some quotes by, and about 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.



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.


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.


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.


If a guy's got it, let him give it. I'm selling music, not prejudice.


Some of the overflow audience actually sat on the stage.


That night at Carnegie Hall was a great experience. When the thing was first put up to me I was a little dubious, not knowing just what would be expected of us.


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.


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.


A musician is a juggler who uses harmonies instead of oranges

It takes the black keys and the white keys both, to make perfect harmony.”
- Benny Goodman, The King of Swing
reply to when he was asked as to why he had an integrated band”

　

If you want to do something, you do it anyway, and handle the obstacles as they come."

　

If an individual allows his personal standard to be eroded, something of what he does is going to be compromised."

　

　

"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."

　

"The brilliant explosion known as Benny Goodman went off in 1935, and it hasn´t gone out yet."

　

"Benny Goodman is our ´International Ambassador With Clarinet.´
-- President John F. Kennedy upon Goodman’s return from a State Department sponsored concert tour in Russia, 1962

"Working for Benny was like being in a school of music. His discipline, knowledge and ability were great determining factors in my musical life.
-- Georgie Auld, tenor sax player

“I had never heard anyone play like Benny Goodman and had never seen anyone like him on the stage. I realize now that what impressed me and stayed with me in memory was – the sounds he made. He played so purely. The music seemed to come from him, not just the instrument he played with such mastery.”
-- actress Marian Seldes