“It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Grundgestalt!”—Ellington from a Motivic Perspective

Abstract

A key to the enduring power of Duke Ellington's best compositions is their motivic integrity. For this reason, it is revelatory to consider his music from the perspective of “Grundgestalt” theory—a mode of analysis pioneered by Arnold Schoenberg. This theory argues that beneath the diversity of any composition is a single motivic idea. The value of this methodology for the understanding of jazz as a whole, and Ellington in particular, is explored through a study of three of Ellington's finest works: The Mooche (1928), Ko‐Ko (1940), and Far East Suite (1963–1966). This essay also explores the impact of Will Marion Cook's motivic thinking upon Ellington, and the value of looking at motivic composition, per se, from the perspective of Aesthetic Realism, the philosophy founded by Eli Siegel, whose central principle is: “The world, art, and self explain each other: each is the aesthetic oneness of opposites.”

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