Jazz today, as always in the past, is a matter of thoughtful creation, not mere unaided instinct.
DUKE ELLINGTONEvery man prays in his own language.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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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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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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The Europeans who went to Africa came back with “modern’ art. What is more African than a Picasso?
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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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The wise musicians are those who play what they can master.
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Simplicity is a most complex form.
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I never had much interest in the piano until I realized that every time I played, a girl would appear on the piano bench to my left and another to my right.
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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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Self-discipline, as a virtue or an acquired asset, can be invaluable to anyone.
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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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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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Everyone prays in their own language, and there is no language that God does not understand.
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A musical profit outweighs a financial loss.
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If it sounds good and feels good, then it IS good!
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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.
DUKE ELLINGTON