Billy Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brainwaves in his head, and his in mine. — Duke Ellington Copy Share Image
In music, as you develop a theme or musical idea, there are many points at which directions must be decided, and at any time I was in the throes of debate with myself, harmonically or melodically, I would turn to… — Duke Ellington Copy Share Image
Jazz today, as always in the past, is a matter of thoughtful creation, not mere unaided instinct. — Duke Ellington Copy Share Image
The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen. — Duke Ellington Copy Share Image
The common root, of course, comes out of Africa. That's the pulse.The African pulse. It's all the way back from . . . the… — Duke Ellington Copy Share Image
The problem of expressing the contributions that Benny Carter has made to popular music is so tremendous it completely fazes me, so extraordinary a… — Duke Ellington Copy Share Image
If anybody was Mr. Jazz it was Louis Armstrong. He was the epitome of jazz and always will be. He is what I call… — Duke Ellington Copy Share Image
