There is hardly any money interest in art, and music will be there when money is gone.
DUKE ELLINGTONThere is hardly any money interest in art, and music will be there when money is gone.
DUKE ELLINGTONWithout a deadline, baby, I wouldn’t do nothing.
DUKE ELLINGTONI’m sure critics have their purpose, and they’re supposed to do what they do, but sometimes they get a little carried away with what they think someone should have done, rather than concerning themselves with what he did.
DUKE ELLINGTONEverybody in Canada seemed to listen to what they enjoyed, and nobody could tell them what to like, or what was the popular, or what was the In thing. Even today, it is very hard to brainwash a Canadian.
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 ELLINGTONGray skies are just clouds passing over.
DUKE ELLINGTONA goal is a dream with a finish line.
DUKE ELLINGTONThere is no art when one does something without intention.
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 ELLINGTONI don’t need time, I need a deadline.
DUKE ELLINGTONI fluffed off the guy who kept requesting tunes all night, then found out he was the King’s son.
DUKE ELLINGTONBy and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with.
DUKE ELLINGTONNew 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.
DUKE ELLINGTONI don’t need time. What I need is a deadline!
DUKE ELLINGTONLove is supreme and unconditional; like is nice but limited.
DUKE ELLINGTONDancing is very important to people who play music with a beat. I think that people who don’t dance, or who never did dance, don’t really understand the beat. I know musicians who don’t and never did dance, and they have difficulty communicating.
DUKE ELLINGTON