
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
![Duke Ellington Quotes By Miles Davis: [Prince] could very well be the Duke Ellington Duke Ellington Quotes By Miles Davis: [Prince] could very well be the Duke Ellington](https://www.wisefamousquotes.com/images/duke-ellington-quotes-by-miles-davis-2036584.jpg)
[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