- Mr. Ellington, how is the position of the big band today as compared with in the 30s and the 40s?

- Well, the big band situation is just about the same as it has always been. I mean, anybody who wants to get into it can get into it, all they have to do is to come into it. And those who like to listen to big band and like to work in big bands and who like to hear the music every night, I mean, they're in it. But the people who are in it for, have to have a profit every week, why, when that's their only interest, then they drop out.

- [Interviewer] Are the big bands as popular with the general public today as they were in the 30s and 40s?

- Oh yeah, I think so. I mean, we stay organized 52 weeks a year.

- [Interviewer] There are some critics that say the big band era, as it was in the 30s and 40s, when towns around this country, for instance, such as St. Joseph and Topeka and Lawrence, Kansas City, had big name bands every week or every two weeks, this era is gone, and that the public sentiments are shifting over to the smaller groups. Do you think this is true?

- Well, there, it's a matter of money, I think. Musicians get a lot of money, a lot more money nowadays than they did, for instance, I have the biggest payroll in the world here. This is a gargantuan, absolutely, it's an impossible payroll, and if I had to keep it just for, and figure on a profit every week, I mean, you know, it would be no interest. But I'm hung, I'm stuck on listening. I like to listen. But the big band everywhere, well you must realize that everybody can't afford to buy a big band today because of the high price of musicians. And a lot of joints around the country which are too small to have big bands in it, and there are millions of 'em around that can handle a trio, and it has nothing to do with what the people like, I mean, it's just what the impresario or the guy who owns the joint can afford to, or is willing to invest.

- [Interviewer] One, some people claim that big bands are going to change, they're going through a change in that they won't have the brassy driving sound that we associate, generally, with the big bands. With your band.

- Who said that?

- [Interviewer] Well they think they're gonna come back with strings or something different.

- There's nothing wrong with strings. I mean, that's one of the great fallacies of people who talk about music who don't play it and so forth. They think in terms of an instrument, and the instrument has nothing to do with it. It's who's playing the instrument. It depends upon taste. I mean, you can play a violin just as bad as you can play anything else. Like people say, I love a string section, but what is that, I mean, who's playing it? I mean, you know, it has to have a personality.

- [Interviewer] So, in your opinion, big bands are here to stay?

- Big bands have always been here. There's quite a few of 'em around now. I mean, I don't see anything happening with 'em. It's, some guys like to rest sometime. All of 'em aren't addicted to music like I am. I have to listen to it 52 weeks a year. Some people take the more civilized viewpoint, I think, and say, well I must have a holiday for three months, you know, and I must have a holiday for six months, you know, and then I come back to work. It's the life of a gentleman band leader or something like that.

- [Interviewer] Thank you very much. Duke Ellington.

- I forgot, Mr. Fistwater, please let me tell your lovely listeners that we do love them madly.

- [Interviewer] Thank you very much. Duke Ellington. Thank you.