Benny Goodman Biography
Clarinetist/bandleader Benny Goodman (1909-1986) was the first major star of the swing era, and the first of the big band leaders to achieve mass success. Indeed, Goodman’s immense popularity fully justified his nickname of “the King of Swing.” But Goodman’s significance extends far beyond his commercial success. In addition to being one of the few clarinetists to achieve popular distinction on the instrument, Goodman was the first major white bandleader to popularize the swing style that had been originated by African-American bands, and he did so without diluting the style.
A virtuoso clarinetist as well as a driven perfectionist, Goodman consistently maintained a serious jazz sensibility in his bands, which he populated with top-flight musicians, and simultaneously led his popular orchestra while recording with smaller groups. Goodman’s bands also served as a launching pad for such star instrumentalists as trumpeters Bunny Berigan and Harry James and drummer Gene Krupa, both of whom would subsequently lead their own bands, and such distinguished singers as Helen Forrest, Peggy Lee, Anita O’Day and Billie Holiday.
Beyond his musical innovations, Goodman was instrumental in breaking down some of the racial barriers that divided the popular music world during the swing era. In the early 1930s, Goodman singlehandedly integrated popular music by featuring such African-American players as Charlie Christian, Lionel Hampton, Fletcher Henderson and Teddy Wilson in his bands. At the time, it was still illegal for musicians of different races to perform together in some parts of the country, but Goodman was so popular that he could afford not to tour in segregated states.
The son of hard-working Russian immigrants, Goodman grew up in Chicago and first took clarinet lessons at age ten in a local synagogue. He made his professional debut at the age of 12, and dropped out of high school at 14 to pursue his musical career. He was 16 when he joined the Ben Pollack Orchestra, one of Chicago’s top bands, and soon began cutting his own records on the side for various small labels. In 1929, he left Pollack and moved to New York, where he worked as a freelance and session musician. He also cut some successful recordings in the early ’30s under his own name with various players and singers, including a then-unknown Billie Holiday. His recording successes inspired Goodman to form his own orchestra, which debuted in June 1934. Many of the new group’s arrangements were charts that the astute Goodman had purchased from Fletcher Henderson, who led New York’s hottest African-American big band.
By the end of 1934, Goodman had scored 14 Top Ten hits and become a popular radio attraction. But a national tour in the summer of 1935 was met with many audiences that were hostile towards the band’s “hot” swing style, which contrasted the smoother sounds that most white big bands were still playing at the time. That changed when the group reached the West Coast, where Goodman had amassed a large fan following, thanks to the fact that his New York-based late-night radio broadcasts aired in an earlier time slot there. The tour climaxed with a massively successful three-week run at Los Angeles’ Palomar Ballroom, where the band’s swinging performances met with an ecstatic audience response that attracted newspaper coverage from all over the country. The Palomar Ballroom engagement is often cited as the official beginning of the swing era, and it established Goodman as a superstar.
The Goodman orchestra scored a lengthy string of hits through the ’30s and ’40s, and remained one of America’s most popular live acts. Goodman’s historic 1938 concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall was a major cultural event, marking the first time that jazz had been admitted to such a prestigious venue. Goodman also made trio, quartet and sextet recordings while maintaining his big band. In the ’40s, Goodman became a supporter of the emerging bebop style, and briefly formed a bop-style band before returning to his more familiar swing style.
In December 1949, with the popularity of big bands on the wane, Goodman disbanded his orchestra, although he would continue to organize temporary groups for tours and recordings. While his style may have fallen from mainstream favor, recordings of his vintage performances continued to be top sellers. When an album of his 1938 Carnegie Hall concert was belatedly released in 1950, it spent a year in the charts and became the best-selling jazz album up to that time.
Goodman also maintained an active interest in classical music, and in 1949, at the age of 40, he began to study with leading classical clarinetist Reginald Kell. Goodman learned a completely new playing approach in order to perform and record several classical symphonic pieces, for which he commissioned new arrangements for clarinet. Goodman recorded performances of pieces by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Debussy, both with orchestras and smaller groups.
Using temporary groups of varying sizes, Goodman continued to record and tour through the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s; he frequently performed overseas, including a news-making 1962 tour of the U.S.S.R. In 1963, he reunited the classic ’30s-vintage Benny Goodman Quartet, with Gene Krupa, Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton, for the album Together Again. He reached the charts again in 1971 with Benny Goodman Today, recorded live in Stockholm. Although he generally stuck with his familiar swing style, he occasionally experimented with such departures as 1975’s Seven Come Eleven, which included several tracks recorded with George Benson on guitar.
Recent Comments