Sing sweet, but put a little dirt in it.
DUKE ELLINGTONSing sweet, but put a little dirt in it.
DUKE ELLINGTONNew music? Hell, there’s been no new music since Stravinsky.
DUKE ELLINGTONOf the One O’Clock Lab Band after hearing their performance, and sitting in with them at the White House: “I wish it were mine”.
DUKE ELLINGTONI don’t need time. What I need is a deadline!
DUKE ELLINGTONThe problem of expressing the contributions that Benny Carter has made to popular music is so tremendous it completely fazes me, so extraordinary a musician is he.
DUKE ELLINGTONLove is supreme and unconditional; like is nice but limited.
DUKE ELLINGTONMusic is the tonal reflection of beauty.
DUKE ELLINGTONI 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.
DUKE ELLINGTONMy biggest kick in music -playing or writing- is when I have a problem. Without a problem to solve, how much interest do you take in anything?
DUKE ELLINGTONSelfishness can be a virtue. Selfishness is essential to survival, and without survival we cannot protect those whom we love more than ourselves.
DUKE ELLINGTONFate is being kind to me. Fate doesn’t want me to be too famous too young.
DUKE ELLINGTONWhat does music mean to you? What would you do without music?
DUKE ELLINGTONThere are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.
DUKE ELLINGTONI merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.
DUKE ELLINGTONYou’ve got to find a way of saying it without saying it.
DUKE ELLINGTONMusic, of course, is what I hear and something that I more or less live by. It’s not an occupation or profession, it’s a compulsion.
DUKE ELLINGTON