New music? Hell, there’s been no new music since Stravinsky.
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.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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Love is supreme and unconditional; like is nice but limited.
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It is becoming increasingly difficult to decide where jazz starts or where it stops, where Tin Pan Alley begins and jazz ends, or even where the borderline lies between between classical music and jazz. I feel there is no boundary line
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Everyone prays in their own language, and there is no language that God does not understand.
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A goal is a dream with a finish line.
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There are two kinds of worries – those you can do something about and those you can’t. Don’t spend any time on the latter.
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Tomorrow is in the wings waiting for you to sound her entrance fanfare.
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Self-discipline, as a virtue or an acquired asset, can be invaluable to anyone.
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A Satin Doll is a woman who is as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside.
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My 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?
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If anybody was Mr. Jazz it was Louis Armstrong. He was the epitome of jazz and always will be. He is what I call an American standard, an American original.
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I don’t need time, I need a deadline.
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There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind the only yardstick by which the result should be judged is simply that of how it sounds. If it sounds good it’s successful; if it doesn’t it has failed.
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There is hardly any money interest in art, and music will be there when money is gone.
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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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Yet, every time God’s children have thrown away fear in pursuit of honesty-trying to communicate themselves, understood or not, miracles have happened.
DUKE ELLINGTON