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Born into a large, poverty stricken family, Benny began playing the clarinet at an early age. He was associated with the Austin High School Gang, having gone to school with drummer Dave Tough. By the time he was twelve, Goodman appeared onstage imitating famous bandleader/clarinetist Ted Lewis. It was at this concert that Ben Pollack heard the young clarinetist and Benny was soon playing in Pollack’s band. Goodman’s first recordings were made with the Pollack group in 1926, and give a strong example of Benny’s influences at the time including Jimmie Noone, who was then with Doc Cook and His Dreamland Orchestra and Leon Roppolo of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings. During this period Goodman recorded his first sides as a leader with members of the Pollack band including one 1928 date which features the only known recording of Benny on alto and baritone saxophones.
Following the musical migration out of Chicago and into New York, Goodman became a very successful and popular free-lancer, joining the likes of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey in New York studios. In 1934 Benny put together his first big band, featuring Bunny Berigan on trumpet, Jess Stacey on piano and Gene Krupa on drums. With the addition of some excellent, sophisticated arrangements by Fletcher Henderson, the “Swing Era” was born.
Goodman spent the next fifty years recording and touring with various groups big and small, including some very successful trips to Russia and the Far East. He also played many concerts on a classical format that received mixed reviews.
Known by musicians for his stand-offish and “cheap” nature, many sidemen had a love/hate relationship with Goodman. Many musicians claimed that Benny was dishonest when it came time to pay off the band and many more recalled the Goodman “ray”, the dirtiest of looks received when a mistake was made. That aside, its clear that without Goodman the “Swing Era” would have been nowhere near as strong when it came, if it came at all.
Goodman made a 1962 tour of Russia for the US State Department, appeared in two feature films A Song is Born (1947) and The Benny Goodman Story (1955), toured Europe through the '70s, and even returned to Carnegie Hall for a 40-year anniversary of his original performance. He continued to play in small groups until near his death on June 13, 1986.
After his death, the Yale University library received the bulk of Goodman’s personal collection including many private never-before-heard recordings and rare unpublished photos.
Among his best recordings are BG and Big Tea in NYC (1929-34; MCA/GRP), The Birth of Swing (1935-6; RCA Bluebird), After You've Gone (1935-7) and Avalon (1937-9) both on RCA Bluebird, Small Combos 1935-41 (Giants of Jazz), The Harry James Years Vol. 1 (1937-8; RCA Bluebird), Benny Goodman On The Air (1937-8; Columbia), Carnegie Hall Concert (1938), Second Carnegie Hall Concert (1939), Benny Goodman: His Orchestra and His Combos 1941-55 (all on Giants of Jazz), Benny Goodman Sextet (1950-2; CBS), and Benny Goodman and Friends (1984; Decca).
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Discography:
???? Gangs All Here SHR
???? Young B.G. Affinity
???? Benny Goodman Swings Again
???? I Got It Bad & That Ain't Good
???? Selections Featured
???? Take It to the Limit
???? The Charlie Christian with the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra
1938 Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert
1938 Carnegie Hall Concert, vol. 1
1938 Carnegie Hall Concert, vol. 2
1938 Carnegie Hall Concert, vol. 3
1938 Lie at Carnegie Hall (1938)
1939 Ciribiribin Giants of Jazz
1939 Jumpin' at the Woodside z
1939 Swingin' Down the Lane
1941 Roll 'Em Lie: 1941 intage Jazz Classics
1948 Swedish Pastry
1949 The Benny Goodman Session
1950 Let's Hear the Melody
1950 Session for Six
1950 Sextet
1951 Benny Goodman
1951 Goodman & Teagarden Jazz Panorama
1951 The Benny Goodman Trio Plays
1952 Easy Does It
1952 The Benny Goodman Trio
1953 The Benny Goodman Band
1953 The Benny Goodman Touch
1954 For the Fletcher Henderson Fund
1954 The New Benny Goodman Sextet
1954 B.G. in Hi-Fi Blue Note
1955 The Benny Goodman Story, vol. 1
1955 The Benny Goodman Story, vol. 2
1955 With Charlie Christian
1955 The Benny Goodman Story, vols. 1-2
1956 Benny at the Ballroom
1956 Benny Goodman Combos
1956 Benny Goodman Rides Again
1956 Date With the King Collectables
1956 Mostly Sextets
1956 The Benny Goodman Six
1956 The Great Benny Goodman
1956 The intage Benny Goodman
1956 Trio Quartet Quintet
1957 Peggy Lee Sings with Benny Goodman Harmony
1958 Benny Goodman Plays World Faorites in High Fidelity Westinghouse
1958 Benny in Brussels, vol. 1
1958 Benny in Brussels, vol. 2
1958 Brussels, 1958
1958 Happy Session
1958 Benny Rides Again
1958 The Lie at the International World Exhibition Brussels:
1959 Benny in Brussels
1959 The Benny Goodman Treasure Chest
1959 The Sound of Music
1959 In Stockholm 1959
1960 Kingdom of Swing
1963 Together Again!
1964 Hello, Benny
1964 Made in Japan
1966 Meeting at the Summit
1967 Listen to the Magic
1969 Let's Dance Again
1969 London Date
1970 Lie in Stockholm 1970 London
1970 Benny Goodman Today
1972 On Stage London
1973 The King Swings Star Line
1975 Seen Comes Eleen
1994 Lie at the Carnegie Hall 6 Oct. 1938 Jazz Band
1995 In Brussels, vol. 1
1995 Blue Note Chicago
1996 Fascinating Rhythm: Lie 1958 Jazz Time
1996 Carnegie Festial
1997 Lie Down Under 1973 with Zoot Sims Jazz Band
1997 Mozart at Tanglewood
1998 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert 1938, vol. 1
1998 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert 1939, vol. 2 z
2002 Berlin 1980
2002 The Famous Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert 1938
2003 Farewell
2003 Lie in the Sixties Jasmine
2004 Why Don't You Do Right
2006 Complete Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Concert 1938
2007 Swing Time
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