Beyond Category: The Life and Genius Of Duke Ellington

A comprehensive biography of one of the century's premier musicians focuses on his accomplishments as a composer rather than his popularity as a bandleader.

"He captured the sounds of trains, planes, babies, and lions and tigers and bears with his orchestra," says trumpeter Marsalis in his poetic tribute to the great jazz composer and performer, Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899-1974). Hasse, curator of American music at the Smithsonian Institution and of a traveling exhibition called Beyond Category: The Musical Genius of Duke Ellington, is similarly comprehensive in cataloging the minutiae--meaningful and otherwise--of Ellington's illustrious life and career. Drawing on previously untapped documents made available by Mercer Ellington's donation of his father's archives to the National Museum of American History, Hasse traces the Duke's development from his childhood in Washington, D.C., to New York City's Cotton Club to a career that took him on a seemingly endless tour through North America, Europe and the Near East playing with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and John Coltrane. To help those who want to hear the achievement, Hasse ends each chapter with the "Essential Ellington" recordings for the years covered in that chapter. Accompanied by 119 photographs from the Ellington archives, Hasse has written a delightful and finely detailed biography of an American legend at work.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Essential biographical guide to composer/bandleader Duke Ellington's music, analyzing its development year by year with sidebar essays on the best recordings. Hasse (Curator of American Music/Smithsonian Institution) relates Ellington's life largely as it ties in with the music. Edward Kennedy Ellington (1899-1974) was born to--and forever worshipped--the extremely beautiful, light-skinned Daisy Ellington, a primly refined Washingtonian, and to James Edward Ellington, once butler to a prominent doctor and at times caterer to events at the White House, who treated Daisy as a treasure, raised his family as if a millionaire, and dressed his son like a duke from his earliest years. Ellington said later, about his music, that ``my strongest influences, my inspirations, were all Negro''--but, as a child, sometimes the beauty of his mother's piano-playing caused him to burst into tears, and clearly the grain of his spirit came from his parents. Ellington forever broke new ground, never looked back or dwelled on his earlier music. Many--Hasse included--think him America's greatest composer, though the input of his sidemen and of fellow composer Billy Strayhorn must also be weighed in his accomplishments, from jungle music to the late cantatas. The 119 photos interspersed throughout the text boost immensely the rich atmosphere of Ellington's venues, including The Cotton Club and the tours that became the band's mainstay. Hasse follows closely the growth of the band and its orchestrations of its finest pieces- -``Creole Love Call,'' ``Mood Indigo,'' ``Sophisticated Lady,'' etc.--and their varied recordings over the decades. Brilliantly written. (Includes a select discography, filmography, and videography) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Hasse capably traces Duke Ellington's development from piano player to bandleader to composer, highlighting along the way the breakthrough Cotton Club gig in the 1920s; the great recordings of the late 1930s and early 1940s; the reawakened creativity sparked by the famous Newport 1959 concert; and the lesser-known but breathtaking sacred concerts in Ellington's last years. Where Hasse differs with other Ellington biographers, and especially with James Lincoln Collier, author of Duke Ellington (1987), is in his defense of the music after 1943 and in his belief that Ellington deserves to be considered a great American composer. (In support of this position, Hasse discusses in depth Ellington's ability to write for the individual voice--Hodges' sax, Bigard's clarinet--and even offers evidence that many of the solos played by famous Ellingtonians were actually written, note for note, by the composer himself.) Hasse handles Ellington's personal life a bit circumspectly, especially the notorious womanizing, but he does show the magnetism of the man ("Duke drew people to him like flies to sugar," according to drummer Sonny Greer). If Hasse's prose is a little flat at times, his grasp of Ellington and his music is first rate, and his discographical essays, grouped by period throughout the book, are a godsend for anyone preparing to dive into the overflowing Ellington bins at most CD stores. Bill Ott

Hasse, curator of American Music at the Smithsonian Institution, charts the musical career of jazz giant Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899-1974). Using previously unavailable family papers now housed at the Smithsonian, he admiringly describes Ellington's accomplishments as a composer and bandleader. Hasse includes an account of Ellington's formative years in Washington D.C., his breakthrough at New York's Cotton Club, his heyday during the 1930s and 1940s, and his subsequent successes. The author also highlights the essential Ellington recordings in discrete sections within each chapter. Though offering few new insights or facts about the jazz master, Hasse provides a well-researched synthesis of the extensive Ellingtonia that should serve as a companion to the recent The Duke Ellington Reader ( LJ 9/1/93). For scholars and fans of American music.
- David Szatmary, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.