A Quote by Joni Mitchell

Not to dismiss Gershwin, but Gershwin is the chip; Ellington was the block.

Joni Mitchell

Quote Topics

Block Chip Dismiss Gershwin

Quote Author

Joni Mitchell
Canadian - Musician
Born: November 7, 1943

The Gershwin legacy is extraordinary because George Gershwin died in 1937, but his music is as fresh and vital today as when he originally created it.

Michael Feinstein

Mercer was very clever. He knew the way Southerners spoke and put that into his lyrics. But in that whole era, you had the best. Harold Arlen was just fantastic. Cole Porter was better than anybody, and Gershwin was Gershwin, y'know. Johnny Mercer started Capitol Records, and he brought in Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Nat King Cole.

Tony Bennett

Gershwin's melodic gift was phenomenal. His songs contain the essence of New York in the 1920s and have deservedly become classics of their kind, part of the 20th-century folk-song tradition in the sense that they are popular music which has been spread by oral tradition (for many must have sung a Gershwin song without having any idea who wrote it).

George Gershwin

I play piano, a little Gershwin, before debates.

Michelle Wu

I'm a fan of Jerome Kern and Gershwin. That's my kind of music.

Shirley Jones

I wanted to honor [George Gershwin]. He's a great American songwriter.

Kristin Chenoweth

Ira Gershwin, shame on him. I mean, some of the writing.

Joni Mitchell

George Gershwin died on July 11, 1937, but I don’t have to believe it if I don’t want to.

John O'Hara

I was proud to work with the great Gershwin, and I would have done it for nothing, which I did.

Howard Dietz

I wanted to grow up to be George and Ira Gershwin from the age of about six.

Leslie Bricusse

Musically Bob [Dylan] is a primitive. He's not a Gershwin, or somebody that uses eloquent music terms.

Al Kooper

When I was 12, I didn't know about Nirvana or Oasis or any of those people. I was listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Gershwin.

Elisabeth Moss

To George Gershwin, on refusinghim as a pupil: You would only lose the spontaneous quality of your melody, and end by writing bad Ravel.

Maurice Ravel

In his musicals with Garland, Rooney was the sparkplug for prodigious entrepreneurship - that era's predecessor of the garage band, but with Gershwin tunes and an all-star cast.