Duke Ellington Quotes

Love is supreme and unconditional. Like is nice, but limited. — Duke Ellington

I keep reverting (to Duke Ellington), he to me is the greatest ever and my favorite jazz philosopher, as such. — Cannonball Adderley

Problems are chances for us to do our best. — Duke Ellington

My attitude is never to be satisfied, never enough, never. — Duke Ellington

Simplicity is a most complex form — Duke Ellington

There are 2 rules in life:
Number 1- Never quit
Number2- Never forget rule number 1.
— Duke Ellington

My teachers are Duke Ellington and nature. — Toru Takemitsu

Now I can say loudly and openly what I have been saying to myself on my knees. — Duke Ellington

When I got through, Duke Ellington stood up and started the applause. — Ruth Brown

I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues. — Duke Ellington

I heard Sidney Bechet play a Duke Ellington piece and fell in love with the soprano saxophone. — Steve Lacy

A goal is a dream with a finish line. — Duke Ellington

You've got to find some way of saying it without saying it. — Duke Ellington

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. — Duke Ellington

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. — Duke Ellington

The artist must say it without saying it. — Duke Ellington

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! — Duke Ellington

Sing sweet, but put a little dirt in it. — Duke Ellington

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! — Duke Ellington

I don't need time. What I need is a deadline! — Duke Ellington

What does music mean to you? What would you do without music? — Duke Ellington

Selfishness can be a virtue. Selfishness is essential to survival, and without survival we cannot protect those whom we love more than ourselves. — Duke Ellington

A few years later, my Uncle David took me to the Earle Theatre to hear Duke Ellington. — David Amram

Count Basie was college, but Duke Ellington was graduate school. — Clark Terry

At least one day out of the year all musicans should just put their instruments down, and give thanks to Duke Ellington. — Miles Davis

A problem is a chance for you to do your best. — Duke Ellington

I fell in love with jazz when I was 12 years old from listening to Duke Ellington and hearing a lot of jazz in New York on the radio. — Steve Lacy

People do not retire. They are retired by others. — Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington always had a style: original, clean with interesting color combinations. He had an artist's eye. — Wynton Marsalis

Be a number one yourself. And not a number two somebody else. — Duke Ellington

Create, and be true to yourself, and depend only on your own good taste. — Duke Ellington

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 Ellington

You can't write music right unless you know how the man that'll play it plays poker. — Duke Ellington

Jazz today, as always in the past, is a matter of thoughtful creation, not mere unaided instinct. — Duke Ellington

Hurry, get on board, it's comin', listen to those rails a-thrumming all aboard. Get on the "A" train, soon you will be on Sugar Hill in Harlem. — Duke Ellington

I like to think Duke Ellington would probably embrace a fragrance as well. — Bryan Ferry

Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don't want it. — Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington was famous for hs very original harmonic patterns. — Lawrence Welk

By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn't want your daughter to associate with. — Duke Ellington

The Europeans who went to Africa came back with modern' art. What is more African than a Picasso? — Duke Ellington

There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind. — Duke Ellington

New music? Hell, there's been no new music since Stravinsky. — Duke Ellington

Everyone prays in their own language, and there is no language that God does not understand. — Duke Ellington

There is hardly any money interest in art, and music will be there when money is gone. — Duke Ellington

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". — Duke Ellington

Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be too famous too young. — Duke Ellington

Tomorrow is in the wings waiting for you to sound her entrance fanfare. — Duke Ellington

It's like Duke Ellington said, there are only two kinds of music - good and bad. And you can tell when something is good. — Ray Charles

Every man prays in his own language. — Duke Ellington

Somehow I suspect that if Shakespeare were alive today, he might be a jazz fan himself. — Duke Ellington

I don't need time, I need a deadline. — Duke Ellington

You've got to find a way of saying it without saying it. — Duke Ellington

The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen. — Duke Ellington

If I were to put on Barbra Streisand and Duke Ellington, one might say the combination isn't good. — Norman Granz

Playing 'bop' is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing. — Duke Ellington

Critics get a little carried away with what someone should have done, rather than what he did. — Duke Ellington

If it sounds good, it IS good. — Duke Ellington

I fluffed off the guy who kept requesting tunes all night, then found out he was the King's son. — Duke Ellington

Without a deadline, baby, I wouldn't do nothing. — Duke Ellington

The wise musicians are those who play what they can master. — Duke Ellington

There is no art when one does something without intention. — Duke Ellington

Music is the tonal reflection of beauty. — Duke Ellington

You have to stop listening in categories. The music is either good or it's bad. — Duke Ellington

As for my band, well, my mentors were Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Jimmie Lunceford, and no one had a band more smartly dressed than Duke. — B.B. King

There is no art without intention. — Duke Ellington

A Satin Doll is a woman who is as pretty on the inside as she is on the outside. — Duke Ellington

Self-discipline, as a virtue or an acquired asset, can be invaluable to anyone. — Duke Ellington

It's like an act of murder; you play with intent to commit something. — Duke Ellington

It doesn't mean a thing if you ain't got that swing — Duke Ellington

Jazz is a good barometer of freedom. — Duke Ellington

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. — Duke Ellington

[Prince] could very well be the Duke Ellington of Rock 'n' Roll. — Miles Davis

If it sounds good and feels good, then it IS good! — Duke Ellington

Music is my mistress, and she plays second fiddle to no one. — Duke Ellington