Duke Ellington on music and swing

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Written By Edward Wolfe

"It don't mean a thing if you ain't got that swing," Duke Ellington (1899-1974)

“Somehow, I suspect that if Shakespeare were alive today, he might be a jazz fan himself—he’d appreciate the combination of team spirit and informality, of academic knowledge and humor, of all the elements that go into a great jazz performance. And I am sure he would agree with the simple and axiomatic statement that is so important to all of us—when it sounds good, it is good.” April 1957 in Ellington’s program notes for a concert he performed entitled “Such Sweet Thunder.” Quoted here.

"It don't mean a thing if you ain't got that swing," his band played and sang in the video linked below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDQpZT3GhDg

Duke Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and jazz orchestra leader over a career spanning more than six decades.  He earned 14 Grammy Awards, the 1969 American Medal of Freedom, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

Links:

  • Britannica article on Duke Ellington

Other recordings by Duke Ellington's band:

My two little forays in jazzy swing:

Next week: How to Read Music (Reading) 3

Edward Wolfe

Edward Wolfe has been a fan of Christian apologetics since his teenage years, when he began seriously to question the truth of the Bible and the reality of Jesus. About twenty years ago, he started noticing that Christian evidences roughly fell into five categories, the five featured on this website.
Although much of his professional life has been in Christian circles (12 years on the faculties of Pacific Christian College, now a part of Hope International University, and Manhattan Christian College and also 12 years at First Christian Church of Tempe), much of his professional life has been in public institutions (4 years at the University of Colorado and 19 years at Tempe Preparatory Academy).
His formal academic preparation has been in the field of music. His bachelor degree was in Church Music with a minor in Bible where he studied with Roger Koerner, Sue Magnusson, Russel Squire, and John Rowe; his master’s was in Choral Conducting where he studied with Howard Swan, Gordon Paine, and Roger Ardrey; and his doctorate was in Piano Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature, where he also studied group dynamics, humanistic psychology, and Gestalt theory with Guy Duckworth.
He and his wife Louise have four grown children and six grandchildren.

https://WolfeMusicEd.com
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