Benny Goodman — Free listening, videos, concerts, stats and photos at Last.fm fip Benny Goodman, born Benjamin David Goodman, (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American jazz musician, known as King of Swing, Patriarch of the Clarinet, The Professor, and Swing's Senior Statesman. Goodman was regarded by some as a demanding taskmaster, by others an arrogant and eccentric martinet. Many musicians spoke of The Ray, Goodman's trademark glare that he bestowed on a musician who failed to perform to his demanding standards. Anita O'Day and Helen Forrest spoke bitterly of their… read more Benny Goodman | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by William Ruhlmann Benny Goodman was the first celebrated bandleader of the Swing Era, dubbed "The King of Swing," his popular emergence marking the beginning of the era. He was an accomplished clarinetist whose distinctive playing gave an identity both to his big band and to the smaller units he led simultaneously. The most popular figure of the first few years of the Swing Era, he continued to perform until his death 50 years later.

Goodman was the son of Russian immigrants David Goodman, a tailor, and Dora Rezinsky Goodman. He first began taking clarinet lessons at ten at a synagogue, after which he joined the band at Hull House, a settlement home. He made his professional debut at 12 and dropped out of high school at 14 to become a musician. At 16, in August 1925, he joined the Ben Pollack band, with which he made his first released band recordings in December 1926. His first recordings under his own name were made in January 1928. At 20, in September 1929, he left Pollack to settle in New York and work as a freelance musician, working at recording sessions, radio dates, and in the pit bands of Broadway musicals. He also made recordings under his own name with pickup bands, first reaching the charts with "He's Not Worth Your Tears" (vocal by Scrappy Lambert) on Melotone Records in January 1931.

He signed to Columbia Records in the fall of 1934 and reached the Top Ten in early 1934 with "Ain't Cha Glad?" (vocal by Jack Teagarden ), "Riffin' the Scotch" (vocal by Billie Holiday ), and "Ol' Pappy" (vocal by Mildred Bailey ), and in the spring with "I Ain't Lazy, I'm Just Dreamin'" (vocal by Jack Teagarden ). These record successes and an offer to perform at Billy Rose 's Music Hall inspired Goodman to organize a permanent performing orchestra, which gave its first performance on June 1, 1934. His instrumental recording of "Moon Glow" hit number one in July, and he scored two more Top Ten hits in the fall with the instrumentals "Take My Word" and "Bugle Call Rag." After a four-and-a-half-month stay at the Music Hall, he was signed for the Saturday night Let's Dance program on NBC radio, playing the last hour of the three-hour show.

During the six months he spent on the show, he scored another six Top Ten hits on Columbia, then switched to RCA Victor, for which he recorded five more Top Ten hits by the end of the year. After leaving Let's Dance, Goodman undertook a national tour in the summer of 1935. It was not particularly successful until he reached the West Coast, where his segment of Let's Dance had been heard three hours earlier than on the East Coast. His performance at the Palomar Ballroom near Los Angeles on August 21, 1935, was a spectacular success, remembered as the date on which the Swing Era began. He moved on to a six-month residency at the Congress Hotel in Chicago, beginning in November. He scored 15 Top Ten hits in 1936, including the chart-toppers "It's Been So Long," "Goody-Goody," "The Glory of Love," "These Foolish Things Remind Me of You," and "You Turned the Tables on Me" (all vocals by Helen Ward ).

He became the host of the radio series The Camel Caravan, which ran until the end of 1939, and in October 1936, the orchestra made its film debut in The Big Broadcast of 1937. The same month, Goodman began a residency at the Pennsylvania Hotel in New York. Goodman 's next number one hit, in February 1937, featured Ella Fitzgerald on vocals and was the band's first hit with new trumpeter Harry James . It was also the first of six Top Ten hits during the year, including the chart-topping "This Year's Kisses" (vocal by Margaret McCrae ). In December, the band appeared in another film, Hollywood Hotel.

The peak of Goodman 's renown in the 1930s came on January 16, 1938, when he performed a concert at Carnegie Hall, but he went on to score 14 Top Ten hits during the year, among them the number ones "Don't Be That Way" (an instrumental) and "I Let a Song Go out of My Heart" (vocal by Martha Tilton ), as well as the thrilling instrumental "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)," which later was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. By 1939, Goodman had lost such major instrumentalists as Gene Krupa and Harry James , who left to found their own bands, and he faced significant competition from newly emerged bandleaders such as Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller . But he still managed to score eight Top Ten hits during the year, including the chart-topper "And the Angels Sing" (vocal by Martha Tilton ), another inductee to the Grammy Hall of Fame. He returned to Columbia Records in the fall. In November, he appeared in the Broadway musical Swingin' the Dream, leading a sextet.

The show was short-lived, but it provided him with the song "Darn That Dream" (vocal by Mildred Bailey ), which hit number one for him in March 1940. It was the first of only three Top Ten hits he scored in 1940, his progress slowed by illness; in July he disbanded temporarily and underwent surgery for a slipped disk, not reorganizing until October. He scored two Top Ten hits in 1941, one of which was the chart-topper "There'll Be Some Changes Made" (vocal by Louise Tobin ), and he returned to radio with his own show. Among his three Top Ten hits in 1942 were the number ones "Somebody Else Is Taking My Place" (vocal by Peggy Lee ) and the instrumental "Jersey Bounce." He also appeared in the film Syncopation, released in May. American entry into World War II and the onset of the recording ban called by the American Federation of Musicians in August 1942 made things difficult for all performers.

Goodman managed to score a couple of Top Ten hits, including the number one "Taking a Chance on Love" (vocal by Helen Forrest ), in 1943, drawn from material recorded before the start of the ban. And he used his free time to work in films, appearing in three during the year: The Powers Girl (January), Stage Door Canteen (July), and The Gang's All Here (December). Goodman disbanded in March 1944. He appeared in the film Sweet and Low-Down in September and played with a quintet in the Broadway revue Seven Lively Arts, which opened December 7 and ran 182 performances. Meanwhile, the musicians union strike was settled, freeing him to go back into the recording studio. In April 1945, his compilation album Hot Jazz reached the Top Ten on the newly instituted album charts. He reorganized his big band and scored three Top Ten hits during the year, among them "Gotta Be This or That" (vocal by Benny Goodman ), which just missed hitting number one.

"Symphony" (vocal by Liza Morrow ) also came close to hitting number one in early 1946, and Benny Goodman Sextet Session did hit number one on the album charts in May 1946. Goodman hosted a radio series with Victor Borge in 1946-1947, and he continued to record, switching to Capitol Records. He appeared in the film A Song Is Born in October 1948 and meanwhile experimented with bebop in his big band. But in December 1949, he disbanded, though he continued to organize groups on a temporary basis for tours and recording sessions. If popular music had largely passed Goodman by as of 1950, his audience was not tired of listening to his vintage music. He discovered a recording that had been made of his 1938 Carnegie Hall concert and Columbia Records released it on LP in November 1950 as Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert, Vol. 1 & 2 . It spent a year in the charts, becoming the best-selling jazz album ever up to that time, and was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

A follow-up album of airchecks, Benny Goodman 1937-1938: Jazz Concert No. 2, hit number one in December 1952. The rise of the high fidelity 12" LP led Goodman to re-record his hits for the Capitol album B.G. in Hi-Fi , which reached the Top Ten in March 1955. A year later, he had another Top Ten album of re-recordings with the soundtrack album for his film biography, The Benny Goodman Story, in which he was portrayed by Steve Allen but dubbed in his own playing. After a tour of the Far East in 1956-1957, Goodman increasingly performed overseas. His 1962 tour of the U.S.S.R. resulted in the chart album Benny Goodman in Moscow . In 1963, RCA Victor staged a studio reunion of the Benny Goodman Quartet of the 1930s, featuring Goodman , Gene Krupa , Teddy Wilson , and Lionel Hampton . The result was the 1964 chart album Together Again!

Goodman recorded less frequently in his later years, though he reached the charts in 1971 with Benny Goodman Today , recorded live in Stockholm. His last album to be released before his death from a heart attack at 77 was Let's Dance , a television soundtrack, which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band. Goodman 's lengthy career and his popular success especially in the 1930s and '40s has resulted in an enormous catalog. His major recordings are on Columbia and RCA Victor, but Music Masters has put out a series of archival discs from his personal collection, and many small labels have issued airchecks. The recordings continue to demonstrate Goodman 's remarkable talents as an instrumentalist and as a bandleader. The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert (Live) by Benny Goodman on Apple Music by casbo It doesn't matter what type of music you like; rock, rap, jazz, pop, etc. You HAVE to hear this music! Once you get past the surface noise from the masters, the music becomes alive and amazing. Just listen to the first cut "Don't Be That Way" and check out drummer Gene Kupra's drum riff mid way through.

Or listen to Lionnel Hampton's vibes on "Avalon". What a powerful performance. "Life Goes To A Party" and "Swingtime In The Rockies" are also great. And of course "Sing Sing Sing" brings it home with amazing solos and beat. Just try standing still. You won't. Remarkable grouping of 30's jazz personnel jam live by ERICTD Personnel from 3 of the top swing bands of the day came together on an historic night to jam, really, around a long list of popular tunes. Benny Goodman( BG) led with his band, augmented by personnel from Count Basie and Duke Ellington ( the Count played, Duke did not). Many of these personnel went on to form their own bands later on. Truly an all-star group of musicians all on the same stage, over which hung a single microphone. ( Recording was an after-thought: the tapes would be lost for 10 years, surfacing in BG’s closet). By coming together from different perspectives, these “all-stars” gave tunes like One O’clock Jump, Don’t Be That Way, and Honeysuckle Rose added life.

Sing, Sing, Sing never was nor would it be again played this way, with Krupa so strong, and with an unplanned, virtuoso piano solo by Jess Stacy that people marvel at still. The explosive drum riffs in Don’t Be That Way by Krupa were not scripted either, and are credited with getting the musicians loosened up on this first song, all except Krupa nervous about being in Carnegie Hall, up until then reserved for classical music. Three other features should be mentioned: very classy women’s vocals on several popular tunes, the miraculous (really) and rhythmic sound of the BG quartet ( Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson. Gene Krupa, and BG), and the history lesson embedded in the middle third of the concert: six tunes trace jazz arrangements ranging back 20 years, covering Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and others. But mostly there is so much good music in one place. Your feet will tap. You’ll appreciate all the solos, and the wailing finishes. This is my favorite album, and I’m more than biased since it was my Dad’s first LP, which I wore out learning to play the drums. Definitely a collector’s item.

(get the latest version of the CD that contains many extras, including a solo by Freddie Green on rhythm guitar, that was insensitively ordered up by BG on Honeysuckle Rose, but for which Freddie had the wrong guitar! And cut from the orig albums – BG was embarrassed) Terrible Waste of Money . . . by JazzFan2011 Warning to anyone who loves Benny Goodman: don't buy this album, it's a total waste of money. The "surface noise" is so loud and obtrusive and the music itself so dull and muted that you can't listen to it for more than a minute before getting a crushing headache. In fact, it's as if the producers blunted the music and amped up the noise. We want to hear the music, not the limitations of 1938 recording technology. This could easily have been a knock out by simply remastering the album to get rid of the noise and accentuate the great music and the audience reactions. It's simply inexcusable in the 21st century and a golden opportunity wasted.

Biography Born: May 30, 1909 in Chicago, IL Genre: Jazz Years Active: '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s Benny Goodman was the first celebrated bandleader of the Swing Era, dubbed "The King of Swing," his popular emergence marking the beginning of the era. He was an accomplished clarinetist whose distinctive playing gave an identity both to his big band and to the smaller units he led simultaneously. The most popular figure of the first few years of the Swing Era, he continued to perform until his death 50 years later. Goodman was the son of Russian immigrants David Goodman, a tailor, and Dora Rezinsky... Top Albums and Songs by Benny Goodman 1. Benny Goodman's Clarinet | Arts & Culture | Smithsonian Contact Privacy Policy Terms of Use Benny Goodman's Clarinet Late in his career, jazz musician Benny Goodman favored a Parisian “licorice stick” as his instrument of choice Goodman played the clarinet even "during the commercial breaks of the World Series," according to one of his daughters.

(Bettmann / Corbis) Smithsonian Magazine | Subscribe April 2009 In the hierarchy of musical instruments, the clarinet tends to get short shrift—at least compared with the violin, cello or piano. But the inauguration of Barack Obama raised the instrument's profile when Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera orchestra, performed with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianist Gabriela Montero before a global television audience estimated at a billion viewers. (The fact that cold weather forced the musicians to finger-sync to their own recording hardly diminished the clarinet's star turn.) From This Story [×] CLOSE Benny Goodman's National Museum of American History clarinet was crafted in the workshops of the legendary Parisian woodwinds manufacturer Buffet Crampon in 1967. (Hugh Talman / NMAH, SI) Goodman played the clarinet even "during the commercial breaks of the World Series," according to one of his daughters.

(Bettmann / Corbis) Under the Radar with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles The clarinet's other notable high notes include 1771, when Mozart composed the first of his clarinet works, a divertimento, and 1920, when 11-year-old Beno Goodman first picked up the instrument in a Chicago tenement. Beno, the ninth of 12 children born to Russian-immigrant parents, would of course become Benny Goodman, and would perform some of the greatest music of the big-band or any other era. One of Goodman's clarinets now resides within the collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (NMAH), where Jazz Appreciation Month is celebrated each April and where Goodman's centenary year—he was born May 30, 1909—will be enthusiastically observed next month. In the hands of a man who was equally at home in jazz and classical music, the clarinet was—to use its affectionate nickname—one sweet licorice stick. "Benny Goodman was the most popular clarinetist in American history," says curator John Edward Hasse.

"As a clarinetist and a band leader, he played a key role in moving jazz from the margins of American society to the mainstream. He led the most influential, for a time the most popular, and perhaps the most polished of the big bands of the swing era." Goodman's NMAH clarinet was crafted in the workshops of the legendary Parisian woodwinds manufacturer Buffet Crampon in 1967. The maestro used it during the latter part of a long career. "He was playing in smaller jazz groups by then," says Russ Connor, author of Benny Goodman: Listen to His Legacy. In the years after the big-band heyday, Connor adds, Goodman "had more time to play classical music. He was very choosy about instruments and reeds; even though he'd played Selmer clarinets and advertised for them earlier in his career, he had a natural affinity for the Buffet." In 1990, four years after Goodman's death at age 76, his daughters Rachel Goodman Edelson and Benjie Alice Goodman Lasseau donated the instrument, along with a music stand and chair used by their father during practice sessions, to the Smithsonian.

"He practiced all the time," recalls Lasseau, "and he always seemed to have a clarinet handy. He even practiced during the commercial breaks of the World Series." Goodman performed until the end of his life. "He died of a heart attack in his New York City apartment in June 1986 while rehearsing for a Mostly Mozart concert," says Susan Satz, business manager for the Goodman estate. Goodman's crossover genius—he brought classical training to jazz, even as he raised the stature of jazz and expanded its audience—was on brilliant display in the now-legendary Carnegie Hall concert of January 16, 1938. On that memorable night, Goodman brought his big band, including such greats as drummer Gene Krupa, trumpeter Harry James and vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, to the great Manhattan bastion of the classics. When Goodman and crew lit up the hall with hot-jazz composer Louis Prima's number "Sing, Sing, Sing," people began dancing in the aisles, a first for the venerable symphony space. "I grew up listening to all of [Goodman's] recordings," McGill told me in a phone interview after the Obama inaugural.

"His recordings of works by Aaron Copland, Morton Gould, Igor Stravinsky and others are still available, so he's still enormously influential. Goodman was such a superstar that you really have to listen." Owen Edwards is a freelance writer and author of the book Elegant Solutions. Single Page Previous Page 1 of 2 Next 1 2 Like this article? Benny Goodman Biography | OLDIES.com Benny Goodman Biography Overview Biography Songs Similar Artists DVDs CDs Vinyl Books Benjamin David Goodman, 30 May 1909, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 20 June 1986, New York City, New York, USA. Born into a large, impoverished family of immigrants, Goodman experienced hard times while growing up. Encouraged by his father to learn a musical instrument, Goodman and two of his brothers took lessons; as the youngest and smallest he learned to play the clarinet. These early studies took place at the Kehelah Jacob Synagogue and later at Hull House, a settlement house founded by reformer Jane Addams. From the start, Goodman displayed an exceptional talent and he received personal tuition from James Sylvester and then the renowned classicist Franz Schoepp (who also taught Buster Bailey around the same time).

Before he was in his teens, Goodman had begun performing in public and was soon playing in bands with such emerging jazz artists as Jimmy McPartland, Frank Teschemacher and Dave Tough. Goodmans precocious talent allowed him to become a member of the American Federation of Musicians at the age of 14 and that same year he played with Bix Beiderbecke. By his mid-teens Goodman was already established as a leading musician, working on numerous engagements with many bands to the detriment of his formal education. In 1925 he was heard by Gil Rodin, who was then with the popular band led by Ben Pollack. Goodman was hired by Pollack, then working in California, and the following year made a triumphal return to Chicago as featured soloist with the band. Goodman remained with Pollack until 1929, when he became a much in-demand session musician in New York, making many hundreds of record and radio sessions. Keenly ambitious and already a determined perfectionist, Goodman continued to develop his craft until he was perhaps the most skilled clarinet player in the country, even if he was virtually unknown to the general public.

During the late 20s and early 30s Goodman played in bands led by Red Nichols, Ben Selvin, Ted Lewis, Sam Lanin and others, sometimes for club, dance hall and theatre engagements and often on record sessions. In 1934 his ambitions led him to form a large dance band, which was successful in being hired for a residency at Billy Roses Music Hall. After a few months, this date collapsed when Rose was replaced by someone who did not like the band but Goodman persisted and late that same year was successful in gaining one of three places for dance bands on a regular radio show broadcast by NBC. The show, entitledLets Dance, ran for about six months. By this time Goodman was using arrangements by leading writers of the day such as Fletcher Henderson and Spud Murphy, and including in his band musicians such as Bunny Berigan, trombonists Red Ballard and Jack Lacey, saxophonists Toots Mondello and Hymie Schertzer, and in the rhythm section George Van Eps and Frank Froeba, who were quickly replaced by Allan Reuss and Jess Stacy.

Goodmans brother, Harry, was on bass, and the drummer was Stan King, who was soon replaced by the more urgent and exciting Gene Krupa. The bands singer was Helen Ward, one of the most popular band singers of the day. When theLets Dance show ended, Goodman took the band on a nationwide tour. Prompted in part by producer John Hammond Jnr. and also by his desire for the band to develop, Goodman made many changes to the personnel, something he would continue to do throughout his career as a big band leader, and by the time the tour reached Los Angeles, in August 1935, the band was in extremely good form. Despite the success of the radio show and the bands records, the tour had met with mixed fortunes and some outright failures. However, business picked up on the west coast and on 21 August 1935 the band played a dance at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles. They created a sensation and the massive success that night at the Palomar is generally credited as the time and place where the showbusiness phenomenon, which became known as the swing era, was born.

After an extended engagement at the Palomar the band headed back east, stopping over in Chicago for another extended run, this time at the Joseph Urban Room at the Congress Hotel. Earlier, Goodman had made some trio recordings using Krupa and pianist Teddy Wilson. The records sold well and he was encouraged by Helen Oakley, later Helen Oakley Dance, to feature Wilson in the trio at the hotel. Goodman eventually was persuaded that featuring a racially mixed group in this manner was not a recipe for disaster and when the occasion passed unremarked, except for musical plaudits, he soon afterwards employed Wilson as a regular member of the featured trio. In 1936 he added Lionel Hampton to form the Benny Goodman Quartet and while this was not the first integrated group in jazz it was by far the one with the highest profile. Goodmans big band continued to attract huge and enthusiastic audiences. In the band now were leading swing era players such as Harry James, Ziggy Elman, Chris Griffin, Vernon Brown, Babe Russin and Arthur Rollini. Goodman had an especially successful date at the Paramount Theatre in New York, beginning on 3 March 1937, and his records continued to sell very well.

On 16 January 1938 the band played a concert at Carnegie Hall, sealing its success and Goodmans reputation as the King of Swing. Soon after the Carnegie Hall date the bands personnel underwent significant changes. Krupa left to form his own band, soon followed by Wilson and James. Goodman found replacements and carried on as before although, inevitably, the band sounded different. In the early 40s he had a particularly interesting personnel, which included Cootie Williams, Big Sid Catlett, Georgie Auld and, in the small group (which was now a septet although labelled as the Benny Goodman Sextet), Charlie Christian. Other Goodman musicians of this period included Jimmy Maxwell and Mel Powell, while his singer, who had followed Ward, Martha Tilton and Helen Forrest, was Peggy Lee.

With occasional fallow periods, which usually coincided with the persistent back trouble with which he was plagued, Goodman continued to the end of the 40s, dabbling with bop by way of a small group which featured musicians such as Doug Mettome, Åke Stan Hasselgård, Wardell Gray and, fleetingly, Fats Navarro and with big bands which included Mettome, Gray, Stan Getz, Don Lamond and Jimmy Rowles. Goodman soon ended his flirtation with bop, but the release, in 1953, of a long-playing album made from acetates cut during the 1938 Carnegie Hall concert and forgotten during the intervening years revitalized interest in him and his career. He re-formed a band for a concert tour which brought together many of the old gang; but a decision to enhance the tours chances of success by also featuring Louis Armstrong and his All Stars was an error. The two stars clashed at rehearsals and during the out-of-town warm up concert.

By the time the package was ready for opening at Carnegie Hall, Goodman was in hospital, whether for a genuine illness, or because of a sudden attack of diplomacy, no one is quite sure. In 1955 he recorded the soundtrack for a feature film, The Benny Goodman Story, and a soundtrack album was also released which featured Wilson, Hampton, Krupa, James, Getz and other former sidemen. During the rest of the 50s and in succeeding decades, Goodman made many appearances with small groups and with occasional big bands, but his days as a leader of a regular big band were over. Even as a small group leader, his bands tended to be one-off only affairs, although he did regularly associate with musicians for whom he had high regard, among them Ruby Braff and Urbie Green. In Europe he led a big band for an appearance at the 1958 Worlds Fair in Brussels and in 1962 took a band to the USSR for a visit sponsored by the US State Department. Later, he fronted other big bands, including two formed from British musicians for concert tours in 1969 and again in 1970.

From the late 60s he began appearing at regular reunions of the quartet with Wilson, Hampton and Krupa. These reunions, along with club and television sessions, occasional tours to Europe and the Far East, occupied the 70s. This decade also saw, on 16 January 1978, a Carnegie Hall date which attempted to recreate the magic of his first appearance there, 30 years before. Goodman continued to record and play concert and other dates into the early 80s. In the last few years of his life and ensconced in his apartment on west 44th, Manhattan he lived quietly and is well remembered with great affection by the local community. From the earliest days of his career Goodman was marked out as a hot clarinettist. Although he had an early regard for Ted Lewis, it was the playing of such musicians as Teschemacher and Jimmy Noone that most influenced him. By the start of the 30s, however, Goodman was very much his own man, playing in a highly distinctive style and beginning to influence other clarinettists.

His dazzling technique, allied to his delight in playing hot jazz, made him one of the most exciting players of his day. Without question, he was the most technically proficient of all musicians regularly playing jazz clarinet. On the many records he made during this period Goodman almost always soloed, yet he rarely made an error, even on unused takes. During the swing era, despite the rising popularity of Artie Shaw and a handful of others, Goodman retained his popularity, even though his jazz style became noticeably less hot as the decade progressed. His dabblings with bop were never fully convincing, although in his playing of the 40s and later there are signs that he was aware of the changes being wrought in jazz. There are also fleeting stylistic nods towards Lester Young, whose playing he clearly admired. From the late 30s Goodman had become steadily more interested in classical music and periodically appeared and recorded in this context, often performing pieces that he had specially commissioned. The classical pursuits led him to adopt a different embouchure thus altering the sound of all his playing, and further attenuating the gap some felt had arisen between the current Goodman style and the hot jazz playing of his youth.

As a musician Goodman was a perfectionist, practising every day until the end of his life (in his biography of Goodman, James Lincoln Collier reports that, at the time of his death, the clarinettist, alone at home, appeared to have been playing a Brahms Sonata). As with so many perfectionists, Goodman expected his employees to adhere to his own high standards. Many were similarly dedicated musicians, but they were also individualistic, and in some cases had egos which matched his own. Inevitably, there were many clashes; over the years a succession of Goodman stories have emerged which suggest that he was a man who was totally preoccupied with his music to the exclusion of almost everything else including social niceties. Goodmans achievements in this particular field of American popular music are virtually matchless. He rose from poverty to become a millionaire before he was 30 years old, a real rags-to-riches story. He was, for a while, the best-known and most popular musician in the USA.

And if the title King of Swing rankled with many musicians and was clearly inappropriate when his work is compared with that of such peers as Armstrong and Duke Ellington, Goodmans band of the late 30s was a hard-driving outfit which contrasted sharply with many other white bands of the period and at its best was usually their superior. The trio and quartet brought to small group jazz a sophistication rarely heard before, and seldom matched since; but which nevertheless included much hot music, especially from the leader. It was, perhaps, in the sextet, with Christian, Williams, Auld and others that Goodman made his greatest contribution to jazz. All the tracks recorded by this group before Christians untimely death are classics of the form. His encouragement of musicians like Christian, Wilson and Hampton not only helped Goodman to promote important careers in jazz but also did much to break down racial taboos in showbusiness and American society. The fact that he was never an innovator means Goodman was not a great jazzman in the sense that Armstrong, Ellington, Charlie Parker and others were. Nevertheless, he was a major figure in jazz and played an important role in the history of twentieth century popular music.

Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze. Filter Results Five Pioneers Of Electric Jazz Guitar : NPR Five Pioneers Of Electric Jazz Guitar January 15, 20139:00 AM ET Nick Morrison Charlie Christian was a forerunner in establishing the musical language of bebop. Greg Murray hide caption toggle caption Charlie Christian was a forerunner in establishing the musical language of bebop. Greg Murray Prior to the advent of electrical amplification, the role of the guitar in jazz was strictly that of a chorded rhythm instrument, chugging along with the bass and drums and helping to propel whatever ensemble it was a part of. Soloing was pretty much out of the question because, without amplification, the guitar couldn't be heard over the horns. As soon as guitarists could plug into an amplifier, however, the electric guitar started making its presence felt as an improvisational voice in jazz. It's come a long way since the late 1930s, and many great jazz guitarists are doing amazing things today. But every guitarist now playing owes something to at least one (if not all) of the pioneering jazz guitarists listed below. This article originally ran Aug.

16, 2010. Five Pioneers Of Electric Jazz Guitar Audio is no longer available Charlie Christian Song: Good Enough to Keep from Benny Goodman Sextet Featuring Charlie Christian When guitarist Charlie Christian began recording with the Benny Goodman Sextet in 1939, the electric guitar took its first big step into the history of jazz. Christian wasn't the first jazz guitarist to use amplification (Eddie Durham, for one, beat him to it), but he brought the electric guitar into focus with his immense talent. Along with making the guitar a viable instrument in Goodman's style of swing, Christian was also a forerunner in the establishment of the musical language of bebop, examples of which can be found in his solo for "Good Enough to Keep," which also features solos from clarinetist Goodman and vibraphonist Lionel Hampton . close overlay Benny Goodman Sextet Featuring Charlie Christian Album Benny Goodman Sextet Featuring Charlie Christian Artist Audio is no longer available Les Paul Song: Lover from Best of the Capitol Masters: 90th Birthday Edition Les Paul 's influence on electric guitar (and on recorded music in general) is inestimable. Not only was he a groundbreaking player, but he was also a visionary.

He was an early proponent of the solid-body guitar and an early experimenter with overdubbing, and he helped design the first multi-track tape-recording deck. When Paul made this recording of "Lover" in 1948 -- his first experiment with overdubbing -- tape wasn't an option. To do the eight overdubs that were required to make the record, he had to record each track separately onto an acetate disc. If the take was no good, he'd have to record another disc. It is said that to get this song to sound like he wanted it to sound, he went through 500 discs. Today, "Lover" might sound like little more than a charming novelty, but when Paul was recording it, he was working his way toward studio recording techniques that are still in use. (And, though it's a far cry from Pat Metheny 's current Orchestrion project, it was also the first step in that direction.) close overlay Song: Morning Fun from Red Door: Remember Zoot Sims Bucky Pizzarelli began playing guitar professionally at age 17. Today, at 84, he's still going strong.

He was a contemporary of most of the players on this list and a student of George Van Eps, which was his first step toward becoming one of the finest seven-string guitarists in jazz. In fact, if there's one electric jazz guitarist who can be said to be the living embodiment of the instrument's history, it's Bucky Pizzarelli. He plays rhythm guitar in the spirit of Freddie Green and is noted for his amazing chorded soloing. This duet with saxophonist Scott Hamilton shows all of Pizzarelli's strengths: great rhythm accompaniment, working the seventh string to provide his own basslines and constructing improvisations using chords rather than single notes. If you want to see the history of jazz guitar in action, go see Bucky Pizzarelli. close overlay Benny Goodman — Sing, Sing, Sing — Listen, watch, download and discover music for free at Last.fm 30s "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)" is a 1936 song, written by Louis Prima, that has become one of the definitive songs of the big band and swing era. Although written by Prima, it is often most associated with Benny Goodman. The song has since been covered by numerous artists.

It was used in the Broadway Musical Swing! On July 6, 1937, "Sing, Sing, Sing" was recorded in Hollywood with Benny Goodman on clarinet; Harry James, Ziggy Elman, and… read more Don't want to see ads? Subscribe now Similar Tracks Benny Goodman facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Benny Goodman COPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. Benny Goodman Benny Goodman (1909-1986) was a great jazz clarinetist and leader of one of the most popular big bands of the Swing Era (1935-1945). Benjamin David Goodman was born in Chicago, Illinois, on May 30, 1909, of a large, poor Jewish family. (A brother, Harry, was later a bassist in Benny's band.) Benny studied music at Hull House and at the age of 10 was already a proficient clarinetist.

At age 12, appearing on stage in a talent contest, he did an imitation of the prevailing clarinet favorite, Ted Lewis; so impressed was popular bandleader Ben Pollack that five years later he sent for Goodman to join the band at the Venice ballroom in Los Angeles. After a three-year stint with Pollack, Goodman left in 1929 to free-lance in New York City in pit bands and on radio and recordings. In 1934 he led his first band on an NBC radio series called "Let's Dance" (which became the title of Goodman's theme song). The band also played at Billy Rose's Music Hall and at the Roosevelt Hotel and made a handful of records for the Columbia and Victor labels. In 1935, armed with a repertory developed by some great African American arrangers (Benny Carter, Edgar Sampson, Horace Henderson, and ex-bandleader and Swing Era genius Fletcher Henderson), the band embarked on a most significant road trip. Not especially successful in most of its cross-country engagements, the band arrived at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles in a discouraged mood.

The evening of August 21, 1935, began inauspiciously, the audience lukewarm to the band's mostly restrained dance music. In desperation Goodman called for the band to launch into a couple of "flagwavers" (up-tempo crowd-pleasers)—"Sometimes I'm Happy" and "King Porter Stomp"—and the crowd reaction was ultimately to send shock waves through the entire pop music world. Hundreds of people stopped dancing and massed around the bandstand, responding enthusiastically and knowledgably to arrangements and solos that they recognized from the just recently released records. (Apparently Goodman had been too conservative both early in his tour and earlier that night and had underestimated his audience.) The Palomar engagement turned out to be not only a personal triumph for the band but for swing music in general, serving notice to the music business that "sweet" dance music would have to move over and make room for the upstart (and more jazz-based) sound.

Goodman's popularity soared: the band topped almost all the magazine and theater polls, their record sales were astronomical, they were given a weekly cigarette-sponsored radio show, and they were featured in two big-budget movies, "Hollywood Hotel" and "The Big Broadcast of 1937." But an even greater triumph awaited. Impresario John Hammond rented that bastion of classical music, Carnegie Hall, for a concert that was to win respectability for the music. The night of January 16, 1938, is now legendary; responding to the electric expectancy of the overflow audience, the band outdid itself, improving on recorded favorites like "King Porter Stomp," "Bugle Call Rag," "Down South Camp Meeting," and "Don't Be That Way." It capped off the evening with a lengthy, classic version of "Sing, Sing, Sing" which featured some brilliant solo work by trumpeter Harry James, pianist Jess Stacy, and Benny himself. Two of the finest musicians ever to work with Goodman were pianist Teddy Wilson and vibraphonist-drummer Lionel Hampton.

Both were with the band from the mid-1930s and both were present at Carnegie Hall, but they were used only in trio and quartet contexts because of the unwritten rule forbidding racially integrated bands. Goodman has the distinction of being the first white leader (Artie Shaw and Charlie Barnet followed suit) to challenge segregation in the music business, and as the restrictions eased he hired other African American greats such as guitarist Charlie Christian, trumpeter Cootie Williams, bassist Slam Stewart, and tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray. Goodman's band had a greater personnel turnover than most bands, and an endless array of top-notch musicians moved through the band, among them trumpeters Bunny Berigan, Harry James, and Ziggy Elman; trombonist Lou McGarity; tenor saxophonists Bud Freeman, Georgie Auld, Zoot Sims, and Stan Getz; pianists Mel Powell and Joe Bushkin; vibists Red Norvo and Terry Gibbs; and drummers Dave Tough and Louis Bellson. Most defected to other bands and a few to start their own bands (Krupa, James, and Hampton).

Overwhelmingly, musicians found Goodman an uncongenial employer: he was reputed to be stern and tight-fisted. A taciturn, scholarly-looking man, Goodman was unflattering referred to in music circles as "The Ray" because of his habit of glaring at any player guilty of a "clam" or "clinker" (a wrong note), even in rehearsal. A virtuoso clarinetist equally at home performing Mozart (which he did in concerts and on records), Goodman was less than patient with technical imperfection. After World War II the clarinet, which, along with the tenor saxophone, had been the Swing Era's glamour instrument, was relegated to a minor role in bebop's scheme of things. Even the peerless Buddy DeFranco, the definitive bebop clarinetist, was unluckily marginal in an alto saxophone-and-trumpet-dominated idiom. Goodman struggled for a while to reconcile himself to the new music, but in 1950 he decided to disband, and from that time forward his public appearances were rare and were chiefly with small groups (usually sextets or septets) and almost exclusively for television specials or recordings or European tours.

In 1950 he toured Europe with a septet that included two other jazz greats, trumpeter Roy Eldridge and tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims. His most celebrated tour, however, was part of the first-ever cultural exchange with the Soviet Union. In 1962, at the behest of the State Department, he went to Russia with a septet that included Sims and alto saxophonist Phil Woods. The trip was a smashing success and contributed greatly to the popularization of American jazz in Eastern Europe. After his marriage in 1941, Goodman's home was New York City; his wife Alice (John Hammond's sister) died in 1978; they had two daughters, and she had three by a previous marriage. Goodman maintained his habit of spot-performing and in 1985 made a surprise and, by all accounts, spectacular appearance at the Kool Jazz Festival in New York. He died the following year of an apparent heart attack. With his withdrawal from the limelight, most observers felt that he became a deeper, less flashy player than he was in the glory years when he was fronting the country's most popular swing band.

His ultimate contribution to jazz, however, is still being debated: much post-1940s jazz criticism retrospectively judged him to have been overrated relative to the era's other great clarinetist-leader, Artie Shaw, and to the great early Black players of the instrument (Jimmy Noone, Johnny Dodds, Edmond Hall, and Lester Young, a tenor saxophonist who "doubled" on clarinet) and the great white traditionalist Pee Wee Russell. Esthetic evaluations are problematical at best and tend to fluctuate from era to era, but Goodman's technical mastery, burnished tone, highly individual (and influential) solo style, and undeniable swing certainly earned him a permanent place in the jazz pantheon. Further Reading There is no serious biography of Goodman. There was a promotional autobiography, written with the help of Irving Kolodin, in 1939 called The Kingdom of Swing. A film biography produced in 1955 titled "The Benny Goodman Story" is more Hollywood than Goodman. Probably the best source is a biography-discography by D. Russell O'Connor and Warren W. Hicks, Benny Goodman—On the Record (1969).

□ Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. MLA The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright The Columbia University Press Benny Goodman (Benjamin David Goodman), 1909–86, American clarinetist, composer, and band leader, b. Chicago. Goodman studied clarinet at Hull House. In Chicago he had the opportunity to hear (and eventually to play beside) some of the outstanding jazz musicians of the era. He played the clarinet for many years in Chicago and later in California. In 1928 he went to New York City, where in 1934 he organized his own orchestra. In 1935 he formed the Benny Goodman trio with Gene Krupa and Teddy Wilson; it became a quartet in 1936 when Lionel Hampton joined it. Performing for radio, motion pictures, and records, Goodman's orchestra became nationally famous. After 1939 he became known as the King of Swing. In the 1950s Goodman's many tours abroad gained him international esteem. He also achieved success playing classical music for clarinet, particularly with the Budapest String Quartet.

He commissioned Béla Bartók to compose Contrasts, for violin, clarinet, and piano, in 1938. Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and Morton Gould wrote music for him. Goodman wrote The Kingdom of Swing (1939) with Irving Kolodin. See bio-discographies by D. R. Connor (1958 and 1969); study by J. L. Collier. Cite this article The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music © The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. Goodman, Benny [Benjamin] (David) (b Chicago , 1909; d NY, 1986). Amer. clarinettist and jazz musician. Trained in mus. at synagogue. Prof. début 1921 at Central Park Th., Chicago. Joined Ben Pollack's band as a soloist 1925. Went to NY with Pollack and after 1929 worked as freelance. In 1934 formed his own 12-piece band, inaugurating the ‘swing era’.

In 1935 formed a trio with Teddy Wilson (pf.) and Gene Krupa (drums), expanding it in 1936 to a quartet with Lionel Hampton (vib.). In 1938 recorded Mozart cl. quintet with Budapest Qt. and commissioned Contrasts from Bartók, giving f.p. in NY 1939 with Szigeti and Bartók. Soloist with NYPO (cond. Barbirolli) in Mozart conc. Commissioned concs. from Copland and Hindemith 1947, and appeared as soloist with Amer. orchs. in works by Bernstein, Brahms, Debussy, Weber, Nielsen, Prokofiev, Poulenc, and Stravinsky. Re-formed own band 1940 and again 1948. Toured Russ. 1962. Played at Aldeburgh Fest. 1985. Cite this article

Question: Which instrument was played by jazz artist Benny Goodman?
Answer: Clarinet