Ask David Berger about his lifelong obsession with the music of Duke Ellington, and he’ll tell you the same thing. “Duke is the best storyteller that jazz has ever had,” says Berger ...

There are rare insights into Duke Ellington in this ... had a deleterious effect on Ellington's confidence. During the course of the book, Chambers gradually identifies critics of Ellington. One ...

But the Maestro, Duke Ellington, spotlighted his men apart from ... this sultry dance between a blonde woman and a muscular black man. Before Jimmy Blanton, the bass merely provided pulse and ...

Nevertheless, “The Duke Ellington Reader” is generally intriguing and further evidence that the great man’s real life was his devotion to his art.

Duke Ellington died nearly 40 years ago ... to the ambitious longer works that often drew mixed reviews, but the man himself is still — by his own design — shrouded in mystery.