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 many people say it is the only unhampered, unhindered expression of complete freedom yet produced in this country.
Duke EllingtonMusic, 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 EllingtonThe Europeans who went to Africa came back with โmodern' art. What is more African than a Picasso?
Duke EllingtonThere is nothing to keeping a band together. You simply have to have a gimmick, and the gimmick I use is to pay them money!
Duke Ellington