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Article: Dance: the unsung element of Ellingtonia.(Special Jazz Issue)(Duke Ellington's music)
- Article from:
- The Antioch Review
- Article date:
- June 22, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Antioch Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington is a twentieth-century figure of heroic proportions whose name instantly evokes the rich, textured harmonies of a unique big band. His image is elegant. His lyrics and his speech could be dazzlingly witty, profound, or a put-on. His popular songs earned almost instant immortality, and the virtuoso ensemble he called his "World Famous Orchestra" explored new musical territories for fifty years, swinging all the way. He had a love/hate relationship with the word jazz, alternately embracing and shunning it as too strictured.
But for all the scholarly analyses and critical commentaries of his writing, his piano playing, his social ...