"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." - Duke Ellington
source: Metronome (November, 1943)
Showing posts with label Duke Ellington Quotes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Duke Ellington Quotes. Show all posts
Duke Ellington Quotes
"He was born poor, died rich, and never hurt anyone along the way." - Duke Ellington (on Louis Armstrong)
Duke Ellington Quotes
"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." - Duke Ellington
in the back of my head, my brainwaves in his head, and his in mine." - Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington Quotes
"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." - Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington Quotes
"It is becoming increasingly difficult to decide where jazz starts or where it stops, where Tin Pan Alley begins and jazz ends, or even where the borderline lies between between classical music and jazz. I feel there is no boundary line." - Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington Quotes
"Roaming through the jungle of "Ohs" and "Ahs" searching for a more agreeable noise, I live a life of primitivity with the mind of a child and an unquenchable thirst for sharps and flats." - Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington Quotes
"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
"There is nothing to keeping a band together. You simply have too have a gimmick, and the gimmick I use is too pay them money!" - Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington Quotes
"I don't believe in categories of any kind, and when you speak of problems between blacks and whites in the U.S.A., you are referring to categories again." - Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington Quotes
"Love is indescribable and unconditional. I could tell you a thousand things that it is not, but not one that it is. Either you have it or you haven't; there’s no proof of it."
Duke Ellington Quotes
"Put it this way: Jazz is a good barometer of freedom... in its beginnings, the United States of America spawned certain ideals of freedom and independence through which, eventually, Jazz was evolved, and the music is so free that man people say it is the only unhampered, unhindered expression of complete freedom yet produced in this country." - Duke Ellington Quotes
Duke Ellington Quotes
"Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one." - Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington Quotes
"I never had much interest in the piano until I realized that every time I played, a girl would appear on the piano bench to my left and another to my right."
Duke Ellington Quotes
"The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen." - Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington Quotes
"You've got to find some way of saying it without saying it." - Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington Quotes
"Playing 'Bop' is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing." - Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington Quotes
"You've got to find some way of saying it without saying it." - Duke Ellington
