Band Quote by Maynard Ferguson

A few years later, my Uncle David took me to the Earle Theatre to hear Duke Ellington.

— David Amram

My father was a huge jazz fan, so I remember him playing Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughn, and Count Basie.

— Brian Stokes Mitchell

Duke Ellington always had a style: original, clean with interesting color combinations. He had an artist's eye.

— Wynton Marsalis

As for my band, well, my mentors were Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Jimmie Lunceford, and no one had a band more smartly dressed than…

— B. B. King

So I'm a young boy in the 1940s growing up, seeing Ralph Bunche on a regular basis, seeing Duke Ellington on a regular basis.…

— Ed Smith

You always come back to Duke Ellington - he's kind of like the thread that holds everything together from the big band descending to…

— Herbert

I remember those moments in my life when the tape came out on that Tuesday, and I went to Sam Goody to cop it.…

— Adrian Younge

I think I just had it by osmosis: an appreciation of Duke Ellington before I really even knew who he was.

— Brian Stokes Mitchell

The most memorable performance was my appearance in concert in Carnegie Hall. The first standup to do so.

— Shelley Berman

But it was great, we sit in the same dressing room where, like, Johnny Cash sat and Willie Nelson and all those guys. That…

— Alan Vega

I remember getting up and singing with them at Mile One arena in St. John's. It was such an honour that they asked me,…

— Sarah Harmer

The three great moments of my life had to be the concerts of Ellington in 1938, Dizzy in '48, and Ella in '52.

— Boris Vian