It’s like an act of murder – you play with intent to commit something.
DUKE ELLINGTONDancing is very important to people who play music with a beat. I think that people who don’t dance, or who never did dance, don’t really understand the beat. I know musicians who don’t and never did dance, and they have difficulty communicating.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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A musical profit outweighs a financial loss.
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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.
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There are 2 rules in life: Number 1- Never quit. Number2- Never forget rule number 1.
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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.
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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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Sing sweet, but put a little dirt in it.
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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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Be a number one yourself. And not a number two somebody else.
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By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with.
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Simplicity is a most complex form.
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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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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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A goal is a dream with a finish line.
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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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