Artie Shaw Quotes

I like the music. I love it & live it in fact. But for me the business part of music just plain stinks.

An entertainer pleases others while an artist only has to please himself.

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?'

Jazz was born out of the whiskey bottle, was raised on marijiana, and will expire on cocaine.

An artist should write for himself & not for an audience. If the audience likes it, great. If not, they can keep away.

If you wanna dance, a windshield wiper'll do it-all you need is a beat.

If you don't see the wonder in the most ordinary phenomenon, you're not going to resonate very much.

If I could have done anything more, it would have been less

Benny Goodman plays the clarinet. I play music.

Any more would have been less.

I did all you can do with a clarinet. Any more would have been less.

An audience is in many respects no more than a mob under loose control.

I can't understand guys who just have to have your autograph. What do you do when you get home, take it out & look at it?

Listening to Benny [Goodman] talk about the clarinet was like listening to a surgeon get hung up on a scalpel.

You have no idea of the people I didn't marry.

Shoot for the moon - if you miss you'll end up in the stars.

'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.

You have no idea of the women I didn't marry.