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.

Soon after, he formed his own band of hot

musicians called the Benny Goodman Quartet. What’s unusual about it?

(1930)

It was one of the first

interracial jazz groups.Lionel

Hampton

Teddy Wilson

Gene Krupa

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, re-

established 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