Blowing his trumpet John
ny Mercer m..
fs My Mistress Duke Ellington (W. H. Allen e,5,50) this autobiography by Edward Kennedy bgton were a concert piece, it would begin saYing andante or tempo di blues, because I,s is a slow, reflective and almost lackadaisi Sal tPO n down Ellington's ow memory lane. I ?Ida t find in it too much of what I had did lItPected about the life of Duke Ellington, but I find his times. It's a very happy, anecdotal
unok about his friends and about the early days of his career.
to He talks about his life as a boy in Washingn, and although his family was not terribly ?oar it was not terribly rich either. But he didn't nave a great deal of difficulty in getting started: as h -e saYs, early on in the book, "I just walked "own the street and a fella told me to cross fnkver, and I met another fella and he said, turn "le corner, and I met another fella way i and he said, go across the street. That's the it's been all InY life." He just thought that that there was snmeone looking after him all his life, and I guesS there might have been. e attractive thing about this book is the vgnut-hearted joie de vivre with which the 'ling Ellington band embarked upon its des seetidy. The hardest days — at the beginning — m to have been the happiest, as all the young plaYers got to meet each other and their idols while seeking a foothold on the musical ladder. Duke was civilised and urbane at an early age. and it does not seem any accident that he guided the fortunes of his organisation with a sure and musical hand. Even though he traciously gives credit to Irving Mills and other ltsiness associates — as well as he tells of the joYous times with Fats Waller, Willie the Lion _and James P. Johnson — it is obvious that he 'vas the one who hand-picked the men who -,w,ere to give the Ellington band its quality and "s Musical superiority. can remember myself the days he speaks of, ,w,,rlen all the great young white musicians, like "le Dorseys and Goodman and Glenn Miller, tri)sed to frequent the Cotton Club to hear what ke and the band were playing. They were Miles in front of the others.. . and the young of that day recognised the fact. He describe, with great affection, all these :)ariY days of the band. But they couldn't have eon easy for him, because he was pdor. He Fltobably had plenty of troubles; he probably ad plenty of gigs he didn't get paid for; he Probably had a lot of trouble keeping his band together (he lost men to other bands). But still those were, I think, the happiest days for him. And he was always a gentleman, very nice and "e.TY dignified, proud of himself, his race and his rlends. The great thing was that he kept a great deportment throughout his life. You will find some of this in the book — you rnight also find a few things you won't like, aYbe like a growl trombone or a trumpet tnat's a little too loud. I have a title that I'm
Ping to Write one day: 'Taste Is What You
uon't Say And Tact Is What You Don't Do.' I Ivould have left out a few of the things that are
in the book; on the other hand, I'm not Duke
Plington. And anyone who likes Duke Elling'on as Hike him, who respects him as I did and still do respect him, should have this book. You an't really know the man and all of the things ne went through without reading it. It is fascinating, anyway. It has a lot of fine Photographs, it has actuarial tables at the back
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