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 ELLINGTONI’m sure critics have their purpose, 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 he did.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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Somehow I suspect that if Shakespeare were alive today, he might be a jazz fan himself.
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I don’t need time, I need a deadline.
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There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind.
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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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What does music mean to you? What would you do without music?
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There is no art without intention.
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Problems are chances for us to do our best.
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I don’t need time. What I need is a deadline!
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A problem is a chance for you to do your best.
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The problem of expressing the contributions that Benny Carter has made to popular music is so tremendous it completely fazes me, so extraordinary a musician is he.
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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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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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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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Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous, you don’t want it.
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A goal is a dream with a finish line.
DUKE ELLINGTON