It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
DUKE ELLINGTONIt 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
More Duke Ellington Quotes
-
-
I never had much interest in the piano until I realized that every time I played, a girl would appear on the piano bench to my left and another to my right.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
I fluffed off the guy who kept requesting tunes all night, then found out he was the King’s son.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
There is no art without intention.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
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?
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous, you don’t want it.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
I don’t need time. What I need is a deadline!
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Simplicity is a most complex form.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
A Satin Doll is a woman who is as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
You’ve got to find a way of saying it without saying it.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
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.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Gray skies are just clouds passing over.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Love is indescribable and unconditional. I could tell you a thousand things that it is not, but not one that it is. Either you have it or you haven’t; there’s no proof of it.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Critics have their purposes, 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 they did.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Now I can say loudly and openly what I have been saying to myself on my knees.
DUKE ELLINGTON