Skip to content

Duke Ellington Quotes

1899–1974 United States

Edward Kennedy Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz composer, pianist, and band leader. Although a pivotal figure in the history of jazz, in the opinion of Gunther Schuller and Barry Kernfeld, "the most significant composer of the genre", Ellington himself embraced the phrase "beyond category", considering it a liberating principle, and referring to his music as part of the more general category of American Music.

United States
Autobiographers
Composers
Conductors
Musicians

Also known as: Ellington, Duke

Random Duke Ellington quote

11 quotes

Roaming through the jungle of "oohs" 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.

Music Is My Mistress (1973)

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

Playing "Bop" is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.

My band is my instrument more than the piano.

Every man prays in his own language.

Section title and eponymous song of A Concert of Sacred Music (1965)

It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing).

Song title (1932)

Fate is being kind to me. [...] Fate doesn’t want me to be too famous too young.

As Bach says [...] if you ain't got a left hand, you ain't worth a hoot in hell.

You can't write music right [...] until you know how the man that'll play it plays poker.

There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind ... the only yardstick by which the result should be judged is simply that of how it sounds. If it sounds good it's successful; if it doesn't it has failed.

Where Is Jazz Going? Music Journal (1962)

[Expressing a liking for trains] Folks can't rush you until you get off.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Duke Ellington (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.