swing quotes

Bubber was the first man I heard use the expression,'it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.' Everything, and I repeat, everything had to swing.

- Duke (Edward Kennedy) Ellington
  Of trumpeter Bubber Miley.'The Most Essential Instrument', in Jazz Journal, Dec.

It don't mean a thing If it ain't got that swing.

- Irving Mills
  Song (music by Duke Ellington).