Prologue "I Want To Tell America" 1(20)
1 "I Just Couldn't Be Shackled"
Fortunate Son, 1899-1917
21(15)
2 "Soft And Gut-Bucket"
Becoming a Professional, 1917-1926
36(19)
3 "Only My Own Music"
With Irving Mills, 1926-1927
55(18)
4 "The Utmost Significance"
At the Cotton Club, 1927-1929
73(22)
5 "I Better Scratch Out Something"
Becoming a Genius, 1929-1930
95(22)
6 "A Higher Plateau"
Becoming a Star, 1931-1933
117(25)
7 "The Way The President Travels"
On the Road, 1933-1936
142(19)
8 "Swing Is Stagnant"
Diminuendo in Blue, 1936-1939
161(23)
9 "The Eyes In The Back Of My Head"
With (Billy Strayhorn, 1938-1939
184(17)
10 "The Sea Of Expectancy"
The Blanton-Webster Band, 1939-1940
201(19)
11 "A Message For The World"
Jump for Joy, 1941-1942
220(15)
12 "I Don't Write Jazz"
Carnegie Hall, 1942-1946
235(22)
13 "More A Business Than An Art"
Into the Wilderness, 1946-1955
257(26)
14 "I Was Born In 1956"
Crescendo in Blue, 1955-1960
283(26)
15 "Fate's Being Kind To Me"
Apotheosis, 1960-1967
309(26)
16 "That Big Yawning Void"
Alone in a Crowd, 1967-1974
335(30)
Afterword
363(2)
APPENDIX
Fifty Key Recordings
365(4)
Duke Ellington
Select Bibliography 369(14)
Source Notes 383(82)
Permissions 465(2)
Index 467(16)
About The Author 483