I first discovered the existence of this book on the WBGO jazz website (http://www.wbgo.org/) and I am glad I did.
I had always wanted to read Ellington’s autobiography “Music is My Mistress” but never got a copy of it (yet). Just as well, for Mr. Teachout claims that Duke held back on a lot of things that make an autobiography a “must read”: personal insights, thoughts regarding his fellow musicians, family members, etc. He wanted to maintain his public
persona right until the end, it appears.
I am not a musician, but I love all genres, especially Jazz. This book never gets bogged down in music theory, and is very readable for the armchair jazz aficionado. In fact, I enjoyed listening to Ellington’s music even more after reading “Duke”. I read the ebook version, but I would like to get a hard copy to add to music shelf to refer to from time to time. This would make it a definite 5 out of 5 stars for me.
There are plenty of quotes from other sources: interviews, other biographies/autobiographies, reviews and such.
Highly recommended!