Pops) – offers no interpretation that isn’t already well established in the larger body of Ellington scholarship. I don’t see that the book says much of anything that hasn’t already been said about Duke Ellington.

That being said – Duke is a fine biography. As a survey of what we know about Ellington, it’s comprehensive and accessible. For those who are new to Ellington, and who wish to begin their exploration of the man and his work, Duke is the first title I’d recommend. ( )

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I don't know how scholarly it is and it doesn't really matter either way. It has a lot of bibliography entries and a complete listing of source notes, so I don't know.

Duke Ellington was a mysterious guy. He was also very creative, but a lot of the pieces he wrote came from his band members. Some people would just be messing around on their instruments, Duke would come in and write a bridge and bam! there was a song. In any case, there is no denying his productivity. Most of his image was well formulated by some guy named Irving Mills.

Really interesting. ( )

I appreciate Teachout and how much work went into this, but just liked it, didn't love it. Obviously a tremendous work of scholarship however. I don't think that Ellington comes off in a particularly good light, in fact he seems like not too great of a guy in many ways. That of course doesn't make this book bad or good, just an observation. Some of the writing style I didn't care for that much, like making (very) long lists of the places he toured in passages or that type of thing. Also, while the reader of this book did an excellent job with this narration, it was produced poorly. Again and again there were obvious edits, including many instances where the narrator obviously went back into the studio to rerecord passages. These re-recorded passages too often didn't match up with the main narration in tone/, volume, excitement, you name it. ( )

An unflinching look at one of the great composers/jazzmen of the era. Although we find out that some of the more well-known compositions weren't his - they were written by his largely-silent colleague, Billy Strayhorn.

Teachout is sympathetic but honest about the shortcomings of Ellington, while celebrating his indisputable talent as a musician. But Ellington was something else - a striver, somebody who sought accolades, money and women.

Ellington aimed for legitimacy and to be in the upper eschelon of Black Americans, to be an example of his race. The burden he placed on himself is felt throughout this book.

It's interesting to compare and contrast his story with Teachout's book on Louis Armstrong, [b:Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong|6531880|Pops A Life of Louis Armstrong|Terry Teachout|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347439989s/6531880.jpg|6723908]. Armstrong was certain about his place, seemingly comfortable in his skin, rising from low to high in his life, and almost always popular. Ellington wasn't as comfortable in his lighter skin, and rose from middle class, so his "blues" and such were less authentic. He strove to be popular and important in a way that Armstrong didn't. As a result, his past seemed to haunt him, even though he kept trying to run away from it.

All in all, an interesting portrait of the man.

More reviews at my WordPress site, Ralphsbooks. ( )