New book on Duke Ellington's life and work

Mercedes Ellington, daughter of band leader Duke Ellington, is to publish a book about her father. ‘Duke Ellington: An American Composer and Icon’ has been co-written with graphic designer, writer, and educator Steven Brower, former creative and art director of Print magazine and author of books on Louis Armstrong and Woody Guthrie.

Duke Ellington's career is brought to life with unseen images and artifacts, from his early days in Washington, D.C., to his beginnings on the New York jazz circuit and the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, his triumph through the Depression and tours of Europe in the 1930s, and his pioneering explosion of form and genre in the 1940s and beyond.

Tony Bennett has written the introduction. The hardcover will include over 200 images plus contributions from Quincy Jones, Dave Brubeck, friends and colleagues and facts and entries from Smithsonian Institute archives and will be available from April 2016.