MarioP79

Hello all, A friend of mine, who happens to be a huge jazz lover, referred me to this forum. I'm looking for resources about Duke Ellington for a college course I'm taking. My textbook describes his composing style this way (emphasis mine): "European classical music has taught us to think of composers as working in isolation, scribbling music on manuscript paper for others to perform. Ellington could work this way. Whenever he traveled, he carried with him a pad of paper and a pencil in his pocket. At odd moments throughout the day, and in the unlikeliest places, he jotted down ideas as they came to him. But the real business of composition - turning his musical ideas into actual pieces - was social. Ellington liked collaborating with his musicians. Rather than present them with a score, he would invite the band to work with him: explaining the mental picture that inspired it, playing parts, and assigning musicians roles." I liked Ellington's "freestyle" approach to composing, and decided to focus on it for my research paper. I hoped someone here would be able to point me toward some reference material that goes more in-depth about Ellington and his unique approach. Thanks!