"I want to tell America" -- "I just couldn't be shackled" : fortunate son, 1899-1917 -- "Soft and gut-bucket" : becoming a professional, 1917-1926 -- "Only my own music" : with Irving Mills, 1926-1927 -- "The utmost significance" : at the Cotton Club, 1927-1929 -- "I better scratch out something" : becoming a genius, 1929-1930 -- "A higher plateau" : becoming a star, 1931-1933 -- "The way the President travels" : on the road, 1933-1936 -- "Swing is stagnant" : diminuendo in blue, 1936-1939 -- "The eyes in the back of my head" : with Billy Strayhorn, 1938-1939 -- "The sea of expectancy" : the Blanton-Webster band, 1939-1940 -- "A message for the world" : jump for joy, 1941-1942 -- "I don't write jazz" : Carnegie Hall, 1942-1946 -- "More a business than an art" : into the wilderness, 1946-1955 -- "I was born in 1956" : crescendo in blue, 1955-1960 -- "Fate's being kind to me" : apotheosis, 1960-1967 -- "That big yawning void" : alone in a crowd, 1967-1974 -- Appendix. Fifty key recordings by Duke Ellington. An account of the public and private lives of the eminent jazz artist covers his slave heritage, the musical talent that inspired some 1,700 compositions, and his relationships with numerous lovers.
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