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Benny
Goodman and long-time rival, Artie Shaw, are the two greatest and best-known
white clarinetists in the history of jazz. Both men achieved huge commercial
and critical success during their respective careers. It was Goodman, however,
who would forever be identified with the title, “King of Swing,” for his role
in the invention of the most popular jazz subgenre during the height of the
music’s popularity.
Benny
Goodman was born in Chicago ,
Illinois , in 1909. His parents
were Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire who struggled to provide for
their large family. Despite the family’s relative poverty, David Goodman
arranged for music lessons for three of his sons, including Benny, at a local Chicago synagogue. After
a year’s training, Benny Goodman, aged eleven, joined a boys’ club band and
received further musical training from the club’s director, and later from a
classically-trained clarinetist. With this solid foundation, Goodman would
launch a career that would span seven decades and would span musical genres
from early classic jazz to classical music.
Goodman’s
began his jazz career as a clarinetist in the Ben Pollack Orchestra at the age
of sixteen. He would make his first recording with the Pollack Orchestra in
1926. He would continue performing and recording with the Pollack Orchestra and
its various off-shoots until 1929. During this frenetic period, Goodman also
recorded with nationally- known bands of Ben Selvin, Red Nichols, and Ted
Lewis. He also recorded under his own name with trombonist Glenn Miller and
others as “Benny Goodman’s Boys.”
In the
early Thirties, John Hammond of Columbia records arranged for Goodman to record
in the company of other stellar jazz musicians in a jazz “all star” band. Other
members of the band included pianist Teddy Wilson and drummer Gene Kroupa, two
musicians that would form the core of the rhythm section of Goodman’s later orchestra.
In 1935, Goodman expressed interest in appearing on the nationwide radio dance
music show, “Let’s Dance.” At the advice of John Hammond, Goodman secured
“swinging” arrangements of songs from Fletcher Henderson, leader of one of New York ’s best jazz
orchestras. These arrangements helped make Goodman a hit with the West Coast
audience that heard his performance.
On the
strength of the Let’s Dance performance and the rave reviews of Goodman’s
recordings of “King Porter Stop” and “Sometimes I’m Happy” with Fletcher
Henderson arrangements, a large and enthusiastic crowd of young fans were
waiting in Oakland , California when the band played a show there
in August of 1935. When the Goodman band began to play, the crowd went wild.
The same reaction greeted the band in Los
Angeles during the debut of a three week engagement at
the Palomar Ballroom in August, 1935. During the three-week engagement the “Jitterbug”
dance was born, and along with it, the “Swing Era.”
In the
wake of the tremendous success of the Goodman band in California , Fletcher Henderson disbanded his
great orchestra and become Goodman’s full-time arranger. With the addition of
Henderson and pianist Teddy Wilson, both African-Americans, Goodman’s band became
the first racially-integrated jazz band in America . Goodman would later add
another African-American, the great Charlie Christian, on guitar.
Goodman was
coined, “The King of Swing” in 1937, and was secured as such when his orchestra
became the first jazz band to play New
York ’s Carnegie Hall, in 1938. The concert, which
included members of Count Basie’s and Duke Ellington’s orchestras, was a true
test for jazz music as an art form. If the high-brow Carnegie Hall set could be
moved by jazz, the music would earn a much needed stamp of approval from the
music establishment. After an uninspired start, the Goodman Orchestra slowly
built momentum and climaxed with an epic version of “Sing, Sing, Sing”
featuring spectacular solos by Goodman and pianist, Jess Stacy.
In 1939,
John Hammond introduced the electric guitarist, Charlie Christian, to Goodman
as a prospective band member. Despite initial doubts, Goodman was greatly
impressed with Christian’s playing and included him in the Benny Goodman Sextet
for the next two years. The sextet recordings with Christian including “Rose
Room,” “Breakfast Feud,” and “Grand Slam” are some of the finest recordings in
jazz history.
Goodman
continued to have tremendous success as a big band leader until the mid-Forties
when swing music began to lose steam. Goodman flirted with be-bop music and
even formed a bebop band before finally denouncing the music. In 1949, at the
age of 40, Goodman turned his back on jazz to devote himself to the study of
classical music. Following a lengthy retirement from jazz, Goodman died of a
heart attack in 1986.
A
plethora of fine collections are available for Goodman’s recordings at various
phases of his career including the fine four volume “Chronological Classics:Benny Goodman and His Orchestra” (1996) while “The Famous 1938 Carnegie HallJazz Concert Vol.1-2” (1950) is one of the finest live recordings of popular
music ever made.