Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellingtonwas an American composer, pianist, and bandleader of a jazz orchestra, which he led from 1923 until his death in a career spanning over fifty years...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPianist
Date of Birth29 April 1899
CountryUnited States of America
music missing playing-jazz
Playing 'bop' is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.
music play murder
It's like an act of murder-you play with intent to commit something.
writing play ifs-and
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.
music play mistress
Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.
play two mistress
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. ... I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues. ... I don't need time, I need a deadline. ...There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind. ... Music is my mistress, and she plays second fiddle to no one.
dance thinking play
Dancing is very important to people who play music with a beat. I think that people who don't dance, or who never did dance, don't really understand the beat... I know musicians who don't and never did dance, and they have difficulty communicating.
kinds spend time worries
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.
american-musician
You've got to find some way of saying it without saying it.
american-musician art
Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don't want it.
white house wish
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".
kings son night
I fluffed off the guy who kept requesting tunes all night, then found out he was the King's son.
chance problem
Problems are chances for us to do our best.
art modern modern-art
The Europeans who went to Africa came back with “modern' art. What is more African than a Picasso?
eye arms mines
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.