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About Last Night

Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

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Archives for October 16, 2013

TT: Close enough for jazz

October 16, 2013 by Terry Teachout

losing-the-race.jpgThe National Book Foundation announced the 2013 National Book Award finalists this morning. As I recently predicted, Duke didn’t make the cut, but that’s fine with me. The list of books that were shortlisted today for the nonfiction award is more than enticing enough as is, and I’m proud to have been one of the ten semi-finalists.
To my five colleagues who are now in contention for the big prize, I wish you all the very best of luck.

TT: Read all about it

October 16, 2013 by Terry Teachout

Duke-Ellington-008.jpgMarc Myers recently talked to me about Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington for JazzWax, his widely read music blog:

JW: You write that Ellington borrowed extensively from other musicians. Do you view him then as a great original composer or a brilliant recycler who leveraged scraps to create bigger, more dramatic works?
TT: He was both. The Ellington who cobbled together “Sophisticated Lady” out of a pair of melodic fragments supplied by Lawrence Brown and Otto Hardwick was, to use your apt phrase, a “brilliant recycler.” But the Ellington who wrote masterpieces like “Ko-Ko” from scratch, on the other hand, was a truly great original composer–and you mustn’t forget that most of his music was completely original….

To read the first installment of our two-part conversation, go here.

TT: Snapshot

October 16, 2013 by Terry Teachout

Gary Karr plays the first movement of Serge Koussevitzky’s Bass Concerto, accompanied by Carl Seale and the Valley Symphony Orchestra:

(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday and Wednesday.)

TT: Your daily dose of Duke (cont’d)

October 16, 2013 by Terry Teachout

Duke Ellington and Count Basie play “One O’Clock Jump”:

TT: Almanac

October 16, 2013 by Terry Teachout

“It is impossible to persuade a man who does not disagree, but smiles.”
Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

Terry Teachout

Terry Teachout, who writes this blog, is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal and the critic-at-large of Commentary. In addition to his Wall Street Journal drama column and his monthly essays … [Read More...]

About

About “About Last Night”

This is a blog about the arts in New York City and the rest of America, written by Terry Teachout. Terry is a critic, biographer, playwright, director, librettist, recovering musician, and inveterate blogger. In addition to theater, he writes here and elsewhere about all of the other arts--books, … [Read More...]

About My Plays and Opera Libretti

Billy and Me, my second play, received its world premiere on December 8, 2017, at Palm Beach Dramaworks in West Palm Beach, Fla. Satchmo at the Waldorf, my first play, closed off Broadway at the Westside Theatre on June 29, 2014, after 18 previews and 136 performances. That production was directed … [Read More...]

About My Podcast

Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I are the panelists on “Three on the Aisle,” a bimonthly podcast from New York about theater in America. … [Read More...]

About My Books

My latest book is Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington, published in 2013 by Gotham Books in the U.S. and the Robson Press in England and now available in paperback. I have also written biographies of Louis Armstrong, George Balanchine, and H.L. Mencken, as well as a volume of my collected essays called A … [Read More...]

The Long Goodbye

To read all three installments of "The Long Goodbye," a multi-part posting about the experience of watching a parent die, go here. … [Read More...]

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