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.

You have to look good.

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.

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.

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

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.

I feel I have only scratched the surface of what I know I am capable of doing.

Just because I’m playing Jazz I don’t forget about me. I play or write me the way I feel through Jazz.

Just to keep it interesting I’ll tune the guitar randomly, so I don’t know what’s going to come out.

The true musician is to bring light into people’s hearts.

The sign of a mature musician is knowing what not to play.

Do it again on the next verse and people think you meant it.

I have younger friends who don’t work and they aren’t doing so well. My secret is to keep going, keep working.

Without jazz, life would be a mistake.

I hate to think of Jazz as black and white, something political.

Whenever I’m in Kansas City, I think back to all the jazz-blues greats who played the blues here – like Count Basie, Charlie Parker and Jay McShann. I watched those guys jam in different places and heard a lot of things – but I couldn’t do what they did. They were too good.

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.

When the music changes, so does the dance.

I remember going to sleep many nights with a Gibson catalog, dreaming about getting a Les Paul. I finally did, with a loan from my Dad. It’s a really heavy instrument. But it plays like butter. I met Les backstage at a show once. Jeff Beck made me play ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ for Les, which was a little embarrassing. He changed history, big-time.

There has always been a tension between Jazz as a commercial music and as an art form.

Yeah, it’s more like playing what you think is appropriate for the moment, not forcing any particular style.