The wise musicians are those who play what they can master.
DUKE ELLINGTONI don’t need time. What I need is a deadline!
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.
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If it sounds good and feels good, then it IS good!
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Music, 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.
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You’ve got to find a way of saying it without saying it.
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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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Tomorrow is in the wings waiting for you to sound her entrance fanfare.
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Everyone prays in their own language, and there is no language that God does not understand.
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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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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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Now I can say loudly and openly what I have been saying to myself on my knees.
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The artist must say it without saying it.
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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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Every man prays in his own language.
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It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
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I fluffed off the guy who kept requesting tunes all night, then found out he was the King’s son.
DUKE ELLINGTON






