David Schiff: The Ellington Century The Ellington Century
Hardcover; 336 pages University of California Press In the
pantheon of jazz giants, bandleader and pianist Duke Ellington
holds an undisputed top spot, but, David Schiff believes,
Ellington has never been given the recognition he also deserves
as a composer. Schiff redresses the slight in this
groundbreaking, if sometimes too dense, study. "European music,
torn loose from its older harmonic moorings, needed to acquire
something of the rhythmic backbone of jazz," Schiff writes.
"African American music, evolving from an array of regional folk
styles toward a sophisticated form of artistic expression, at
times looked to European modernism for inspiration." Schiff
positions Ellington as a visionary musical fusionist, distilling
jazz with the dynamics of orchestral music. Indeed, if George
Gershwin is considered primarily a classical composer, how is it
possible that Ellington would be excluded? The scope of
Ellington's influence in a broader, more academic