What does music mean to you? What would you do without music?
DUKE ELLINGTONBe a number one yourself. And not a number two somebody else.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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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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Somehow I suspect that if Shakespeare were alive today, he might be a jazz fan himself.
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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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Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.
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Billy Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brainwaves in his head, and his in mine.
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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.
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There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.
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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.
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Everyone prays in their own language, and there is no language that God does not understand.
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A Satin Doll is a woman who is as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside.
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Self-discipline, as a virtue or an acquired asset, can be invaluable to anyone.
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Music is the tonal reflection of beauty.
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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?
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Without a deadline, baby, I wouldn’t do nothing.
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Playing ‘bop’ is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.
DUKE ELLINGTON