I'm not comfortable with categories, and I distrust most definitions. The word 'definition' is based on the word 'finite,' which would seem to indicate that once we've defined something, we don't need to think about it anymore. Artie Shaw More Quotes by Artie Shaw More Quotes From Artie Shaw 'Swing' is an adjective or a verb, not a noun. All jazz musicians should swing. There is no such thing as a 'swing band' in music. Artie Shaw adjectives swings musician If you don’t see the wonder in the most ordinary phenomenon, you’re not going to resonate very much. Artie Shaw phenomenon wonder ordinary Dance music-as I keep saying, you can dance to a windshield wiper... a windshield wiper that's fairly steady gives you a beat and all you need is an out-of-tune playing 'Melancholy Baby' and you've got dance music. Artie Shaw tunes baby giving That's the clarinet I used to use... but it's just a piece of wood, you know, with holes in it and they put these clumsy keys on it and you're supposed to try to take that and manipulate it with throat muscles and chops... and try to make something happen that never happened before. And when you do, you never forget it. It beats sex, it beats anything. Artie Shaw keys trying sex When I first met Benny Goodman he wouldn't talk about anything but clarinets, mouthpieces, reeds, etc. When I tried to change the subject, he said 'But that's what we have in common. We both play clarinet.' I said, 'No, Benny, that's where we're different. You play clarinet, I play music.' Artie Shaw different play firsts If you wanna dance, a windshield wiper'll do it-all you need is a beat. Artie Shaw beats ballet needs I did all you can do with a clarinet. Any more would have been less. Artie Shaw clarinet has-beens music Jazz was born out of the whiskey bottle, was raised on marijiana, and will expire on cocaine. Artie Shaw whiskey jazz bottles Essentially, the popular musician in America must learn that his basic job is to entertain people, to make them forget their sorrows for a moment or two; in the same sense that any popular art form must aim at the same distraction value. Any such job as that is basically a young man's business. It takes a young man's energy to go traveling around the country, night after night in a different place, prancing and cavorting around in front of mobs of people all out to try to forget their problems for an evening. And for a young man it can be a good enough way of life, if he happens to like it. Artie Shaw jobs country art An audience is in many respects no more than a mob under loose control. Artie Shaw audience You have no idea of the women I didn't marry. Artie Shaw no-idea funny-marriage ideas Listening to Benny [Goodman] talk about the clarinet was like listening to a surgeon get hung up on a scalpel. Artie Shaw scalpels clarinet listening I like the music. I love it & live it in fact. But for me the business part of music just plain stinks. Artie Shaw jazz music facts Somebody asked me once, 'Do you think that swing will ever come back?' And I said, 'Do you think the 1938 Ford will ever come back?' Artie Shaw swings jazz thinking An entertainer pleases others while an artist only has to please himself. Artie Shaw please music artist The good old days are neither better nor worse than the ones we're living through right now. Artie Shaw good-old-days old-days right-now If I could have done anything more, it would have been less Artie Shaw if-i-could has-beens done An artist should write for himself & not for an audience. If the audience likes it, great. If not, they can keep away. Artie Shaw music artist writing You run into a party and [a] woman comes up to you. She's the most beautiful creature you ever saw - Ava Gardner - and says, "I like you and why don't we get together?" What are you going to say, "No"? You'd have to be an idiot. She was an incredible creature. Artie Shaw running i-like-you beautiful People ask what those women saw in me. Let's face it, I wasn't a bad-looking stud. But that's not it. It's the music; it's standing up there under the lights. A lot of women just flip; looks have nothing to do with it. You call Mick Jagger good-looking? Artie Shaw light funny people
