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
Tomorrow is in the wings waiting for you to sound her entrance fanfare.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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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 -
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 -
Now I can say loudly and openly what I have been saying to myself on my knees.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
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 -
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 -
Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous, you don’t want it.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
New 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 ELLINGTON -
Problems are chances for us to do our best.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
It’s like an act of murder – you play with intent to commit something.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Music is the tonal reflection of beauty.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
What does music mean to you? What would you do without music?
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Be a number one yourself. And not a number two somebody else.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
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 -
There is no art when one does something without intention.
DUKE ELLINGTON