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 ELLINGTONNew 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.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
-
-
Problems are chances for us to do our best.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Playing ‘bop’ is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
You’ve got to find a way of saying it without saying it.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Create, and be true to yourself, and depend only on your own good taste.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
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 -
Jazz is a good barometer of freedom.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Be a number one yourself. And not a number two somebody else.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
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.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
The wise musicians are those who play what they can master.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Music is the tonal reflection of beauty.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
If it sounds good and feels good, then it IS good!
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Yet, every time God’s children have thrown away fear in pursuit of honesty-trying to communicate themselves, understood or not, miracles have happened.
DUKE ELLINGTON -
The Europeans who went to Africa came back with “modern’ art. What is more African than a Picasso?
DUKE ELLINGTON -
Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.
DUKE ELLINGTON