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    Help!: The Beatles, Duke Ellington, and the Magic of Collaboration
    Help!: The Beatles, Duke Ellington, and the Magic of Collaboration
    Help!: The Beatles, Duke Ellington, and the Magic of Collaboration
    Audiobook11 hours

    Help!: The Beatles, Duke Ellington, and the Magic of Collaboration

    Written by Thomas Brothers

    Narrated by Keith Sellon-Wright

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The Beatles and Duke Ellington's Orchestra stand as the two greatest examples of collaboration in music history. Duke University musicologist Thomas Brothers delivers a portrait of the creative process at work, demonstrating that the cooperative method at the foundation of these two artist-groups was the primary reason for their unmatched musical success.

    While clarifying the historical record of who wrote what, with whom, and how, Brothers brings the past to life with photos, anecdotes, and more than thirty years of musical knowledge that reverberates through every page, and analysis of songs from Lennon and McCartney's "Strawberry Fields Forever" to Billy Strayhorn's "Chelsea Bridge." Help! describes in rich detail the music and mastery of two cultural leaders whose popularity has never dimmed, and the process of collaboration that allowed them to achieve an artistic vision greater than the sum of their parts.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateDec 12, 2018
    ISBN9781684413836
    Help!: The Beatles, Duke Ellington, and the Magic of Collaboration

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    Reviews for Help!

    4/5

    14 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      The Beatles and Duke Ellington's Orchestra stand as the two greatest examples of collaboration in music history. Duke University musicologist Thomas Brothers delivers a portrait of the creative process at work, demonstrating that the cooperative method at the foundation of these two artist-groups was the primary reason for their unmatched musical success. I found this book to be very enlightening about the history of the music of Duke Ellington and the Beatles. Ellington's period of history allowed him to take credit for music and lyrics from his band. At the time of the Beatles both Lennon and McCartney shared the collaboration of their songs which worked for them. Lots of info that I never heard about. This is a must read if you love music.
    • 4/5
      HELP! The Beatles, Duke Ellington and the Magic of Collaboration (2018) by Thomas Brothers. This is a classical study of the art of working together. I am reminded of the father handing a single twig to each of his many children and, when they broke them easiiy, handed around a bundle of the same type of twigs that none of the children could break. The power of collaboration, of working together and off of each other.With the first half of the book, Duke Ellington and the various incarnations of his bands through the decades is examined, While Duke took the vast majority of the credit for what the band performed, Mr. Brothers digs into the reality of what individual, often uncredited members of the band brought to the music. A born organizer and administrator with trunks full of tact, Mr. Ellington managed to create a long standing, highly successful orchestra that remained in the forefront of popular music for more than five decades. There were many players in these ensembles and each gave something more than just musicianship to the process. While the “Duke” probably took far more credit for the actual music than he should have, you can’t argue with the results.We all know the Beatles. Lennon, McCartney provided the shared basis for the start of the music writing while both Ringo and George provided many songs along the way. It was the genius of trying to outperform each other in the writing phase that helped propel the music of the Beatles to its place of prominence. It was the well honed musicianship and ability to share the spotlight that made the collaboration really work.Mr. Brothers has done his research to a great degree. The information he provides feels well founded and he manages to write in a style that is informative and inviting. A solid investigation.Of course, the way to breadths is with suitable music in the background. A finer pair of bands to listen to would be hard to find.
    • 4/5
      Brothers follows, ever so briefly, the careers of Ellington and the Beatles and their success through collaboration. The book is meticulously researched and easy to read (as long as the reader has some familiarity to the artists). The first half of the book highlights Ellington's career and shares insight into his success as an organizer more than an inventor. Ellington is portrayed more as a savvy businessman than as a great composer especially in his later career as Billy Strayhorn becomes the strength that carries Ellington. The second half of the book briefly jaunts through the Paul and John collaboration through the Beatles. Although Brothers focused on that partnership, this half felt rushed. Help! captured enough of these artists to allow Brothers theme of collaboration to work. It doesn’t hold up to some of the larger biographies of these artists but definitely should be put on the bookshelf of any Ellington or Beatles fan.
    • 2/5
      I won this through the Early Reviewers program.First off let me say I love music! I am a fan of both Duke Ellington and the Beatles. I listen to all kinds of music. I do not read music or play any instruments, but I listen.I found this book hard to get interested in. It took me several tries to get started listening as this is the audiobook version on CD. Finally once I got going it got more interesting. A little. I love listening to music and I am interested in behind the scenes type stories about how this song came to be done that way, or how this was recorded. Those type of stories were interesting. And that part of the book I enjoyed. But this book was also kind an expose in places. Billy Strayhorn was gay and may have had a relationship with Duke Ellington, the rest of the Beatles watched while George Harrison lost his virginity. I just don't care or really want to hear those kinds of things and I don't feel they have any kind of bearing on how the music came to be.The style of this book was dry, the narration was good. I made it all the way through the book but was glad when I was done.Duke ellington or the Beatles might have been ok, but it seems weird to lump them together.
    • 4/5
      I received a copy of the audiobook through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers group. I’ve seen some hardcore fans get very specific regarding the content of this work. While I know enough about The Beatles to know I love their music, I don’t have much additional background knowledge of their process. I found that the author gave good examples of how collaboration were something both groups really felt was central to their creative process. I also found the background in the Beatles section very interesting in comparison with The Four Seasons. While some may disagree with the author’s stance here, I think this is a great read for music buffs and historians alike.
    • 3/5
      I received a free advance review copy of this audiobook through the Library Thing Early Reviewers program.The author of this book is a Duke University musicologist, and I don't think I will represent the musicology well in this summary, although I did find it interesting to listen to. Brothers uses two popular music acts of the 20th century to illustrate the creative genius of musicians collaborating together to create new tunes: Duke Ellington and The Beatles.  This is basically two books in one with half the book about each group of artists.Ellington is generally depicted as a lone genius composer, but Brothers states that he was more of an arranger than a composer.  He relied on others - particularly Bubber Miley and later Billy Stayhorn - to write the songs, and his entire band contributed parts as they worked on a tune.  That Ellington frequently gave himself sole writing credit was a recurring source of disgruntlement for Ellington's band members.The Beatles are more widely recognized as a collaboration - Lennon-McCartney - although it's commonly believed that John Lennon and Paul McCartney only composed songs together in The Beatles' early years.  Brothers breaks down the recordings and shows that not only were Lennon and McCartney were collaborating right up until the Beatles broke up, but a wider group of collaborators contributed to creating the Beatles music including George Harrison, Ringo Starr, producer George Martin, sound engineer Geoff Emerick, guest artists like Eric Clapton and Billy Preston, and yes, even Yoko Ono.Brothers makes the controversial, but accurate, statement that Strayhorn was musically more talented than Ellington, and that McCartney's musical talent outclassed Lennon's.  But Ellington had the ability to listen to various solos by the artists in his band and arrange them tunefully, while Lennon brought a rock & roll edge and lyrical bite to McCartney's music.  As I noted, there's an academic level to this book that is perhaps beyond a novice to me, but I still enjoyed reading about these great artists and how they made their most memorable tunes.  But mostly, I want to listen to some Duke Ellington and The Beatles now.
    • 5/5
      Help!: The Beatles, Duke Ellington, and the Magic of Collaboration by Thomas Brothers illustrates the value, in two different styles of music, of collaboration. Brothers is contributing to the growing scholarship, resisted by some who bought the early "composer genius" story hook, line, and sinker, that Ellington's genius was far more in his ability to recognize, bring together, and market music than in his ability to compose it. He also brings out the importance of collaboration in The Beatles all the way to the end of their time together. In the case of Ellington doing research, which many have done before Brothers, only goes so far. A great deal of what is uncovered are press releases and interviews supporting the original script. What makes Brothers' analysis more complete and far more compelling is the inclusion of interviews with more of the musicians who openly acknowledge that Duke did not "compose" nearly as much as he organized and helped arrange. Those musicians as well as Brothers readily acknowledge Ellington's brilliance in this area. Brothers also brings a musicologist's ear to the study, recognizing the "fingerprints" of the various musicians and composers involved. This supports the stories from the musicians that were largely ignored previously. Simply doing massive amounts of research can only do so much, and if most of that research was simply finding more and more reports putting out the same story, well, quantity does not always equal quality.Brothers also makes it clear for both societal and cultural reasons that Ellington's model, which today would likely be frowned upon if enough credit wasn't given to others, was both accepted and functional for the period. Having the single front man, especially one with the talent of Ellington, worked in everyone's benefit There is no denying in this book that Ellington was a genius, it is just that the emphasis is placed where it belongs, on his organizational, big picture, and talent finding abilities rather than on his good, but far from genius level, composing skills.As for The Beatles, one of the beliefs among some fans is that when they were working on their last albums there was a lot less collaboration. That certainly would make sense if one looks at what was going on in their private lives. Brothers again uses both interviews and written accounts along with his trained ear to show the extent of collaboration that continued to the end. Anyone who thought either John or Paul was the main creative force was coming from a position of what they liked about the music rather than from the music itself. Brothers here does not so much place any Beatle above the other as he simply demonstrates that each had his own strength and his own weakness. Particularly in the case of Lennon-McCartney songs it becomes clear they needed each other to temper each others extremes and fill out any holes. Brothers seems to consistently show that songs popularly considered to be from Paul's genius was made complete by what John (and the others, including Martin) brought to the work; and that any considered to be from John's genius was made complete by what Paul and the others brought. In other words, in spite of their growing differences, when they were in the studio creating they were collaborating until the end.Also, I found Brothers' breakdown of the play between Rubber Soul/Pet Sounds/Sgt Pepper to be among the best I've seen. In addition to the usual comments about influence and inspiration there is a great deal of song by song, and even instrument by instrument, comparing and contrasting. This is perhaps the most grounded and concrete discussion of that fertile period for both bands.I highly recommend this to any fan of Ellington, The Beatles, jazz, rock, music history and musicology. Brothers goes deeply into specific compositions while also providing contextualization from personal lives and society as a whole. These artists did not create this music in a vacuum and Brothers helps us to place this music in both music history as well as world history.Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.