OK, Benny Goodman looked like a nerdy
accountant. So what? Listen to his
music...he could swing better than
Tarzan. Goodman's cutting-edge clarinet
chops were so strong that they propelled
him to stardom in 1935 and officially
launched the swing scene in popular
culture. An all around tough cookie (and
reputed to be difficult to work with),
Goodman blazed a trail that would prove
difficult for other big bands and small
jazz outfits to follow.
Modern historians mislead people into thinking
that Elvis Presley was the first of his kind, as if
teenage girls never defied their parents by
listening to "new, devil's music" or never knew
how to scream with anxious, passionate
enthusiasm before Elvis gyrated his hips on
National Television. However, what Elvis was for
Rock and Roll, Benny Goodman already had
been for Swing/Jazz music in the 1930s and
1940s. He popularized the "new" Swing music of
the era that was discouraged by many parents,
became a pop icon amongst teens and adults,
alike, and broke into Hollywood by appearing in
many films while Hollywood was just a fledgling
industry.
Born on May 9, 1909,
Goodman grew up in a ghetto
in Chicago. Benny was the
eighth son of twelve born to
Jewish Russian immigrants.
Although his father worked as
a skilled tailor in Russia before
immigrating to America, his
father was relegated to a
career of hard labor in the
Chicago stockyards. As a
result, Goodman's father
taught his children to develop
skills that would elevate them
beyond the life of a stockyard
worker, as well as help
support the family in the
meantime. For Benny, that
skill was music.
At the age of 10, Benny started taking
clarinet lessons. He practiced for 3 or
4 hours every day. He developed his
perfectionist traits for which he would
become legendary throughout his
career. Within four years, he was
playing with local dance orchestras.
At age 16, Benny became the star of the Ben
Pollack jazz band and made his first recordings.
Benny
Benny’s father died in a traffic accident that
same year, so he dropped out of high school and
became the main financial support of his large
family by playing on the riverboats and around
the local area.
Benny left Pollack in
1929 and became a
successful "studio"
musician in New
York City.
It was one of the
first interracial jazz
groups.
Lionel Hampton
Teddy Wilson
Gene Krupa
Soon after, he formed his own
band of hot musicians called the
Benny Goodman Quartet.
What’s unusual about it? (1930)
When Goodman’s quartet gave their first public performance at the
Congress Hotel in 1936, it was an unprecedented historic event. At that
time, segregation was so prevalent that Benny would have been arrested if
his quartet had played anywhere in the Southern US since it violated Jim
Crow segregation laws. It was a good thing for Benny that he was popular
enough that he never had to tour in the South. And even though black
musicians were performing in his group, black patrons were not allowed
inside any of the clubs where they played.
Goodman was a major player in the
Civil Rights Movement. If anyone
called Benny’s black musicians the “n”
word, he would say, “if you say that
word around me again, I’ll knock you
out!” His integration in music was
way ahead of its time. It was10 years
before Jackie Robinson became the
first African-American in Major
League Baseball.
Here is a clip of Benny Goodman’s Quartet.
Besides his quartet, he also
started the Benny Goodman
Orchestra.
In the aftermath of the great 1929-1933
depression, a new generation of young people
were looking for music that they could call their
own. Goodman's orchestra was destined to fill
this need, but it didn’t happen quite yet.
A big break came when Benny’s orchestra
appeared on the 3-hour Coast to Coast
NBC radio program called “Let's Dance.”
Six months later, MCA booked Benny's orchestra for
a coast-to-coast tour. Unfortunately, it turned out to
be dismally unsuccessful. The audiences were
unresponsive to the music. Several times during the
tour, MCA considered canceling the rest of it.
Then, on the very last date of the tour at the Palomar Ballroom in
Los Angeles when the audience seemed indifferent, Benny pulled
out a band arrangement by Fletcher Henderson, an African
American bandleader whose success had been limited by racial
segregation. Benny then told his band to “get as hot as you wish.”
The kids went completely wild over this new music. The Palomar
show was broadcast on the radio coast to coast, and that day,
Goodman’s invention, the “big band swing” sound, swept over the
world. When Benny brought the orchestra back to New York's
Paramount Theatre, the kids were actually dancing in the aisles.
This new style and renewed
popularity got them a booking at the
Congress Hotel in Chicago.
It was at this show at the
Congress Hotel that Benny’s
music was named “Swing” and
he became known as the “The
King of Swing”.
This new style was exactly what Benny
and thousands of teenagers and young
adults were looking for.
Radio was the
biggest form of
media in the 1930’s,
and Benny took
advantage of it. His
band began
performing live and
recorded
performances on
radio.
Benny started to get great bookings
and become famous.
In 1937, at a show
in New York,
20,000 people
came to see
Benny. The police
and fire
departments had
to called in to
keep the crowd
under control.
Not everyone liked swing music,
though. The New York School of
Music prepared
a bill to make all
swing music
illegal.
However, the
bill was not
passed by
Congress.
Despite all the people who tried to stop swing music,
the young people of America kept it alive and growing.
It kept Benny very active. Television began to become
more popular, and Benny and his band made some
television appearances.
Although he
was very
busy, Benny
still managed
to make time
for his family.
Here is his
wife and 2
girls.
Benny not only
played clarinet,
but also alto,
soprano, tenor,
and baritone
saxes, bass
clarinet, cornet,
and sometimes
he would sing,
too.
Benny Goodman
started the career
of a singer named
Peggy Lee in 1941.
She had an alluring
tone and the ability
to write her own
songs.
She was so scared at her first recording
session ("Elmer's Tune"), that some
people urged Goodman to fire her. You
are listening to that recording.
Benny still had his
orchestra, but he also
organized the Benny
Goodman Trio, reestablished the Benny
Goodman Quartet,
and had other small
ensembles, mostly for
recording purposes.
As always, his groups
were racially
integrated.
Benny is well known for his improvising skills, but he is
also known for being an amazing classical clarinetist as
well. He played with some of the most prestigious
symphony orchestras in the world, performing
traditional concert music, such as the clarinet concerto
of W.A. Mozart.
Goodman even appeared in several
motion pictures, including A Song is
Born (1947), and The Benny Goodman
Story (1956).
Goodman made a
1962 tour of Russia
for the US State
Department, toured
Europe through the
70’s, and even
returned to
Carnegie Hall for a
40-year anniversary
of his original
performance.
Absolutely
nobody played
the clarinet as
well as Benny.
He is a giant
among American
Jazz musicians.
Having lived
the kind of
life every
musician
dreams
about, Benny
died on June
20, 1986.
Listening
Song #1:
Let’s Dance
Song #2:
Sing, Sing, Sing