Wisely and well...

Notice of a new book on the music of Duke Ellington: Sweet Thunder by Jack Chambers.

This is not a review. I am lucky to consider Professor Jack Chambers of Toronto University a friend and had the privilege of helping to prepare proofs of original versions of two of the essays included in this collection for publication in DESUK's Blue Light when I was Editor.

I enjoyed reading the book immensely. Jack's knowledge of Ellington's music is extensive. The style is conversational and sends the reader straight in search of the music, listening again with enhanced appreciation.

From the publicity poster...

Sweet Thunder explores the music of Duke Ellington by tracing nine themes through his amazingly productive 50 year career as composer, orchestrator, pianist, and cultural icon. Lifelong listeners to Ellington and newcomers seeking an entry point into Ellington’s voluminous works will find this book stimulating, illuminating, and entertaining.

1 Ellington’s Harlem...
“...the world’s most glamorous
atmosphere”
2 Sweet and Pungent
Duke and the Plunger Mutes
3 The Fifth Reed
Ben Webster and the Tenor Ascent
4 Lotus Eaters Unite!
The Spectral Alliance of Johnny Hodges and Billy Strayhorn
5 Panther Patter
Duke Ellington at the Piano
6 Bardland
Shakespeare in Ellington’s World
7 Afro Eurasian Ellington
8 Duke Ellington’s Parallel Universe: The Stockpile
9 Three Steps into The River

One aspect of Jack's Ellingtonian studies not covered by the book is the research he did on Ellington's 1972 composition Celebration which he presented at the Ellington conference last year in Birmingham. I'm holding out, then, in hope of a sequel to this marvellous collection of essays.

Such is the generosity of Professor Chambers, it is possible to sample quite extensively the essays in this book. While the definitive versions of Jack's essays can be read only in the book, an earlier version of Bardland may be read in an edition of the Duke Ellington Music Society Bulletin here.

A valuable supplement to the Con Chapman biography of Johnny Hodges reviewed here previously, an early version of my favourite chapter in the book, Lotus Eaters Unite! entitled Sweet as Bear Meat: The Paradox of Johnny Hodges may be read here.

Full details of the presentations Jack Chambers has made to TDES 40: The Toronto Chapter of the Duke Ellington Society may be found (2000-2012) here and (2013-present) here.

The book is available in the UK from Amazon here.