Jazz Articles about Benny Goodman

Benny Goodman: The Essential & With Benny in Mind

by Ken Dryden
January 6, 2008

Benny Goodman The Essential Benny Goodman Columbia/Bluebird/Legacy 2007 Allan Vaché With Benny in Mind Arbors 2006

By the time of his death in 1987, clarinetist Benny Goodman was firmly entrenched in many minds as the “King of Swing , with countless recordings made throughout a career that lasted over a half-century. A recent ...

Benny Goodman: Centennial Collection

by AAJ Staff
June 16, 2005

By Francis Lo Kee

Clarinetist Benny Goodman (1909-86) is considered by jazz historians to be one of the most important musicians in all of jazz, though not all of his important achievements were strictly musical. He is credited with racially integrating his bands at a time when it was not a popular idea, yet he brought jazz a level of audience attention that would earn it the title of pop music today. The DVD presents footage from 1939-66, while the ...

Benny Goodman: "Sing, Sing, Sing"

by David Rickert
January 31, 2005

Part I in a series exploring the history of the Swing Era's greatest songs. The Paramount Benny Goodman and his band arrived at the Paramount Theater on the morning of March 3, 1937 to find throngs of students waiting in line. Goodman had assumed that this engagement, which started at 8:30 in the morning and preceded a Claudette Colbert picture, wouldn't be that big of a deal. But when the band appeared on the slowly ...

Benny Goodman: The Swing Master

by Jack Bowers
December 1, 2002

Benny Goodman, a complex man who was loved by many, disliked by others and always in command, kept his music refreshingly vibrant and honest, as befit the Swing Era’s renowned King of Swing. Benny’s groups, whether large or small, were always sharp and well-rehearsed; he wouldn’t have it any other way. A life-long perfectionist, Goodman demanded the same from those with whom he played, and surrounded himself with musicians of the highest caliber. Many of them can be heard on ...

Benny Goodman: Bangkok Concerts 1956

by Jack Bowers
January 1, 2000

The King of Swing plays it safe on this concert date, recorded in December ’56 during the first stop on a Far Eastern tour, departing from his tried–and–true repertoire only twice — to play songs written by another King and Benny’s host, His Majesty King Bhumiphal Aduljadet, who besides being ruler of Thailand was a saxophonist, composer and ardent Jazz fan. A command performance, one might say. Before his band took the stage, Goodman gave permission to a friend, Kurt ...