Edward Kennedy Ellington, the Duke. As a musician, there has been no other artist quite like him. His expansive talent poured out more than five thousand compositions, from all-time pop songs like “Sophisticated Lady” and “Solitude” to major suites and musicals. Derek Jewell had admired Ellington for thirty years, knew him well in the later years of his life, talked with him and watched him at work in many environments. His story starts in turn-of-the-century Washington, when jazz was growing under the fingers of poolroom maestros, moves on to the hustling night life of Prohibition, and then develops into a portrait of Ellington the international celebrity, equally at ease in smoky clubs or with kings and presidents, in dance halls or with cathedral congregations. Since 1962, Derek Jewell has been popular music critic of the London Sunday Times, and he serves as publishing director of Times Newspapers Ltd.
