Essence and Duke Ellington

I worked toured and recorded with Duke Ellington for the last two years of his life - a period that was the highlight of my career. In my memoirs The Essence and Duke Ellington I aim to convey the spirit within the heart of the jazz musician particularly Duke Ellington. I want to show what drove him and other musicians past and present to play and compose this wonderful music. I also depict Duke Ellington's greatness as a human being not as some super-human being which he may well have been. I recount stories and reflect on my own experiences expounding on what working with and learning from him and so many other jazz greats has meant to me.