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Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra

Amazon.com Price:  $2.75 (as of 09/05/2019 00:28 PST- Details)

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Description

Another stunning picture book biography of a prominent twentieth-century African-American in the arts, from the creative team at the back of Alvin Ailey.
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, “King of the Keys,” used to be born on April 29, 1899, in Washington, D.C. “He used to be a smooth-talkin’, slick-steppin’, piano-playin’ kid,” writes master wordsmith Andrea Pinkney in the rhythmic, fluid, swinging prose of this excellent biography for early readers. It used to be ragtime music that first “set Duke’s fingers to wiggling.” He got back to work and taught himself to “press on the pearlies.” Soon 19-year-old Duke used to be playing compositions “smoother than a hairdo sleeked with pomade” at parties, pool halls, country clubs, and cabarets. Skipping from D.C. to 1920s Harlem, “the place where jazz music ruled,” Duke and his small band referred to as the Washingtonians began performing in New York City clubs, including the Cotton Club, where Duke Ellington and his Orchestra used to be officially born. By 1943, Duke Ellington–creator of more than 1000 compositions, including ballet and film scores, orchestral suites, musicals, and choral works–had made it the entire way to Carnegie Hall.

We applaud this talented husband-and-wife team–award-winning illustrator Brian Pinkney and creator Andrea Pinkney–for making music fly in this incredible tribute to a jazz legend. Andrea does an ordinary job of translating music into words, with blues “deeper than the deep blue sea” and “hot-buttered bob, with a variety of sassy-cool tones,” at the same time as her husband visually interprets the movement of music as spirals, waves, and swirls of color, prepared as scratchboard renderings with luma dyes, gouache, and oil paint. Andrea writes, “Toby let loose on his sleek brass sax, curling his notes like a kite tail in the wind. A musical loop-de-loop, with a serious twist,” at the same time as Brian paints those curling notes, the loop-de-loops, and the kite sailing up to the New York City skyline. Young readers will enjoy the rhythm and great thing about the story itself, and may even be inspired to give Raffi a rest and swing with the Duke! (Great read-aloud, ages 4 to 8) –Karin Snelson, Amazon.com Kids editor

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