After you’ve done all the work and prepared as much as you can, what the hell, you might as well go out and have a good time.
BENNY GOODMANThere was a refinement about his playing. You know, in those days I played a little trumpet, and I could play all the solos from his records, by heart.
More Benny Goodman Quotes
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When I first arrived (in New York), it seemed to me the most terrifying city in the world… all those big buildings.
BENNY GOODMAN -
You have to have the courage and confidence in your own ability. You have to know what the hell and who the hell you are in this business. Music may change, but I don’t think that ever will.
BENNY GOODMAN -
Creativity grows out of two things: curiosity & imagination.
BENNY GOODMAN -
If a guy’s got it, let him give it. I’m selling music, not prejudice.
BENNY GOODMAN -
There was a lot of playing going on, and the New Yorkers, of course, were a completely different crowd from what I’d known.
BENNY GOODMAN -
It takes the black keys and the white keys both, to make perfect harmony.
BENNY GOODMAN -
I think my first impression (of Bix Beiderbecke) was the lasting one. I remember very clearly thinking, ‘Where, what planet, did this guy come from? Is he from outer space?’
BENNY GOODMAN -
Some of the guys I played with .. didn’t go around learning more about their instruments from an intellectual point of view. All they wanted was to play hot jazz, and the instrument was just a means.
BENNY GOODMAN -
To this day, I don’t like people walking on stage not looking good. You have to look good. If you feel special about yourself then you’re going to play special.
BENNY GOODMAN -
I’d never heard anything like the way he played-not in Chicago, no place. The tone-he had this wonderful, ringing cornet tone. He could have played in a symphony orchestra with that tone. But also the intervals he played, the figures-whatever the hell he did.
BENNY GOODMAN -
If I have something I want to do, I make a business of doing it.
BENNY GOODMAN -
There was a refinement about his playing. You know, in those days I played a little trumpet, and I could play all the solos from his records, by heart.
BENNY GOODMAN -
As soon as it was understood that we could handle things in our own way, it was the thrill of my life to walk out on that stage with people just hemming the band in.
BENNY GOODMAN -
Too many young musicians today want to win polls before they learn their instruments.
BENNY GOODMAN -
I’d imagine that a lot of them criticized me-said my technique was too good. Something like that. But I’ve always wanted to know what made music. How you do it, and why it sounds good. I always practiced, worked like hell.
BENNY GOODMAN