by A.H. Lawrence (2001)
"Based on lengthy interviews with Ellington's bandmates, family, and friends, Duke Ellington and His World offers a new look at this legendary composer. The first biography of the composer written by a fellow musician and African-American, the book traces Ellington's life and career in terms of the social, cultural, political, and economic realities of his times. Born the grandson of slaves, Ellington earned worldwide fame and praise from musicians of every musical background, becoming a spokesperson not only for his music but also for his people."--BOOK JACKET.
Charles Mingus
Introduction by Richard Williams. Mingus by Mingus. From the shabby roadhouses to fabulous estates, from the psychiatric ward of Bellevue to worlds of mysticism and solitude, these are the celebrated, demonic, anguished and, above all, profoundly moving memoirs of the great jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus.
Stephen Feinstein
"Readers will learn about a variety of African American jazz musicians including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Herbie Hancock"--Provided by publisher.
Ralph J. Gleason
Celebrating the Duke offers readers a perceptive, panoramic survey of jazz as revealed, in illuminating detail, through the lives and music of its heroes (and heroines), from its founding fathers to the post-bebop generation, including Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Jimmie Lunceford, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Albert Ayler, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and a rich cache of writings on "America's greatest composer," the Duke himself.
James L. Dickerson
"Along with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, Lillian "Lil" Hardin (1898-1971) was arguably the third most crucial figure in the creation of popular jazz, but today her important contributions are almost entirely unknown." "Born in Memphis, Lil was, by her early twenties, the most sought-after jazz pianist in Chicago, playing first with Freddie Keppard's watershed Creole Jazz Band and later with King Oliver's world-famous Creole Jazz Band. She was already well established in Chicago as a pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader before she met and married Louis Armstrong in 1924." "Music writer and investigative journalist James L. Dickerson chronicles Lil's many musical achievements, which are all the more remarkable when one considers the patriarchal resistance that women in all professions - jazz included - confronted in twentieth-century America." "But Just for a Thrill, based on original research and interviews, is more than a biography of a jazz pioneer. It is also a story of love found and lost, for though Louis divorced her and remarried, she never forgot him. Lil Hardin Armstrong died of a heart attack while performing during a tribute to Louis in 1971."--BOOK JACKET.