Quote

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

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Duke Ellington
Age: 75 †
Born: 1899
Born: April 29
Died: 1974
Died: May 24
Autobiographer
Bandleader
Composer
Conductor
Film Score Composer
Jazz Arranger
Jazz Musician
Lyricist
Music Arranger
Musician
Pianist
Washington
District of Columbia
Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy Ellington
Edward K. Ellington
Music
Standard
Always
Originals
Original
Jazz
Standards
Anybody
Epitome
Call
Armstrong
American
Louis

More quotes by Duke Ellington

Image
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
Image
I'm sure critics have their purpose, and they're supposed to do what they do, but sometimes they get a little carried away with what they think someone should have done, rather than concerning themselves with what he did.
Duke Ellington
Image
Somehow I suspect that if Shakespeare were alive today, he might be a jazz fan himself.
Duke Ellington
Image
What does music mean to you? What would you do without music?
Duke Ellington
Image
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
Image
Create, and be true to yourself, and depend only on your own good taste.
Duke Ellington
Image
Love is supreme and unconditional like is nice but limited.
Duke Ellington
Image
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
Image
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
Image
People do not retire. They are retired by others.
Duke Ellington
Image
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
Image
A musical profit outweighs a financial loss.
Duke Ellington
Image
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
Image
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.
Duke Ellington
Image
Problems are chances for us to do our best.
Duke Ellington
Image
Self-discipline, as a virtue or an acquired asset, can be invaluable to anyone.
Duke Ellington
Image
A goal is a dream with a finish line.
Duke Ellington
Image
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
Image
On becoming more acquainted with the word of the Bible, I began to understand so much more of what I had been taught, and of what I had learned about life and about the people in mine.
Duke Ellington
Image
I don't need time. What I need is a deadline!
Duke Ellington