- Duke used to say of his music "I like big ole tears". The prime example has to be ...And His Mother Called Him Bill, a 1967 album of the music of Ellington's chief creative collaborator Billy Strayhorn, recorded just a few months after Strayhorn's early death from esophageal cancer at the age of 51. The whole album is this, but the last track really kills: Ellington plays a spontaneous (and devastating) version of Strayhorn's gorgeous ballad "Lotus Blossom" on the piano, while the band packs up their gear behind him since that recording session had come to an end.
- A recording of "Come Sunday" was played during Ellington's funeral. Everyone burst into tears when the song reached Johnny Hodges' solo, allowing the saxophonist himself to say his farewells to the Duke.note
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