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BLACK BOOKS MATTER

Brian Pinkney’s evocative scratchboard illustrations capture the color and swirl of Duke Ellington’s contributions to American music and culture. Andrea Davis Pinkney’s jazzy text (“You ever hear of the jazz playin' man, the man with the cats who could swing with his band?”) presents a short biography of both the man and his band from his early fascination with ragtime to his historic concert at Carnegie Hall. A scarce first edition in VG+ condition (with a light rubber stamp bookplate inside the front boards) in a Fine dust jacket, Duke Ellington was awarded a Caldecott Honor in 1999.