In dicussing the later years of Duke Ellington's career, Ellington
business
associate Robert Udkoff had the following thing to say: (Bob Udkoff Quote) In later years,
in later years, Duke really began to tire. I'd say, you know, if you talk about the
last 6 or 8 years of his life-even though he continued his grind-and it was a grind. I
think he lost a good deal of his voomph, his creativity.
Seven years before his own death, Duke had suffered the loss of Billy Strayhorn; the man he once described as"my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brain waves in his head, and his in mine."
