Duke (90 page)

Sinatra had talked about recording with DE:
Friedwald, 302.
“That’s what I tried to write for”:
Ibid., 306.
“We rehearsed them all afternoon”:
Ibid., 304.
A handful of studio ringers:
See Ibid., 306; Jimmy Jones, oral-history interview; and Granata, 189. Surviving union contracts show that Al Porcino and Bill Miller, Sinatra’s pianist, were the only other players who were paid for the sessions (Steven Lasker collection).

“I’m really afraid”:
Hershorn, 318–19.

“I know he spent many despondent hours”:
Ellington,
Duke Ellington in Person,
164.
“Everyone is so alone”:
MM,
261.

“Mesmerized”:
Schuller,
Gunther Schuller,
178.
A long essay:
Gunther Schuller, “Early Duke,”
Jazz Review,
Dec. 1959.
“Duke Ellington is one of America’s great composers”:
Schuller,
Early Jazz,
319.

“Clear, thorough, objective, sophisticated and original”:
Frank Conroy, “Birth of the Blues,”
The New York Times Book Review,
May 12, 1968.
“Pre-eminent, if not unique”:
Mellers, 315.

“You know how it is”:
Allen Hughes, “Dr. Ellington Sounds Like Same Old Duke,”
The New York Times,
Aug. 3, 1967.

“The most important thing”:
MM,
269.

“She sings opera”:
Ibid., 288.
“A composer’s dream”:
Jewell, 136.
“Too Good to Title”:
Dance,
The World of Duke Ellington,
260.

“I think of myself as a messenger boy”:
MM,
267–68.
“Heavenly Heaven to be”:
Alice Babs appears to sing this line on record as “Heavenly Heaven to me,” which makes more sense, but “to be” is the official version (see, for instance,
MM,
274).
Balliett questioned whether DE was putting on his audience:
Balliett, 292.

“Duke could have really incorporated him”:
Granz, oral-history interview.

The idea for the party came from Joe Morgen:
Ellington, 186. For a detailed account of the party, see Faine.
Nixon decided to give the Medal of Freedom to DE:
Leonard Garment, “A New Revelation from the Nixon White House,”
The New York Times,
Aug. 25, 2002.
“That which our institutions dedicated”:
Ibid.

“The classic French greeting”:
Balliett, 306.
“Four kisses?”:
MM,
427.
“There is no place I would rather be”:
Dance,
The World of Duke Ellington,
287.

“I shall pick a name”:
Faine, 131. (The musical performances were released in 2002 on
Duke Ellington 1969.
)

Russell Procope quit the band briefly:
Jimmy Jones, oral-history interview.
“I’m trying to see”:
Stanley Dance, oral-history interview.
“During those last horrible days”:
Mercer Ellington, oral-history interview.

“Pomade-shiny”:
Courtney, 101.
“If we keep playing that number”:
Jewell, 156. (Jewell incorrectly identifies the number as “One More Once,” a different song.)

“Lost all feeling for music”:
Brown, oral-history interview.
“Never got on the bus”:
Sherrill, oral-history interview.
DE knocked out his two front teeth:
Dietrich, 181–82.

Hodges collapsed and died in the men’s room:
Gleason, 241.
“A fantastic offer”:
Granz, oral-history interview.
“Because of this great loss”:
MM,
119.

“When I was with Duke”:
Ashby, oral-history interview.

DE “was in the studio”:
Dance, liner notes for
New Orleans Suite.

“A rhythmic tone parallel”:
Ibid.
“Jazz without pretence”:
Harrison, 494.

“When that band was really together”:
Mark Stryker, “Saxophenomenal,”
Dayton Daily News,
June 25, 1995.
“I think the band began to fall apart”:
Kerr, oral-history interview.

“Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen”:
Duke Ellington’s 70th Birthday Concert.

“I don’t have a comic bone in my body”:
Ailey, oral-history interview. (All quotes from Ailey are from this interview.)

“That rare thing among classic scores”:
Clive Barnes, “Dance: Unfinished ‘River’; Ballet Theater Presents Ellington Work,”
The New York Times,
June 26, 1970.

DE died before he could see it danced:
Ailey, oral-history interview.

“The section passages . . . are brief but dense”:
Balliett, 331. (Balliett identifies this piece as “The Falls,” the next movement of
The River,
but the description makes it clear that he was in fact listening to “Vortex.”)

“He started west on Fifty-sixth Street”:
Ibid., 332.

“If he stubbed his toe”:
Nat Hentoff, “The Incompleat Duke Ellington,”
Show,
Aug. 1964.
“Arthur, how am I feeling today?”:
George, 240.
“There’s nothing wrong with Edward”:
Ibid., 241.
“Of course, Edward needed Arthur”:
Hajdu, 193.

DE had cancer in both lungs:
Ellington,
Duke Ellington in Person,
191–92. (He was ultimately diagnosed with metastatic lymphoma.)
Logan and DE decided to keep his illness secret:
Marian Logan, quoted in Cohen, 562.

“Once the word got around”:
Peress, 162.
“Clung to the band like a crutch”:
Granz, oral-history interview.

An advance of $50,000:
Stanley Dance, oral-history interview.
“Pussy freak”:
DE, Harman interview, 1964.
“The ‘secret’ Ellington”:
Stanley Slome, “Duke Pulled Punches in His Autobiography, Confidante Stanley Dance Revealed at Ellington ’91,” http://ellingtonweb.ca/Slome-HowDukePulledPunchesInAutobiography.htm.

“Stanley is well informed”:
Dance,
The World of Duke Ellington,
ix.
“Hotel stationery, napkins, old sheets of manuscript”:
Stanley Dance, oral-history interview.
“Sonny Greer is a big bullshitter”:
DE, “Rex Stewart etc.,” unpublished note for
MM
(Stanley Dance collection, Yale University).

“In some ways I used to dread”:
Jewell, 162.

Lisa Drew prodded DE to be more frank:
Ibid.
“A mixture of the best and the worst”:
George, 237–38.
“We’ve written the Good Book”:
Ellington,
Duke Ellington in Person,
172.
Doubleday complied with his wishes:
George, 237. The incorrectly printed jackets were used after his death (Ellington,
Duke Ellington in Person,
172).
“Music is my mistress”:
MM,
447.

“I could feel that he wasn’t going to be here forever”:
Quincy Jones, oral-history interview.
“You talk too fast”:
Finnish National Broadcasting Company, undated TV clip, c. Oct. 1973, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9F_hRpwL4M.
“I am surrounded by mediocrity”:
Ellington,
Duke Ellington in Person,
170.
“People always want something of me”:
McGettigan, oral-history interview.

“I guess I really resented that”:
Ellington,
Duke Ellington in Person,
192.

“As the days went on”:
Mercer Ellington, oral-history interview.
Uncontrollable weeping:
Ellington,
Duke Ellington in Person,
198.
“I’ll never get over this”:
Jewell, 224.

“Does he know how sick he is?”:
Ellington,
Duke Ellington in Person,
200.

“It’s nothing serious”:
Albin Krebs, “Wilson Sues Two London Papers for Libel; Notes on People,”
The New York Times,
Apr. 4, 1974.
Frank Sinatra flew Michael DeBakey to New York:
Bob Udkoff, quoted in
RIT,
408.
“He had shriveled so much”:
George, 253.
“Even though the intense sedation kept him alternating”:
Ibid. 141.
DE breathed his last:
Betty McGettigan claimed to have been with him when he died (McGettigan, oral-history interview).

“He appeared to have lost”:
Gordon Parks, “Jazz,”
Esquire,
Dec. 1975.
“He’s up there now”:
“Duke Ellington’s Friends, Great and Small, Pay Their Respects,”
The New York Times,
May 26, 1974.

“A word that he consistently rejected”:
John S. Wilson, “Duke Ellington, a Master of Music, Dies at 75,”
The New York Times,
May 25, 1974.
“Never lacking for female companionship”:
“Undefeated Champ,”
Time,
June 3, 1974.
A sidebar of tributes:
“Colleagues and Admirers Pay Tribute,”
The New York Times,
May 25, 1974.

“The most distinctive single body”:
“Undefeated Champ.”
“His absolute faith in God”:
M. Cordell Thompson, “Thousands Bid Farewell to Duke,”
Jet,
June 13, 1974.

A half-hour special:
A Tribute to Duke Ellington.

DE’s funeral:
Tom Buckley, “Fellow Musicians Among 12,500 at Services for Duke Ellington,”
The New York Times,
May 28, 1974.
“I’m not going to live much longer”:
George, 258–59.

“I’m just here to bear witness”:
Hentoff, 38.

“Ellington carved out his own brand”:
Ross, 169.

“Ellington never fully succeeded”:
Schuller,
The Swing Era,
149.

“To the very end”:
Granz, oral-history interview.

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