There is hardly any money interest in art, and music will be there when money is gone.
DUKE ELLINGTONCritics 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.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn’t want me to be too famous too young.
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Everyone prays in their own language, and there is no language that God does not understand.
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I don’t believe in categories of any kind, and when you speak of problems between blacks and whites in the U.S.A. you are referring to categories again.
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There is no art when one does something without intention.
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A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
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There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.
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My mother told me I was blessed, and I have always taken her word for it. Being born of – or reincarnated from – royalty is nothing Like being blessed. Royalty is inherited from another human being; blessedness comes from God.
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Yet, every time God’s children have thrown away fear in pursuit of honesty-trying to communicate themselves, understood or not, miracles have happened.
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It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
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Jazz today, as always in the past, is a matter of thoughtful creation, not mere unaided instinct.
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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.
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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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People do not retire. They are retired by others.
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Without a deadline, baby, I wouldn’t do nothing.
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What does music mean to you? What would you do without music?
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