Includes index.

Discography: pages 222-226.

No one knew Duke Ellington better than the author of this memoir, his son. This work is the most complete and intimate memoire available of America's genius of jazz. The author was born in 1919 when Duke was twenty, and was associated with his father's musical activity at a very young age. Mercer's account of Ellington's earlier years is based on personal memories, and his description of Duke's family and musical life in Washington, D.C., throws new light on this period. The reader will also find new material concerning Duke's personal life and romantic relationships with women. Of course, the story of Duke as a composer and musician is the most important and it is all here with fresh anecdotes about his work and the talented musicians who worked with him and for him - people like Billy Strayhorn, Bubber Miley, Johnny Hodges, Sonny Greer, Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Blanton and many others. This is also the story of a remarkable relationship between father and son. Sons of famous and accomplished fathers who enter the same field with success are rare and the author is one of those exceptions. Proficient on the alto saxophone and trumpet, he also arranged and wrote music, sometimes for his own band, sometimes for Duke's. In 1964 he joined the Duke Ellington band as road manager and member of the trumpet section and since Duke's death has taken over. This memoir, illustrated with photographs most of which have not been published before, provides a fresh perspective on the Ellington story and on the greatest and most creative period in American jazz history.

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