In addition to Duke Ellington’s autobiography Music Is My Mistress, there are many biographies written about Ellington – some good and some not so good. John Hasse’s Beyond Categories is of course the essential one.
However, Ellington Galaxy likes to provide a concise, well structured and easy to read introduction to Duke Ellington for Ellington newcomers and Ian Bradley has kindly written one for the website. Go to this page to read it or download a pdf verson from here.
Another short and comprehensive Duke Ellington biography has been written by Brian Priestley for the 3rd edition of The Rough Guide to Jazz, the Essential Companion to Artists and Albums. It is reprinted in the Duke Ellington section of the website of Duke Ellington Society , Toronto and can be found here.