Ben Webster is one of the three most important tenor saxophonists of the swing jazz era, along with coleman hawkins and lester young, who lived between 1909-1973.
We have collected some Ben Webster Quotes
1- “I’ve been back in New York a year and a half now. Before that I was on the West Coast for five years. There’s no comparison between the two. You hear things in New York you don’t hear anywhere else. Unless these guys go out. Quite a few make it out to the Coast. Of course, you can’t stay in New York for ever. You have to move.” -Ben Webster
2- “Like every other place, I guess, Kansas City was quite a different city when I was a youngster there. They had quite a few clubs, and we had what we used to call jam sessions every night.” -Ben Webster
3- “I had the chance to play with Benny ‘The King’ Carter here in Copenhagen for three days in the Montmartre, and two days in Paris. ‘What a Thrill.’ He knows so much music, and he is the only person that I get the shakes trying to play my horn behind or with him (smile). However, it was a ball.” -Ben Webster
4- “I like to play things that people understand, or maybe tunes that they could recognize. And so – I play for the people, just as much as for myself. Because, as I say, I still like to play.” -Ben Webster
5- “I don’t listen to my own records a lot. Once in a while – to check out my mistakes. Because you can always see a spot or two in the record where you could have done better. So you more or less study this way.” -Ben Webster
6- “If you try all different styles that are in vogue, I think you con yourself. Me, I just stick by my guns; I don’t want to play out of another man’s bag.” -Ben Webster
7- “I don’t want to play out of another man’s bag.” -Ben Webster
