New 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.
DUKE ELLINGTONPlaying ‘bop’ is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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I fluffed off the guy who kept requesting tunes all night, then found out he was the King’s son.
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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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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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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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Create, and be true to yourself, and depend only on your own good taste.
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You have to stop listening in categories. The music is either good or it’s bad.
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A goal is a dream with a finish line.
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Jazz today, as always in the past, is a matter of thoughtful creation, not mere unaided instinct.
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Dancing is very important to people who play music with a beat. I think that people who don’t dance, or who never did dance, don’t really understand the beat. I know musicians who don’t and never did dance, and they have difficulty communicating.
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By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with.
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Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.
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A musical profit outweighs a financial loss.
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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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People do not retire. They are retired by others.
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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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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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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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I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.
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Be a number one yourself. And not a number two somebody else.
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Without a deadline, baby, I wouldn’t do nothing.
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What does music mean to you? What would you do without music?
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Tomorrow is in the wings waiting for you to sound her entrance fanfare.
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Jazz is a good barometer of freedom.
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Self-discipline, as a virtue or an acquired asset, can be invaluable to anyone.
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There are 2 rules in life: Number 1- Never quit. Number2- Never forget rule number 1.
DUKE ELLINGTON