It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
DUKE ELLINGTONLove 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.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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Without a deadline, baby, I wouldn’t do nothing.
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Create, and be true to yourself, and depend only on your own good taste.
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What does music mean to you? What would you do without music?
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Sing sweet, but put a little dirt in it.
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There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.
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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.
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Playing ‘bop’ is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.
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Of the One O’Clock Lab Band after hearing their performance, and sitting in with them at the White House: “I wish it were mine”.
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I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.
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A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
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You have to stop listening in categories. The music is either good or it’s bad.
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You’ve got to find a way of saying it without saying it.
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Music is the tonal reflection of beauty.
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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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Simplicity is a most complex form.
DUKE ELLINGTON