"Playing "Bop" is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Composers from the United StatesMusicians from the United StatesJazz musiciansPianists from the United StatesConductors from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Look (August 10, 1954).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Duke_Ellington
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz composer, pianist, and band leader. Although a pivotal figure in the history of jazz, in the opinion of Gunther Schuller and Barry Kernfeld, "the most significant composer of the genre", Ellington himself embraced the phrase "beyond category", considering it a liberating principle, and referring to his music as part of the more general category of American Music.
24 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Duke Ellington →
Related Quotes
"I think of music sometimes in terms of color [...] and [in a furnace] I like to see the flames licking yellow in the …"
"[Sights enabling musical inspiration] The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician [...] Things like the…"
"As Bach says [...] if you ain't got a left hand, you ain't worth a hoot in hell."
"[Expressing a liking for trains] Folks can't rush you until you get off."
"You can't write music right [...] until you know how the man that'll play it plays poker."
"[Y]ou've got to write with certain men in mind. You write just for their abilities and natural tendencies and give th…"
"I know what sounds well on a trombone and I know what sounds well on a trumpet and they are not the same. [...] I kno…"
"My band is my instrument more than the piano."
"[Asked about the vogue for Rock 'n' Roll and calypso] [N]o matter what you call it, music is as good as it sounds. Mu…"
"It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)."