FRINK Linked Data Fragments server

Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W1985632830> ?p ?o ?g. }

• W1985632830 endingPage "227" @default.
• W1985632830 startingPage "225" @default.
• W1985632830 abstract "Reviewed by: Duke Ellington’s America by Harvey G. Cohen Kevin Whitehead Duke Ellington’s America. By Harvey G. Cohen. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2010. Cultural historian Harvey G. Cohen never spells out the grand idea behind Duke Ellington’s America, but gives a clue in a footnote regarding the maestro’s celebrated early 1940s orchestra: “I have mainly avoided discussing the compositions from this period that have attracted the most discussion” (603) such as “Ko-Ko” and “Harlem Air Shaft.” Cohen’s undeclared m.o. is to focus on aspects of Ellington’s life and career neglected or under-scrutinized by at least some biographers, notably (starting in 1946) Barry Ulanov, Don George, Mercer Ellington/Stanley Dance, Derek Jewell, James Lincoln Collier, Mark Tucker (counting The Early Years) and John Edward Hasse. Cohen has examined scores of documents unavailable to most of the above, having extensively mined the Smithsonian’s trove of Ellingtonia (acquired under Hasse’s aegis in 1988), including scrapbooks, clipping files, contracts and business correspondence. Cohen also draws on dozens of oral histories and interviews with Duke’s associates, and conducted many of his own, dating back to the mid-1990s. For the pre-WWII years, the book is especially valuable for the many ways it illuminates Ellington’s dealings with his generously compensated manager Irving Mills, and how Mills effectively shaped Ellington’s reputation as a serious composer not to be lumped with other jazz bandleaders. Mills’ publicists blew out blizzards of press releases pushing a good story which happened to be true. The Mills material alone makes this book invaluable. Many chapters are a series of mini-essays on related topics. Chapter 3 (“Serious Listening”) looks at Duke’s first national theater tour on the Publix circuit in 1931, at his appearances in various 1930s feature films and shorts, his 1933 UK tour, and a tour of the Southern US later the same year. In their own ways, each of those enterprises reinforced the message Mills was selling. Theater tours meant Duke’s music wasn’t just for dancing. (Cohen asserts no black or white band had toured the [End Page 225] Publix circuit before, but for perspective might have mentioned earlier Paul Whiteman tours regularly included theater engagements.) In England, Ellington was received as a modernist, helping to promote the idea of American culture in general, despite some inevitable don’t-believe-the-hype pushback in the press. The orchestra set new standards for jazz performance in the UK; after hearing “Ring Dem Bells,” English drummers adopted what they called “Ellington chimes” (118). Touring the South by Pullman car months later, Ellington and his players both projected a stylish image, and largely shielded themselves from racist indignities. Cohen is strong on a 1951 controversy, huge in its time and now largely forgotten, in which Ellington was quoted in the Baltimore Afro-American and other papers, as saying “We ain’t ready yet” for full integration into American society—never mind that his whole persona, many public statements, and numerous musical works devoted to African American achievement had long argued the opposite view (301). But the picture is complex; Cohen demonstrates Duke’s preferred tactics for advancement tended to be less confrontational than boycotts and sit-ins. Image-wise, that flap was Ellington’s Cosby moment. The controversy flared up again when he got an NAACP prize eight years later, and he was still grousing about it in the ’70s. Duke Ellington’s America affords an essential perspective on Ellington’s 1960s and ’70s global tours for the US State Department, viewed through embassy reports and diplomatic communiqués. As impromptu ambassador Duke got excellent marks for graciousness, patience, co-operation, and parrying hostile questions about US race relations. The only major wrinkle was the surprise arrival of his aristocratic companion Fernanda de Castro Monte, joining the entourage in New Delhi in 1963. The diplomats balked, but one of them soon conceded she had “the hardest job of anyone connected with the tour” (436). Cohen admirably places Ellington in a national/international cultural context; the book can make even unmusical readers see his worth. Its main flaw, aside from a rather boosterish tone..." @default.
• W1985632830 created "2016-06-24" @default.
• W1985632830 creator A5079285038 @default.
• W1985632830 date "2010-01-01" @default.
• W1985632830 modified "2023-10-17" @default.
• W1985632830 title "<i>Duke Ellington’s America</i> by Harvey G. Cohen (review)" @default.
• W1985632830 doi "https://doi.org/10.1353/ams.2010.0132" @default.
• W1985632830 hasPublicationYear "2010" @default.
• W1985632830 type Work @default.
• W1985632830 sameAs 1985632830 @default.
• W1985632830 citedByCount "0" @default.
• W1985632830 crossrefType "journal-article" @default.
• W1985632830 hasAuthorship W1985632830A5079285038 @default.
• W1985632830 hasConcept C142362112 @default.
• W1985632830 hasConcept C2980749 @default.
• W1985632830 hasConcept C52119013 @default.
• W1985632830 hasConcept C554144382 @default.
• W1985632830 hasConcept C67101536 @default.
• W1985632830 hasConcept C95457728 @default.
• W1985632830 hasConceptScore W1985632830C142362112 @default.
• W1985632830 hasConceptScore W1985632830C2980749 @default.
• W1985632830 hasConceptScore W1985632830C52119013 @default.
• W1985632830 hasConceptScore W1985632830C554144382 @default.
• W1985632830 hasConceptScore W1985632830C67101536 @default.
• W1985632830 hasConceptScore W1985632830C95457728 @default.
• W1985632830 hasIssue "3-4" @default.
• W1985632830 hasLocation W19856328301 @default.
• W1985632830 hasOpenAccess W1985632830 @default.
• W1985632830 hasPrimaryLocation W19856328301 @default.
• W1985632830 hasRelatedWork W172245026 @default.
• W1985632830 hasRelatedWork W2007862533 @default.
• W1985632830 hasRelatedWork W2480059330 @default.
• W1985632830 hasRelatedWork W2596294720 @default.
• W1985632830 hasRelatedWork W4229598546 @default.
• W1985632830 hasRelatedWork W4243234087 @default.
• W1985632830 hasRelatedWork W4249309875 @default.
• W1985632830 hasRelatedWork W560913150 @default.
• W1985632830 hasRelatedWork W564126980 @default.
• W1985632830 hasRelatedWork W571190172 @default.
• W1985632830 hasVolume "51" @default.
• W1985632830 isParatext "false" @default.
• W1985632830 isRetracted "false" @default.
• W1985632830 magId "1985632830" @default.
• W1985632830 workType "article" @default.