If I have something I want to do, I make a business of doing it.
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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If you want to do something, you do it anyway, and handle the obstacles as they come.
BENNY GOODMAN -
One way or the other, if you want to find reasons why you shouldn’t keep on, you’ll find ‘em. The obstacles are all there; there are a million of ‘em.
BENNY GOODMAN -
People have often said to me, ‘You’re so relaxed when you play.’ Relaxed my elbow. It’s practice.
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 -
Creativity grows out of two things: curiosity & imagination.
BENNY GOODMAN -
When I first arrived (in New York), it seemed to me the most terrifying city in the world… all those big buildings.
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 -
I remember Glenn Miller coming to me once, before he had his own band, saying, How do you do it? How do you get started? It’s so difficult. I told him, I don’t know but whatever you do don’t stop. Just keep on going.
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 -
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 GOODMAN -
I don’t have any great love for Chicago. What the hell, a childhood around Douglas Park isn’t very memorable. I remember the street fights and how you were afraid to cross the bridge ’cause the Irish kid on the other side would beat your head in. I left Chicago a long time ago.
BENNY GOODMAN -
Sometimes when you start losing detail, whether it’s in music or in life, something as small as failing to be polite, you start to lose substance.
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 -
If a guy’s got it, let him give it. I’m selling music, not prejudice.
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