艾靈頓表示他未滿20時，已經閱讀聖經三次了，所以當他寫出宗教演奏會時並不令人感到驚訝。這個演奏會是一部結合了歐洲及非裔美人類型及風格的三部曲系列演奏會。第一部曲的宗教演奏會於1965年在舊金山的葛瑞絲大教堂首演、二部曲則在紐約市的聖約翰大教堂演出，而三部曲則在倫敦的西敏寺登台。當有人問他為什麼花了那麼久的時間才完成了這些演奏會，他回道：「您可以胡亂演奏世俗音樂，但您不能愚弄上帝。」艾靈頓公爵的確深知如何搖擺音樂，而他也透過他的音樂教導世界如何跟著擺動。
　

Ellington said that by the time he was 20 he had read the Bible three times. It's no surprise, then, that he wrote the Sacred Concerts, a three-part series of concerts combining classical European and African American forms and styles. The First Sacred Concert premiered at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco in 1965, the Second at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, and the Third Sacred Concert at Westminster Abbey in London. When asked why it took so long to write the concerts, he said, "You can jive with secular music, but you can't jive with the Almighty." Duke Ellington certainly knew how to jive and with his music he taught the world how to swing along.

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