Duke Ellington

Music is my mistress and she plays second fiddle to no one.

Life has two rules: 1. Never quite 2. Always remember 1.

A goal is a dream with a finish line.

The wise musicians are those who play what they can master.

A problem is a chance for you to do your best.

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

Good Jazz is when the leader jumps on the piano, waves his arms and yells. Fine Jazz is when a tenorman lifts his foot in the air. Great Jazz is when he heaves a piercing note for 32 bars and collapses on his hands and knees. A pure genius of Jazz is manifested when he and the rest of the orchestra runaround the room while the rhythm section grimaces and dances around their instruments.

Dizzy used to tell me I’m playing too hard. He’d say to not give everything. Miles told me that too.

Jazz is freedom. You think about that.

If your dreams don’t scare you they’re not big enough!

The saxophone is an imperfect instrument, especially the tenor and soprano, as far as intonation goes. The challenge is to sing on an imperfect instrument that is outside of your body.

I don’t have a favorite song that I’ve written. But I do have a favorite song: ‘Always on My Mind,’ the Willie Nelson version. If I could sing it like he do, I would sing it every night. I like the story it tells.

So much of Jazz doesn’t have an audience other than music students or musicians.

Jazz has such great feeling and emotional content it really doesn’t require technical understanding.

Just allow your feelings to go with the music and you’ll find yourself carried along by it fairly quickly.

I have won several prizes as the world’s slowest alto player and a special award in 1961 for quietness.

Our music is generally the music I would play way back when I was in the record business. So I’ll play World Waiting For The Sunrise and How High The Moon, maybe Over The Rainbow, some standards. But it depends upon the artist that comes up – if people like a certain kind of music, I will focus the show that way. Whoever walks up on to the stage is the star – he is the picture, we are the frame. The frame is there to make the star look better – let’s make this fellow the best he’s ever going to be.

There’s so much music out there and so many possibilities. I like anyone who plays any instrument.

Music opens up minds to dream great dreams about where you can go and what you can do.

For me, the main thing is spontaneity and taking chances.

I try to practice with my life.