The wise musicians are those who play what they can master.
DUKE ELLINGTONWithout a deadline, baby, I wouldn’t do nothing.
More Duke Ellington Quotes
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Create, and be true to yourself, and depend only on your own good taste.
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Playing ‘bop’ is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.
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There is no art when one does something without intention.
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Music is the tonal reflection of beauty.
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My mother told me I was blessed, and I have always taken her word for it. Being born of – or reincarnated from – royalty is nothing Like being blessed. Royalty is inherited from another human being; blessedness comes from God.
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If it sounds good and feels good, then it IS good!
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I like any and all of my associations with music: writing, playing, and listening. We write and play from our perspective, and the audience listens from its perspective. If and when we agree, I am lucky.
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There is no art without intention.
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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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The artist must say it without saying it.
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I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.
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Music, of course, is what I hear and something that I more or less live by. It’s not an occupation or profession, it’s a compulsion.
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Gray skies are just clouds passing over.
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Jazz is a good barometer of freedom.
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A Satin Doll is a woman who is as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside.
DUKE ELLINGTON