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"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"-- "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"--

Jazz musicians --- Jazz --- Musiciens de jazz --- Biography. --- History --- Biographies --- Histoire --- Ellington, Duke, --- Criticism and interpretation. --- History. --- Criticism and interpretation --- Jazz musicians - United States - Biography --- Ellington, Duke, - 1899-1974 - Criticism and interpretation --- Ellington, Duke, - 1899-1974

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In Blutopia Graham Lock studies the music and thought of three pioneering twentieth-century musicians: Sun Ra, Duke Ellington, and Anthony Braxton. Providing an alternative to previous analyses of their work, Lock shows how these distinctive artists were each influenced by a common musical and spiritual heritage and participated in self-conscious efforts to create a utopian vision of the future.A century after Ellington’s birth, Lock reassesses his use of music as a form of black history and compares the different approaches of Ra, a band leader who focused on the future and cosmology, and Braxton, a contemporary composer whose work creates its own elaborate mythology. Arguing that the majority of writing on black music and musicians has—even if inadvertently—incorporated racial stereotypes, he explains how each artist reacted to criticism and sought to break free of categorical confines. Drawing on social history, musicology, biography, cultural theory, and, most of all, statements by the musicians themselves, Lock writes of their influential work.Blutopia will be a welcome contribution to the literature on twentieth-century African American music and creativity. It will interest students of jazz, American music, African American studies, American culture, and cultural studies.

Jazz --- History and criticism. --- Sun Ra --- Ellington, Duke, --- Braxton, Anthony --- Duke, Obie, --- Ėllington, Di︠u︡k, --- Ellington, Edward Kennedy, --- Ellington, Obie Duke, --- Greer, Sonny, --- Turner, Joe, --- Blount, Herman --- Ra, Sun --- Le Sun Ra --- Ra, Le Sun --- Le Sony'r Ra --- Ra, Le Sony'r --- Blount, Sonny --- Bourke, Sonny --- Lee, Herman --- Criticism and interpretation. --- MUSIC --- SUN RA --- ELLINGTON (DUKE), 1899-1974 --- BRAXTON (ANTHONY) --- JAZZ