“Interpretations in Jazz: A Conference with Duke Ellington” (1947)

Abstract

Abstract Jazz today is no longer the jazz of twenty years ago. When I began my work jazz was a stunt, something different. Not everybody cared for jazz and those who did felt that it wasn’t the real thing unless they were given a shock sensation of loudness or unpredictability along with the music. For that rea son, I feel that I was extremely lucky to enter the picture when I did! I had to teach myself to read music. I relied on instinct rather than knowledge to guide me, and had to develop many techniques in spotlight positions. When I was playing at the Cotton Club, for instance, I had the luck to be engaged for three days at a theater in mid-town. All went well, and on the third day, kind of music. In addition, it requires a peculiar awareness of form and of the human thoughts and feelings these forms express. The young musician will do well to reflect on the needs of jazz before he gets himself a drum and starts out on a career.

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