For
the 20th century history of the clarinet jazz has played a major part. Adopted
by jazz musicians from the birth of the movement, the clarinet continues to
play an important part of the modern jazz scene, and some of the most famous
clarinet players in history have been jazz musicians. The clarinet was included
in some of the earliest jazz ensembles, especially groups known as "Dixieland"
bands. This commonly consisted of clarinet, cornet, baritone, tuba, drums, and
piano. The clarinet was in its jazz heyday with the arrival of the Big Bands
and "Swing Era", a sound synonymous with the Second World War period. This time
in jazz is also associated with the most famous jazz clarinetist of all time, Benny Goodman. After a period in
Chicago that involved some classic recordings, Goodman moved to New York, where
he worked as a freelancer before putting together the first of his jazz bands. Since
the big band era, that clarinet has been eclipsed as a jazz woodwind instrument
by the saxophone, though there are some modern day clarinetists who are
renowned jazz players.
The Legends - Part Ten
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David
Goodman was born on May 30, 1909 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the eighth child
of immigrants David Goodman and Dora Grisinsky Goodman, who left Russia to
escape anti-Semitism. His father worked for a tailor to support his large
family, which eventually grew to include a total of 12 children, and had
trouble making ends meet. When Benny was 10
years old, his father sent him to study music at Kehelah Jacob Synagogue in
Chicago. There, Benny learned the clarinet under the tutelage of Chicago Symphony
member Franz Schoepp, while two of his brothers learned tuba and trumpet. He
also played in the band at Jane Addams' famous social settlement, Hull-House.
Benny's aptitude on
the clarinet was immediately apparent. While he was still very young, he became
a professional musician and played in several bands in Chicago. He played with
his first pit band at the age of 11, and became a member of the American
Federation of Musicians when he was 14, when he quit school to pursue his
career in music. When his father died, 15-year-old Benny used the money he made
to help support his family. During these early years in Chicago, he played with
many musicians who would later become nationally renowned, such as Frank
Teschemacher and Dave Tough.
When Benny was 16, he
was hired by the Ben Pollack band and moved to Los Angeles. He remained with
the band for four years, and became a featured soloist. In 1929, the year that
marked the onset of the Great Depression and a time of distress for America,
Benny left the Ben Pollack band to participate in recording sessions and radio
shows in New York City. Then, in 1933, Benny
began to work with John Hammond, a jazz promoter who would later help to launch
the recording careers of Billie Holiday and Count Basie, among many others.
Hammond wanted Benny to record with drummer Gene Krupa and trombonist Jack
Teagarden, and the result of this recording session was the onset of Benny's
national popularity. Later, in 1942, Benny would marry Alice Hammond Duckworth,
John Hammond's sister, and have two daughters: Rachel, who became a concert
pianist, and Benji, who became a cellist.
Benny led his first
band in 1934 and began a few-month stint at Billy Rose's Music Hall, playing
Fletcher Henderson's arrangements along with band members Bunny Berigan, Gene
Krupa and Jess Stacy. The music they played had its roots in the Southern jazz
forms of ragtime and Dixieland, while its structure adhered more to arranged
music than its more improvisational jazz counterparts. This gave it an
accessibility that appealed to American audiences on a wide scale. America
began to hear Benny's band when he secured a weekly engagement for his band on
NBC's radio show "Let's Dance", which was taped with a live studio audience. The new swing music
had the kids dancing when, on August 21, 1935, Benny's band played the Palomar
Ballroom in Los Angeles. The gig was sensational and marked the beginning of
the years that Benny would reign as King: the Swing Era. Teenagers and
college students invented new dance steps to accompany the new music sensation.
Benny's band, along with many others, became hugely successful among listeners
from many different backgrounds all over the country.
During this period
Benny also became famous for being colorblind when it came to racial segregation
and prejudice. Pianist Teddy Wilson, an African-American, first appeared in the
Ben ny Goodman Trio at the Congress Hotel in 1935. Benny added Lionel Hampton,
who would later form his own band, to his Benny Goodman Quartet the next year.
While these groups were not the first bands to feature both white and black
musicians, Benny's national popularity helped to make racially mixed groups
more accepted in the mainstream. Benny once said, "If a guy's got it, let him
give it. I'm selling music, not prejudice".
Benny's success as
an icon of the Swing Era prompted Time magazine in 1937 to call him the "King
of Swing". The next year, at the pinnacle of the Swing Era, the Benny Goodman
band, along with musicians from the Count Basie and Duke Ellington bands, made
history as the first jazz band ever to play in New York's prestigious Carnegie
Hall. Following the
concert at Carnegie Hall, the Benny Goodman band had many different lineup
changes. Gene Krupa left the band, among others, and subsequent versions of the
band included Cootie Williams and Charlie Christian, as well as Jimmy Maxwell
and Mel Powell, among others.
The Swing Era began
to come to a close, as America got more involved in World War II. Several
factors contributed to its waning success, including the loss of musicians to
the draft and the limits that gas-rationing put on touring bands. However,
though the big band days were drawing to a close and new forms of music were
emerging, Benny continued to play music in the swing style. He dabbled in the "bop" movement of the 1940s, but never succumbed, as the rest of the world did,
to the allure of rock and roll influences in the 1950s and 1960s. Instead,
Benny tried his hand at classical music, doing solos with major orchestras, and
studying with internationally acclaimed classical clarinetist Reginald Kell. These appearances
further demonstrated Benny's range as a musician. His talent was unquestionable
from the time he was 10 years old, and in recording sessions throughout his
career, he very rarely made mistakes. Krell had helped him to improve some of
his techniques, making Benny's playing even stronger.
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| Benny Goodman and Nikita Khrushchev |
In 1953, Benny's
band planned to join Louis Armstrong and his All Stars in a tour together, but
the two band leaders argued and the tour never opened at Carnegie Hall, as had
been planned. It is not certain whether the tour was canceled due to Benny's
illness or the conflict between the bandleaders. The rest of the decade marked
the spread of Benny's music to new audiences around the world. The Benny
Goodman Story, a film chronicling his life, was released in 1955, exposing new
and younger audiences to his music. Benny also toured the world, bringing his
music to Asia and Europe. When he traveled to the USSR, one writer observed "the swing music that had once set the jitterbugs dancing in the Paramount
aisles almost blew down the Iron Curtain".
During the late
1960s and 1970s, Benny appeared in reunions with the other members of his
quartet: Teddy Wilson, Gene Krupa and Lionel Hampton. In 1978, the Benny
Goodman band also appeared at Carnegie Hall again to mark the 30th Anniversary
of when they appeared in the venue's first jazz concert. In 1982, Benny was
honored by the Kennedy Center for his lifetime achievements in swing music. In
1986, he received both an honorary doctorate degree in music from Columbia
University and the Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement. He continued to play
the music that defined his lifetime in occasional concert dates until his death
in June 1986, of cardiac arrest. Through his amazing
career, Benny Goodman did not change his style to conform to the latest trends,
but retained the original sound that defined the Swing Era and made him the
world renowned King of Swing.
Here is my top 10 of his compositions:
1. "Sing, Sing, Sing"
2. "Caprice Paganini XXIV"
3. "Bugle Call Rag"
4. "Saint Louis Blues"
5. "Moonglow"
6. "Sweet Georgia Brown"
7. "I Got Rhythm"
8. "Roll 'Em"
9. "Flat Foot Floogie"
10. "Swingtime In The Rockies"
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