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.
DUKE ELLINGTONGray skies are just clouds passing over.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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Self-discipline, as a virtue or an acquired asset, can be invaluable to anyone.
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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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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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The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen.
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Simplicity is a most complex form.
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There are 2 rules in life: Number 1- Never quit. Number2- Never forget rule number 1.
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Selfishness can be a virtue. Selfishness is essential to survival, and without survival we cannot protect those whom we love more than ourselves.
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I’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.
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I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.
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You’ve got to find a way of saying it without saying it.
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Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.
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People do not retire. They are retired by others.
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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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Everybody 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.
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There is no art when one does something without intention.
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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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Tomorrow is in the wings waiting for you to sound her entrance fanfare.
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New music? Hell, there’s been no new music since Stravinsky.
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If you have a great band with a mediocre drummer, you have a mediocre band. If you have a mediocre band with a great drummer, you have a great band!
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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.
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What does music mean to you? What would you do without music?
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Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous, you don’t want it.
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Without a deadline, baby, I wouldn’t do nothing.
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Jazz is a good barometer of freedom.
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A goal is a dream with a finish line.
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A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
DUKE ELLINGTON