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There is nothing to keeping a band together. You simply have to have a gimmick, and the gimmick I use is to pay them money!

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

Association Audience Listening Music Perspective Play
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

Carry Criticism Focus Purpose Thinking
There is hardly any money interest in art, and music will be there when money is gone.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Art Interest Money Music
Selfishness can be a virtue. Selfishness is essential to survival, and without survival we cannot protect those whom we love more than ourselves.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Ourselves Selfish Survive Virtue
I don’t need time, I need a deadline.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Limitation Myself Time
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.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Kind Time Wasted Worry Yourself
The 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 ELLINGTON

Contribution Expression Music Myself Problem
Somehow I suspect that if Shakespeare were alive today, he might be a jazz fan himself.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Alive Fans Himself Suspect
It’s like an act of murder – you play with intent to commit something.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Act Commitment Murder Play Yourself
What does music mean to you? What would you do without music?
DUKE ELLINGTON

Important Meaning Music Yourself
Now I can say loudly and openly what I have been saying to myself on my knees.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Loud Myself Open
Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Herself Mistress Music Play
Jazz is a good barometer of freedom.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Freedom Goodness Measurement
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.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Failure Kind Music Result Success
Love is supreme and unconditional; like is nice but limited.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Limitation Love
There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Goodness Kind Music

There is nothing to keeping a band together. You simply have to have a gimmick, and the gimmick I use is to pay them money!

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There is nothing to keeping a band together. You simply have to have a gimmick, and the gimmick I use is to pay them money!

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Popular Authors

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