The purpose of the study recorded in this book is to focus on the work of the members of the trombone section that was at the heart of Ellington's acclaimed orchestra from its beginnings until Ellington's death in 1974. Much of the study focuses on the three giants who were the section in the 1930s and early 1940s: Joe Nanton, Juan Tizol and Lawrence Brown.

Each of the significant trombonists is dealt with in several different ways: Biographical information, in no way intended to be exhaustiv...