This book surveys the breadth, richness, and meaning of Duke Ellington's celebrated career, examining his impact on jazz music and its surrounding culture.

1. Ellington the entertainer: pageantry and prophecy in Duke Ellington's films Phil Ford; 2. Marketing to the middlebrow: reconsidering Ellingtonia, the legacy of early Ellington criticism, and the idea of a 'serious' jazz composer John Howland; 3. 'Art or debauchery?': the reception of Ellington in the UK Catherine Tackley; 4. 'Nobody was looking': the unparalleled jazz piano legacy of Duke Ellington Bill Dobbins; 5. 'People wrap their lunches in them': Duke Ellington and his written music manuscripts Walter van de Leur; 6. The moor's revenge: the politics of Such Sweet Thunder David Schiff; 7. Duke Ellington in the LP era Gabriel Solis; 8. Authentic synthetic hybrid: Ellington's concepts of Africa and its music Carl Woideck; 9. 'The mother of all albums': revisiting Ellington's A Drum is a Woman John Wriggle.