UNIVERSITY OF for immediate release OKLAHOMA PRESS 9780806164359.tif BOOKNEWS

An engaging biography of one talented person with two disparate musical personas

Taking a Chance on Love The Life and Music of Vernon Duke By George Harwood Phillips

When his friend persuaded Vladimir Dukelsky to change his name to Vernon Duke, what the music world already knew became apparent to the public at large—the man had two musical personas—one as a , the other as a tunesmith. One wrote highbrow music, the other lowbrow. Yet the two sides complemented each other. Neither could function without the other. Born and classically trained in imperial Russia, Vladimir Dukelsky (1903–1969) fled the Bolshevik Revolution with his family, discovered American popular music VOLUME 5 IN THE AMERICAN in cosmopolitan Constantinople, and pursued his budding interest to New York POPULAR MUSIC SERIES before his passion for drew him to , where the impresario Serge Diaghilev hired him to compose a for the Russes. SEPTEMBER 2019 $24.95 PAPER 978-0-8061-6435-9 Taking a Chance on Love immerses us in Duke’s dizzying globe-hopping and genre- 272 PAGES, 6 X 9 swapping, as financial concerns and musical passions drive him from composing 18 B&W ILLUS. symphonies to writing songs, from brilliant successes to Broadway flops, and from

BIOGRAPHY/MUSIC performing with classical performers to writing books and articles. Throughout, as he crisscrosses the landscape of American music, collaborating with lyricists such as FOR AUTHOR INTERVIEWS AND OTHER , , and Sammy Cohn, the incomparable Vernon Duke PUBLICITY INQUIRIES CONTACT: emerges clearly from these pages: sometimes charming, sometimes infuriating, KATIE BAKER, PUBLICITY MANAGER always entertaining. UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS TEL: 405 325 3200 Although Vernon Duke has entered the canon of American standards with such FAX: 405 325 4000 songs as “Taking a Chance on Love,” “I Can’t Get Started,” and “April in Paris,” Taking a Chance on Love [email protected] little is known about the composer with two personas. brings the intriguing double life of Dukelsky/Duke back into the spotlight, restor- AVAILABLE IN BOOKSTORES, ONLINE ing a chapter to the history of the and to the story of BOOKSELLERS, AND OUPRESS.COM twentieth-century music.

ORDER BY PHONE George Harwood Phillips is retired as Professor of History at the University of INSIDE THE U.S. 800-848-6224 EXT. 1 Colorado, Boulder, and is the author of The Tunesmith and the Lyricist: Vernon Duke, INTERNATIONAL 919-966-7449 Ira Gershwin, and the Making of a Standard. CALL CENTER HOURS: 8:30AM-5:00PM EST

SIGN UP FOR NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS, SPECIAL OFFERS, AND MORE AT OUPRESS.COM

THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY INSTITUTION. OUPRESS.COM CONNECT WITH US WWW.OU.EDU/EOO