Nobody ever really liked “Black Beauty,” the working title of my Duke Ellington biography, so I spent a day last week trying to think of a better alternative. Actually, it took about five minutes for the light to come on, after which I said to myself, “Duh, I know–why not call it Mood Indigo: A Life of Duke Ellington?”
As a rule I don’t care for obvious titles, but sometimes the obvious solution to a problem is also the best one, and no sooner did this one come to me than I got the strong feeling that I was finally on the right track. I ran Mood Indigo past my publisher and Mrs. T, both of whom gave it a very enthusiastic thumbs-up. The next day I posted the new title on Twitter and Facebook and got unanimously favorable responses. So until and unless a decisively superior idea occurs to me, Mood Indigo it is.
Now all I have to do is finish the damn book!
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
