You’ve got to find a way of saying it without saying it.
DUKE ELLINGTONBilly Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brainwaves in his head, and his in mine.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
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Gray skies are just clouds passing over.
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Playing ‘bop’ is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.
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The artist must say it without saying it.
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Self-discipline, as a virtue or an acquired asset, can be invaluable to anyone.
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Be a number one yourself. And not a number two somebody else.
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Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn’t want me to be too famous too young.
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New York is a place where the rich walk, the poor drive Cadillacs, and beggars die of malnutrition with thousands of dollars hidden in their mattresses.
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It’s like an act of murder – you play with intent to commit something.
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Create, and be true to yourself, and depend only on your own good taste.
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Sing sweet, but put a little dirt in it.
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I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.
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I like any and all of my associations with music: writing, playing, and listening. We write and play from our perspective, and the audience listens from its perspective. If and when we agree, I am lucky.
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By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with.
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There is nothing to keeping a band together. You simply have to have a gimmick, and the gimmick I use is to pay them money!
DUKE ELLINGTON






